Carl's Summer School Uniform
There have been a few reports during the recent hot weather of boys, objecting to wearing heavy warm trousers and not being allowed to wear shorts, taking to wearing a skirt to school as a protest. How far could this be taken?
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The last few days had been exceptionally warm, and uncomfortable. Many of the boys asked to be allowed to wear shorts, proper dress shorts, not sportswear, as they envied the comfort that the girls seemed to be enjoying in their light skirts.
A few friends were sitting with me, Carl Duggan, on the bank around the football pitch ogling a group of girls and admiring the view of their cool bare legs.
“You know what,” I said to my best friend Sam Turner,” It’s not fair. in Winter when it is cold the girls are allowed to wear trousers instead of their normal uniform skirts which are much cooler for them in the summer months, We have to wear our heavy long trousers all year round. I can’t understand why we are not allowed to wear shorts, they would be much more comfortable.”
“ It has been argued before Carl, the headmistress just quotes the school dress code at us, saying pupils are only allowed to wear plain grey or navy trousers or the uniform yellow tartan skirt” replied Sam.
“ It’s a pity that us boys are not allowed to wear skirts too, they would be much cooler and more comfortable.”
Sam thought for a while before suddenly smiling. “ From what I remember, there is nothing that says boys can’t wear the uniform skirt too, it is just expected that none of us would want to.”
“ Just for a laugh and as a protest, does anyone else fancy borrowing a skirt and wearing it tomorrow, I’m up for it if anyone else will?”
In the end, nobody else was interested, either they did not want to look stupid, were worried about how others would react to it, or had no sisters to borrow one from.
“ You are a bunch of miserable wimps,” I turned on the group, “even if none of you will join me I am going to borrow a skirt from my sister and wear it tomorrow, it might embarrass the Head into changing the rules.”
“ Good luck with that, I will believe you when I see you do it, just don’t expect us to support you” sneered one of the others as they all left.
When I got home later, iIwent to Cassie’s room, knocked on the door and went straight in to find her in a light flimsy summer dress looking cool and comfortable, whereas I was feeling hot and sweaty from my walk home from school.
“Cassie, this may sound strange but have you a spare uniform skirt I can borrow?”
“ What on earth for, you are not going weird on me are you?”
“ I just want to make a protest at school tomorrow. It is not fair that you can be comfortable in the heat, wearing a skirt, while we boys have to suffer in heavy long trousers. I want to wear a skirt to school to try to embarrass the Head to change the rules.”
“ Sounds a bit daft to me, I hope you are prepared for all the name-calling and insults that you will get. You know what happened when Iain Cummings was caught wearing panties under his trousers, he had so much bother that he had to change school and I have seen him around town, he now dresses as a girl and calls himself Iona. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you.”
“ No way, that is going to happen to me. There were always rumours about him anyway, everyone thought he was a bit gay, it was only a matter of time before it all came out. Can I borrow a skirt or not, I’m determined to go through with this?”
‘If you are so sure, help yourself, the ones at the end of the wardrobe rail don’t fit me anymore, being 2 years younger than me, you have not had your growth spurt yet so you should find one to fit you. There is no choice really of which one to go for, they are all just pleated tartan standard uniform kilt types, find one you like.”
There was a collection of different sizes and lengths that Cassie had worn as she grew taller and more shapely as she got older. After trying on three, which Cassie rejected as either too long, too short, or too tight, we found one she was happy with.
“ You do know don’t you, that there are strict rules about what we can wear under the skirt? A few years ago a couple of the senior girls were caught wearing thongs and lacy high-cut panties. the rules were changed and only plain navy or white briefs are allowed. If you are going to wear the skirt to school you need to get some of your own, I am not letting you wear mine. Put some trousers back on and we’ll go down to the market to pick up a few cheap pairs for you.”
“ I can’t go rummaging through shelves of knickers with you, what if anyone sees me?”
“Don’t be silly, they are not much different from the boys’ briefs you normally wear, and besides you will be wearing them under your skirt tomorrow. If you are going to school in a skirt I’m sure it won’t be long before someonef licks up ythe hem and sees you wearing them, so just get used to it.”
While she was browsing though the underwear on the market shelves, she kept showing some to me, asking my opinion as to whether I liked the, causing me to get some funny looks from the sales assistant. We went home with three packs of three as Cassie insisted that, unless it was to be a one-day wonder before the headmaster caved in or I got fed up of the name-calling, i would need a fresh pair every day.
“ I take it that you are only going to wear the skirt and that you do not need your hair styled or make-up or anything,” Cassie almost burst out laughing, she was really enjoying this.
“ That’s a daft idea, the whole point of this is that I am a boy protesting against stupid school dress codes. I am not trying to present myself as a girl.”
“ Pity, it would be fun to try that.”
The next morning, after showering and drying off I pulled up a pair of my new knickers, and was surprised at the softness of the material and the snug fit. They were soon followed by my shirt and tie before stepping into the skirt and positioning it around my waist. Rather than leaving my shirt outside the waist of the skirt as I normally did with my trousers, Cassie had told me to tuck it in , lift up the hem of the skirt and pull the shirt down snugly. I put on my socks and shoes and went to see Cassie to make sure I looked ok.
“ Not too bad Sis, but you can’t wear those shoes and socks, they look stupid alongside the skirt. I have some flats you can borrow if they fit you ok, put these on and let me have another look at you. Another thing, us girls think wearing a tie is stupid so we tie ours a lot shorter than the boys, more like a cravat”
Now satisfied, we went downstairs for breakfast and found Mum in the kitchen. When she saw me she nearly dropped the plate she was drying.
“ What on earth are you doing dressed like that Carl?. I suppose this is your stupid idea Cassie?”
“ No, not this time, he thought this all up himself, I have just given him a bit of help, that’s all.”
“ Tell me why you are doing this, Carl, or maybe I should call you Carla when you are dressed like that.”
“ Long trousers are far too hot in this weather, the Head will not let us wear shorts, but the rules do not say that only girls can wear skirts, so I am wearing one of Cassie’s to make a protest.”
“ I think that it is a stupid idea but, if you are determined, go ahead. I just hope that you manage to get through the day without too much bother.”
Before we left, Cassie, gave me a small shoulder bag to hold my wallet, keys, phone and such like. “You haven’t got any pockets in that skirt and if you just threw everything into your school bag it would just get lost at the bottom, this will keep it all together.”
I was beginning to lose my nerve as we approached the school gates and almost turned back, but we met Lily, a friend of Cassie’s who insisted I tell her what I was playing at. I gave her the full story before she quickly flicked up my skirt. “I see you are even wearing regulation knickers, good for you Carla, I hope it works. Come on, I will walk in with you and Cassie, it might save you from some of the neanderthals that we have here.”
I got lots of strange looks as I made my way into school and to my homeroom, and when I walked in there was a lot of laughing and shrieking and lewd comments, before my teacher came in to see what all the noise was about.
“ What is all this about Carl, I know you are a bit of the class rebel and clown, but this is going too far. Come with me now, we are going to see the Head! Class, behave yourselves, and finish off the homework you should have done last night. I will be back soon.”
She marched me along the corridors to the Head’s study and walked straight in with me.
What do you mean barging in like that?”
“ Sorry, but this is serious, Carl here has come to school wearing a skirt and it is totally disrupting the class.”
“ Ok go back to your class and leave him with me.”
“ Why, Carl?”
“It’s a protest against your stupid policy of not allowing us boys to wear shorts in the hot weather. The dress code does not stipulate that only girls can wear skirts, so I decided that I would be more comfortable if I wore one too, until you changed the rules.”
“ So this is not a one-off then, you intend to continue to dress in the girls’ uniform until I change my mind.”
“ Yes. that sums it up, I am determined to continue my protest until the code changes.”
“ I have not intention of changing the rules. at least until the governors meeting at the end of the month, so it looks like you will be dressing as a girl until then.”
“ Fine, i can live with that.”
“ In that case, I would expect to see you presenting yourself properly as a girl, but there is a lot more to it than just wearing a skirt. Go to your sister’s class and bring her back here please and be quick about it, I haven’t really got time for this nonsense.
I was not popular with Cassie’s teacher when I walked into her class, causing an outburst of noisy chatter and taking my sister away.”
“ Cassie, Carl has told me that he intends to wear a skirt until at least the end of the month. In that case he will be attending all the classes as Carla, as a girl. At the moment he looks like neither a boy nor a girl, he needs to present properly as one or the other. Wearing a skirt is not the only part of the dress code. Go home at lunchtime and sort it out, and this afternoon I want to see Carl, or if he still insists on this protest, Carla, and that is how she will be addressed by everyone, properly appropriately dressed, and with her hair styled as best you can. If she is going to do this, she has to do it properly. you know what needs to be done. Meanwhile go back to your classes for the rest of the morning.”
As we were walking back to classes, Cassie stopped me with a worried look on her face. “Are you sure that you want to do this, wearing a skirt for a protest is one thing, but being treated as a girl for the rest of the month will be a lot harder. Did you notice that she was calling you ‘Carla’ and ‘she’ and ‘her’. If you keep up with this you will have to get used to that.”
“ I’m not going to let the system win, if I have to accept that to make my point, I am totally prepared for it.”
For the rest of the morning I was the butt of a lot of jokes and lewd comments and was ‘accidentally’ pushed as I walked between classes. I was glad to leave with Cassie at lunchtime as we made our way home, and up to her room.
“ What did the head meanly ‘properly dressed’ ?”
“The rules about the skirt and the knickers are only part of the uniform code. You will have to change your shirt and tie for one of my blouses and cravats for a start.”
“That’s easy, no problem.”
“ You are not going to like this, but the rules say that all girls thirteen or over have to wear a bra, whether they have developed or not, having your boobs swinging free is considered too much of a distraction for the boys.”
“ But I don’t have breasts, what is the point of wearing a bra?”
“ Many girls your age have not fully developed breasts yet and use enhancers, small shaped packs of silicone gel, otherwise known as chicken fillets, to give them a bit of a figure, so that people do not notice their lack of growth. I needed some a few years ago before I started growing my own, I will dig them out for you.”
I will see what I can do with your hair in a minute, but first, if you want to appear normal as a girl, you need to shave your arms and legs. You are not too fuzzy, but there is too much and you need to clean up.”
“ Do I have to, the hairs are really just starting to grow, I was beginning to be quite proud of them.
“ It will be expected of you, get in the bathroom and sort yourself out.”
Realising that she would keep on at me until I did what she wanted, I soon came out of the bathroom smooth-skinned everywhere I could reach.
“Luckily, you are in desperate need of a haircut, I think if I brush it differently and fill it out a bit with my styling brush that I could make it into a fairly feminine pixie cut, sit still while I play with it.”
We arrived back at school just in time for class, and this time, unlike this morning, I did not stand out so much and most people just accepted me at first glance as another girl.
My first class of the afternoon was craft, which this term was carpentry basics where I was just about to start making a storage box for tools, but I was stopped at the doorway by my teacher.”
“ I’ve been told by the head that your schedule has changed, Carla. Please go down the corridor to the girls’ craft class with Miss Carter.
“ This is getting silly.”, I thought to myself, “ but if that is the way the head wants to play it, I’ll go along with it.”
To be continued
Chapter 2
As I entered the workroom there were a lot of giggles, and even a cheeky wolf-whistle, which Miss Carter let go on for a minute or so for the girls to get most of their joking out of their systems.
“ Right girls, before we start, as you have all noticed, we have a new class member today, Carla. I’m sure that you will all make her welcome. As you all know, from next week your uniform changes to the summer style of a half sleeve yellow and white gingham dress Some of you may still be able to fit into last year’s, but your project for the rest of the week is to make yourselves a new one. Split into pairs to help each other and collect the material and patterns from the back of the room“
I was in a state of shock, iI had no idea how to sew or use a machine, never mind work out how to make a dress and I didn’t even know if I wanted to find out.
“ Carla, as you are new to this, I have paired you with Zoe, she was rated the highest in this class last year and should be able to help you a lot.”
“ Hi Zoe, sorry that you have been lumbered with me. I am sure that you know all about me, the jungle telegraph in this school is amazing, and apart from that I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to be doing, or why I am having to take this class. I’m sure that they are just trying to shame me into quitting.”
“ Carla, as long as you are in this class, you are just another one of the girls, If you are taking this seriously and intend to see it through I’m happy to work alongside you, but if you are not committed and are going to treat it as a joke, I am going to go and talk to Miss Carter now. I would rather work alone than with somebody who is going to mess up my grades.”
“ Sorry Zoe, I am a little confused and annoyed at the actions of the school.There is no need to talk to Miss Carter. I promise that I will try my best, after all I will be graded on this too. I have absolutely no idea where to start though.”
“We all had to learn sometime, just work with me and follow what I do and we will get through this together. First thing isle need to measure each other, I’ll do you first, watch what I am doing because you will have to measure me afterwards, and you need to get it all right or my dress could turn out badly and I will not get the top marks again.”
We soon had each other measured up, which was a lot more extensive than the chest, waist and inside leg that I was used to, and collected our material and cutout patterns. Marking out the material from the patterns was not as easy as I expected, The fabric pattern on the front and back had to match at the seams, and where the sleeves joined the main body parts. Zoe quickly cut out her sections and then helped me with mine. I was glad of her help, I would have made a proper mess of it on my own.
That was all we managed to get done in that session, some of the other girls had started to sew theirs together, but I was really slowing Zoe down. As we were packing up and getting ready to go to our next class Miss Carter called us to stay.
“Because Carla is new to this, you two are a bit behind the others. I will be in here for a couple of hours after school finishes, you can come in and use the machines then if you want to catch up with everybody.”
I looked at Zoe, who nodded and smiled “ That’s very kind, I would love to, is that ok with you Carla?”
“ I think i need as much time as I can have, and we need to work together as a team. See you later Miss Carter.”
“ What’s your next class Carla, mine is science, which is not my favourite.”
‘I’m off there too, I quite like science, particularly physics, it is one of my better subjects. Let’s go and get there before they start without us.”
“ Glad you could join us Miss Marshall and, er, Miss Duggan, sit down and we will begin the lesson.” Miss Thomas stressed the title ‘Miss’ and glared at me as we made our way to spare desks.
The rest of the afternoon went off without anything being much different to normal and after classes Zoe and I made our way to the craft room to work on our dresses.
“ Have you used a sewing machine before Carla, they can be quite tricky, Let me show you how to work the machine, set the stitch style and tension, feed the material through, and then we can use some of the offcuts for you to practice with, we don’t want to mess up the material for your finished dress.”
While I was getting to grips with my machine and how to feed the material pieces through it, Zoe was working very quickly on tacking her main sections together and soon had hers done. By now I had mastered the basics but was still a bit unsure about starting on my dress. If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it properly and prove to Zoe that I was taking it seriously, she at least deserved that for the help she was giving me
“ Don’t worry too much, this is just the first stage, getting the basic shape, we will be adjusting it all later so any mistakes can be easily corrected. your test pieces seem ok, so get started on putting yours together and I will watch and give you instructions as we go along.”
By the time Miss Carter was ready to leave my dress was all tacked together, ready for us to try a fitting the next time and pin everything more snugly to follow our body shape, before doing the final seam stitching. As our houses were on her way back to her flat, she gave Zoe and I lifts home and I jumped out of the car, thanked both of them for their help and walked inside to find Mum waiting for me.
“ What on earth have you done to yourself. Cassie told me about what happened at school, I was convinced that she was exaggerating, but for once she was being totally honest. Have you had a good look at yourself?”
“ Yes, and I think I am looking good, Cassie did a good job on me.”
“ How long do you intend to keep this up then, to prove your point to the school.”
“ As long as it takes Mum, I am determined to get the rules changed.”
“ If that is the way you want to play it, fair enough, but don’t think that you are going to pretend to be a girl at school and then come home to be Carl again. If you are doing this it has to be 24/7. Go and hang up your uniform for tomorrow. Cassie please dig out a few your old skirts, tops, and shoes for Carla to wear around the house.”
Cassie was up like a shot, she had obviously planned this with Mum while I was still at school.
“ Do I have to Mum, it is only the school that I am having a go at. I was hoping to go down to the park to meet a few of the lads.” i pleaded in my best whiny voice.
“ I told you, you are either going to dress as girl all the time, or as a boy all the time, you are not jumping back and forward as the mood takes you.”
“ If that is what you want, but you will get fed up of it long before I will. You and the school are not going to make me back down.”
“ Come on then Carla, let’s go up to my room and see what I can find for you.” Cassie dragged me away before Mum and I had a big row.
Cassie rummaged through her wardrobe and drawers throwing an assortment of her old stuff on the bed.
“ I don’t want any of that anymore, take it all to your room, we’ll see what fits you and suits you, the rest can go in the bag for the charity shop or in the bin.”
We quickly decided to keep most of the stuff, including a few bras that she had outgrown, and just to wind Mum up even more I put on a tight denim mini-skirt, a skimpy crop top and 2” wedge strappy sandals before going down to show her what I was wearing.
“ My God are you doing this deliberately to annoy me, I remember when Cassie wore that outfit, I thought I had seen the last of stuff like that.”
“ Now you have seen me, I am going up to my room to do my homework.”
“Before you do that, do you mind telling me why you were so late getting home.”
“ I stayed behind with one of the girls, Zoe, to catch up on my craft assignment making my uniform summer dress for next week.”
“ Making your summer dress? This gets worse and worse, get out of my sight before I start screaming at you.”
I escaped up to my room while I still had the chance and quickly finished my homework. I was just about to risk going downstairs again when my phone buzzed at me.
“ Hi Carla, it’s Zoe, are you busy?”
“ No Ive just finished my homework and was about to put the tv on.”
“ That’s handy, do you fancy coming round to mine to help me with the science stuff, I didn’t really understand it in class, and you seemed to be following it ok?”
“I will be glad to help, I owe you for staying late to let me catch up with making my dress. Let me grab my things and I should be at yours in about ten minutes.:
“Mum, I am going round to Zoe’s to help her with her homework, is that ok?”
“ Are you going dressed like that? Won’t you be embarrassed letting her see you in those clothes?”
‘ No I’m fine, after all you said I have to dress like a girl all the time, I am just doing as I have been told.”
“ Don’t be so cheeky! Don’t stay too late, I want you back here by 7 o’clock”
“ Why, I always am allowed out until 8?”
“Different rules apply to girls, you have to be more careful about being out late now. Cassie always had a 7 o’clock deadline and so will you.”
I decided that I wasn’t going to win this argument, so grabbed my shoulder bag, rushed out of the door and made my way to Zoe’s, where I was met at the door by her Mum.
“ Hello Mrs Marshall , I’m Carla Duggan, Zoe asked me to come round to help her with her science homework.”
“ Yes, she told me, she’s up in her bedroom, just go on up, she normally leaves the door open.”
“ Hi Zoe, I guess that you haven’t told your mum about me really being a boy.”
“ Of course not, if she knew you are really a boy, there is no way she would leave me alone with you in my bedroom. Anyway, I have sort of put all that to the back of my mind after working with you on making your dress, it is not exactly stuff that makes me think of you as a boy, is it?”
“Let’s get your homework sorted first, I will try and explain things for you so that you understand it all, we can chat afterwards.”
I went through the science work with her, explaining again what we had been told in class and helping her to complete the work.
“ That was all so easy after you simplified things for me, I don’t know why I didn’t follow it all in class, i just think that Miss Thomas is not very good at putting things across. Thank you so much, i really appreciate that you have come over. I won’t worry now that I have got you to help me when I need it.”
“ Hey, we are a team now, it’a bit like me with the dressmaking, you just need someone to explain it in a way you can follow.”
“ Now that is done, give me the full story of how you have ended up as Carla, it is the talk of the school. If we are going to be seen to be friends, people will ask me about you, and I don’t want to tell them anything that you think is wrong.“
I went through the whole story with her, from the first chat with the boys at the field, Cassie having fun dressing me up, and the reaction from the school and my Mum just making me more determined to get the rules changed.”
“ So how long is this going on for?”
“ At least until the end of the month, maybe longer if they decide to leave the dress code as it is.”
“ Don’t you feel a bit weird though, after all, it is not normal. I like your outfit by the way, my mum doesn’t like me wearing skirts that short, where did you get your clothes from?”
“ They are all Cassie’s cast-offs, that she has outgrown, the only things new are the knickers, Cassie insisted that I had to get my own, she wasn’t keen on sharing those with me. In the end they are just clothes, they do not change me as a person, although when things had calmed down after the initial reaction I settled in quite well, especially with you and the rest of the girls in the needlework class.”
“ I can’t remember what other classes we share, what are you due to do tomorrow.?”
“ First thing it should be Gym, but I don’t know how the school will deal with that, they have already changed my craft class to needlework and have put me into the home economics group too, they are definitely trying to embarrass me into backing down.”
“ I have gym too, if they put you in with us, we should be playing netball. It would be fun if you joined us as there are not too many of the girls interested, most prefer aerobics or modern dance.”
“ That probably won’t happen, for one thing I don’t have any girl’s sports gear, and I am sure that they won’t allow me to use the girls’ changing rooms, I can hardly go in with the boys dressed like this either, can I?”
“ You can borrow some of my stuff if you want, I have a few sets. I’ll get some for you now, take off your skirt and top and you can try them on.”
I was quickly stripped down to my bra and knickers, waiting for her to give me some gym clothes. “Does it not bother you seeing me like this in just my underwear?”
“ Don’t be silly, girls swap clothes and change in front of each other all the time, and at the moment what I see is ‘girl’, Here, put on the netball skirt first to see how it looks and fits. That’s fine. I am not sure about your top though, I normally wear a sports bra to hold things in place a bit more firmly, if you know what I mean, but I don’t know how that will work with your enhancers. take off the bra you have on and try one of mine with my sports vest. Now run around a bit and jump up and down a few times.”
“That seemed to hold everything in place ok, are you sure that you don’t mind lending me your stuff?”
“ It’s not my stuff anymore, it’s yours, just make sure that you bring it all with you tomorrow.”
“ One other thing, although we are not officially allowed makeup, most of the girls in my class use a little mascara and pale lipstick, mainly when they are going home after school. have you noticed.”
“ Not really, but now you have mentioned it i can see you have some on now.”
“ Right. At the end of the day the washrooms get quite busy with girls getting themselves ready in case the meet anyone they fancy on the way home. Do you want me to use some on you now, so that you can see what it is like.”
Ok let me get changed back into my street clothes again and get the sports gear packed in a bag, have you got one I could borrow? Then you have have a quick go at me, before I go home. I really must be leaving soon, mum has me on an early curfew. It’s not fair, as Carl I could stay here another hour.”
“ That’s as may be, but as Carl you would not be allowed up here at all, there are some advantages to being Carla, just get used to the differences.”
After she applied a light coat of mascara, which put me in fear of losing an eye, and a very pale, almost clear lipstick, I had a look in the mirror, and was surprised at the difference they made and thought that I looked even more like the other girls in my classes.
“ Bye Zoe, I’ve enjoyed being here with you tonight, maybe we can do our homework together more often, we can help each other out. I’ll just let your mum know I’m going and then I will have to hurry home.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow, and don’t forget to take your mascara, lipstick and the sports clothes with you.”
I arrived home in the nick of time, another couple of minutes and I would have missed my curfew.
“Do you want anything to eat Carla or did you have something at Zoe’s?” Mum asked, she had obviously calmed down since earlier.
“ To be honest we were quite busy and forgot. Any chance of a quick snack, maybe a burger?”
“ Don’t be silly you have to cut down now and look after your figure. I’ll do you scrambled egg on toast while you go upstairs and get changed into your nightclothes.
When I went into my room, Cassie was sitting waiting for me, with a big self-satisfied smile.
“While you were out Mum had me help her pack all your boy clothes and put them up in the loft. I have put the stuff away that I gave you earlier, the dresses, skirts and trousers are hung in the wardrobe, the tops, jumpers and underwear are in the drawers, but you really need to get more underwear of your own, particularly a few bras and packs of tights. You might want to get some decent panties too, school knickers aren’t really ideal for wearing when you are socialising.”
“ You are really enjoying this aren’t you, I can’t make my mind up whether you are being helpful or having a good laugh at my expense.”
“Honestly, i wouldn’t deliberately do anything to upset you, I’m just enjoying having a younger sister that I can pass on a lot of helpful tips to. That reminds me, you better clean off that mascara and lippy before mum notices, I will give you a pack of cleansing wipes, but I expect you to get your own and replace mine tomorrow. Get your clothes hung up there is a nightie on the bed for you for tonight, put it on before you go downstairs again, and leave on your bra and the enhancers, it will help the nightie sit better.”
If they were all trying to embarrass me into dropping my campaign it wasn’t working, it all just made me more determined, but I decided not to get into an argument with her, I needed her on my side.
I changed and went down for my toast and egg, Mum said nothing about me wearing the nightie but gave me a quick look over and smiled.”
“ It’ just as well that your dad is away on business for a few days, he was never comfortable with Cassie walking around in her nightie, what he would make of you I have no idea.”
I thought that if she is winding me up I would play her at her own game, and when I had finished my toast I walked over gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, something I had not done for a few years. “ Goodnight Mummy, I’m off to my room now.”
To be continued.
Chapter 3
I was still half asleep in the early morning as I made my way to the bathroom, but remembering just in time that I would now be expected to sit when doing my business, I hitched up my nightie sat, and relieved myself. I gave my hair a quick brush to smooth out the overnight knots but realised that I would need Cassie’s help with her magic hair wand to give it the body and style that she had done yesterday. I put on a clean pair of knickers and bra, inserted my enhancers and dressed in my blouse and skirt and went down the stairs to get some breakfast, passing the time until I heard Cassie up and about.
“ Morning Carla, did you sleep well?” Mum was being matter-of-fact about the way I was dressed, as if it was just a normal day. “I didn’t think that you would want a full breakfast this morning, so I have just put out a banana and yoghurt for you, like Cassie has.”
I was actually desperate for my normal cooked breakfast but did not want to give her the satisfaction of asking for it. “That will be fine Mum.”
I quickly finished it and went back upstairs to Cassie’s room, knocked, and went in, only to find her sitting in her underwear, brushing her hair. Normally I would be met with screams of “ Get out, you can’t come in while I am not dressed.” but this time she just smiled and waved me in.
“Hi Carla, come on in, what can I do for you?”
“Have you got time to do my hair like yesterday, I gave it a good brush, but couldn’t get any body to it like you managed to give it?”
“ We will have to be quick I am running a bit late. Watch what I do, you will have to do it yourself from now on, I can’t do it for you every morning. She used the styling wand to give it a bit more body on the top and crown and to curl it under around my ears, brushed and patted it into place and gave a quick spray to hold it. It had only taken a few minutes but made a massive difference in my appearance. i went back to my room, put on the clear lip gloss, packed my bag and was ready to face another day at school.
As we got to the school gates, Cassie saw some friends and went off with them., I saw Sam coming up the road and waited for him, but he gave me a ’keep away’ look and snapped at me ”Why not wait for some of the other girls, since you seem to want to be one of them. Just leave me alone, I am already getting some stick for having been your friend before, if I am seen with you now, it will get even worse.” and hurried past me. We had been friends for many years and it hurt that he no longer wanted to know me just because I was wearing a skirt.
As he hurried away Amy and Lucy, a couple of girls in most of my classes had overheard what he had said and came over to me.
“Just ignore him, he is an idiot, he didn’t deserve you as a friend all that time. Come on and walk in with Lucy and me , we don’t mind, we think what you are doing is very brave, and so do a lot of the other girls.” Amy said as they walked either side of me, holding my hands to reassure me.
“So Carla, are you keeping up with this then?” Lucy asked.
“ Yes of course, at least until they change the rules , so a few weeks yet.”
“ Don’t let the fact that your friend Sam just blanked you, get to you, if that is the way the boys are treating you feel free to join me, Amy, and our friends at lunch time, you will be more than welcome. To be honest, the way you look you will fit in better with us than with the boys, and you might enjoy the company.”
“ Thanks Lucy, I’ll see you then.”
What classes do you have today Carla?”
“ I don’t really know what the school are going to throw at me today. First period is scheduled as Gym. They say that they will be treating me as a girl, but whether that includes gym remains to be seen, they are trying to embarrass me and make me feel ashamed.”
After registration in my homeroom, feeling very nervous, I picked up my gym gear, I had brought both boys’ and girls’ stuff just in case, and made my way to the changing rooms. There was no teacher about to ask what I was supposed to do and was just standing there when Lucy grabbed me and pulled me into the girls’ changing room.
“ It’s ok, i have had a word with the others, they are quite happy for you to get dressed in here and play netball with us, as long as you promise not to look at anyone when they are changing. We can’t let you go into the boys’ changing room looking like that, at best you will get assaulted, at worst you could even get raped, and we wouldn’t want that to happen.”
I sort of hid myself in a corner while I changed into my netball kit as discreetly as I could, including changing into the sports bra that Zoë had given me and refitting my enhancers, but I was sure that the girls were watching me out of the corners of their eyes. I went out with the others to make our way out to the netball court, when I was called back.
“ Duggan come here, what do you think you are doing?” growled the football coach who was on his way out with the boys.
“ I don’t know what you mean Sir, I was told by the headmistress that I had to attend all classes as a girl, and to make her point she had me transferred into needlework and cookery classes, so I assumed that would apply to gym classes too and that I would have to join in with the girls.”
“ Don’t you be so cocky with me, or you won’t know what hit you.”
Before he could say any more, we were interrupted by Miss Carter, who as well as teaching craftwork, when she could she acted as a netball coach too. I had been told that when she was younger she was very good, played for the county, and even had trials for England.
“ I think that is enough, don’t you, threatening a pupil like that? Carla, go and join the others while we have words here. Tell them to pick their teams and I will be over to start you off in a few minutes.
Zoë had been right there was only just enough of us to get two teams and as players were selected, I was the last one chosen.
“ Don’t worry about it, it is not a judgement on you personally, it is just that you have never played before and don’t know the rules.”
“ I’m used to it, I was usually the last one picked at football and rugby too with the boys, I was always too small and light and easily brushed aside by the others.”
You are Goalkeeper for the moment and your main job is to jump to block the Goal Shooter of the other team getting a clear shot at the net. You have to stay in the shooting circle or your first third of the court, you cannot go further forward to our attack areas and if you have the ball you are not allowed to walk with it. Just watch how we play and you will soon pick it up.”
In the first quarter I was more of a hindrance than a help, I was penalised several times by Miss carter for being too close to my opponents or taking too many steps with the ball, although I did make a few blocks and good passes, and at the end of the first quarter we were well behind.
In the short break, the girls were very supportive, if I had been that bad in matches with the boys I would have been getting shouted at and called all sorts of names. Instead the team gave me tips on how to improve my game and let me change position to Wing Attack so that I could be more involved.
I enjoyed this much more , being much more active, passing the ball around and was soon comfortable that I was making the right moves. Thanks partly to a couple of my assist passes we were soon level. the game went back and fro, and at the end we just won by one goal. It was only a school games session, but from the celebrations at the end it was as if we had won a major competition. There was a team hug and cheer, before we went back to get showered and changed. I was really worried about showering with the girls and was about to not bother and just get dressed, but the showers were individual closed cubicles, so I was able to clean myself up and dry off without any problems before going back into the changing area.
When we were dressed again, I walked with the girls for a quick soft drink in the canteen before our next classes. We sat chatting about the game and about life in general, and they just treated me as one of them, pulling me into their conversations, even about which boys they fancied, they seemed to have totally forgot who I really was, or chose to ignore it so as not to make me feel uncomfortable.
“ Carla, a few of us are going to hang out for a while down at the mall after school, do you want to join us.”
I gave a quick look to Zoë who nodded back at me before answering. “I’d love to Lucy, thank you for asking me. Are we just going as we are or are we going home first to get changed?”
“ Today will just go as we are, in uniform, but on Saturday when we go again, we will put our own clothes on.”
“ Spoken just like a girl, ‘what should I wear?’ you are definitely coming over to the fair side.” whispered Zoë in my ear.
After afternoon classes we all made our way to the local mall, sat and had a coffee, people watching, well really boy-watching for the others.
“ You know what i have just noticed,” said Emma to the group,” Carla is the only one of us not wearing ear studs. I think we should take her to get pierced and fitted, what do you all think?”
I wasn’t too sure about this, I though that it might be the last straw for Mum, but they all talked me into it and I soon had a pair of small pearl studs, with my hair pushed behind my ears to show them off.
“ Are you coming back to mine to do our homework together again Carla,” asked Zoë, with big pleading eyes, “ you really helped me last night and my grades today were the best I have had for ages. Mum won’t mind and I can get us some tea and cakes.”
“ Sounds good to me, as long as you help me with my French Grammar paper, I have never really got to grips with the rules on conjugation.”
“ Before you go, we are having a sleepover at Lucy’s on Saturday, do you want to come?” Amy asked us both.
Before I had a chance to think about it Zoë, replied “ Of course , thanks for asking, we would love to.”
“ Hi Mum, I’m home. Carla is with me, we are going up to study together, can we raid the cupboard for some cake and biscuits?”
“ Of course, help yourselves. You are looking much smarter today in your uniform Carla, much better than that ridiculously short skirt you wore yesterday.”
“ Don’t mind her, she is always going on at me that my skirts are too short, it is what Mums do.” Zoë told me as we walked up to her room
While we are having our tea, tell me what you thought about the netball match today.”
“ I really enjoyed it. it was a lot more energetic and tiring than I thought it would be. I have never really enjoyed playing football or rugby, I have never been particularly good at them and tend to get battered and clattered a bit, being smaller than most of the others. I fitted in better with the girls, where I was taller than most except the Shooters, and with no contact allowed it was much more fun. Were the girls all comfortable with me playing? If it is ok with them, I will like to do it again next week, maybe by then I might understand the rules a bit better.”
“ Yes, they were all quite happy for you to join and nobody objected about you being in the changing room either. they just sort of looked on you as one of us.”
“ I was glad that Amy and Lucy invited us to sit with them at lunchtime, none of the boys seem to want to speak to me or be seen with me now, whereas the girls don’t seem so worked up about me.”
“ That’s their loss Carla, if that is how they want to be, just ignore them, you have plenty of friends amongst the girls anyway. The boys will soon come round when they realise that if they are nasty to you they will have no chance with any of us.”
“ Tell me about this sleepover, what will be happening and will I be ok there.”
“ Don’t worry, it will all be just girly stuff, gossiping, doing each others hair, playing with make up and things like that, you should enjoy it, and they are all a friendly bunch. You will be ok, if they didn’t like you or think you would fit in you wouldn’t have got an invite.”
“Right, let’s get our work done now, that’s why we are here.” It was good to work together, we both had strong points and weak points in the different subjects and were able to clear up a lot of the problems we had been having. and we soon had it all finished.”
“ I better be off now, I have things to do at home, I’ll see you tomorrow and we can try to get our dresses finished.”
“ Don’t go yet. To save time tomorrow I picked up our dresses from the craft room. we can put them on and pin them up , so tomorrow it will just be a matter of running them through the machines.
Zoë turned the dresses inside out so the seams were on the outside, and changed into hers telling me to do the same, she didn’t seem to mind stripping out of her uniform in front of me so I just dropped my skirt, pulled off my blouse and followed her lead.
“ They seem a bit baggy, are you sure that we measured up correctly?”
“ I told you Carla, that this is just the first stage to hold it all together. What we do now is pull it all tighter and pin it where we want the seams to follow the line of your figure so that it is a nice shape, not too tight but still fitted. I’ll do you first, tell you what I am doing and then you can do the same to me. As I am still growing up top I am going to leave a little spare material on the seams around the bust line so I can let it out when I develop a little bit more, but we don’t need to do that with yours as you will only be wearing it for a few weeks, and you won’t be growing any bigger anyway.”
When we were finished the dresses hung much better on both of us and when we turned them the right way round they looked perfect and all it would need the following day would be to run them through the machines, and do the hems of the skirt, sleeves and collar.
“ We should wizz through that tomorrow and then you can take it home to show your mum and Cassie.”
“ Zoë”, her Mum called out “ i need to go down to the supermarket , do you want to come with me and we can give Carla a lift home on the way.”
As we pulled up outside my house, Mum came down the drive to meet us.
“ Hello, I’m Sarah, pleased to meet you, Carla has been spending so much time with Zoë lately that I thought that it was about time we met, do you want to come in for a few minutes to get to know each other?”
To my relief Zoë’s Mum, Margaret, said she was in a bit of a rush to get some shopping but that she would be glad to get together another time.
“If you want, Zoë can stay here and I can have a chat with her, and you can pick her up on the way back, is that ok?”
“Actually that will save time, she always dawdles around the shops, I will see you in about a half-hour.”
Mum sat us down in the kitchen and I was dreading how she was going to take the conversation, but she just stayed calm and cool.
‘ Carla has been telling me about you doing homework together and how you have been helping her with her summer dress, you seem to be becoming good friends.”
“ Yea, she is a lot of fun and a big help. We have been working on the dresses this afternoon after school, pinning them to shape. we should get them sewn up and finished tomorrow and she can bring hers home to show you.”
“ I look forward to it, this is the first dress she has made for herself, so I hope it comes out ok. If it is good, I can dig out my old machine and she can make some summer stuff for Cassie and me. How is school going for you?”
“ Actually it is a lot better now I am working together with Carla, we help each other out. We had a good time today with the girls, playing netball, she did alright for her first time .”
It was freaking me out a bit, them both referring to me as ‘she’ and ‘her’ and talking about me as if it was normal, when they both know that I was really a boy.
“ Oh, I suppose that means Carla that your games kit will need washing, we’ll put it in the machine later with anything else of yours that needs done.”
I was glad when Mrs Marshall came back to pick up Zoë, Mum had been skirting around the subject a lot and I was frightened that she was going to say something to Zoë that would embarrass us all.
“ That wasn’t so bad was it Carla, she seems a nice girl, you and her have a lot in common. Tell me more about this netball game, where did you get your kit from?”
“ Zoë gave me some spare stuff of hers, which fitted me quite well. When we had got changed, I did not look much different from the other girls and they all thought that I blended in well with them.”
“ Did you change in the same room with them?’
“ i could hardly go in with the boys could I, do you want me to get attacked?”
“ Of course not, it was probably a sensible thing to do, as long as the other girls did not mind.”
“ Mum, you and the Head both told me that If I was going to continue with this that I was to act as and be treated as a girl, I am trying to fit in as best as I can.”
“Ok dear, go and get changed out of your uniform and then come and help me in the kitchen.”
“ Do I have to, I was just going to have a bit of time playing video games.”
“ Video games are for boys, girls help their mothers, you know I expect Cassie to keep the house tidy and help me in the kitchen, I expect you to now do the same. When you come down bring your sports kit and other dirty washing with you to put in the machine.
To be continued.
Chapter 4
It was a warm night, so I changed into a loose summer skirt and light sun top that Cassie had given me, and went down to the kitchen with my clothes that needed washing. “Don’t just throw you dirty stuff in the laundry basket anymore, you will have to look after your own stuff from now on.” Mum quickly told me.
“ What do you want me to do Mum, does it need sorted?”
“ Normally you would need to separate the coloured and whites and delicates from the general wash, but none of that looks too dirty so just put it all in together, it should be ok, Set the dials at ‘daily wash ’ 40oC cycle, put a cup of powder in the little drawer and turn it on.
“ Anything I can do to help you with preparing dinner, Mum?”
“ It makes a change that you have thought to ask, thank you. I’m just making a chicken lasagne for tonight, that can be eaten cold with a salad if we sit outside. If you really want to help, chop up finely a couple of peppers and carrots and a large onion and I will sort out the mince and sauce.. You don’t want to get your clean skirt dirty, there is an apron on the back of the larder door, put that on first.
As we were working, Mum and I chatted away and I learned a lot about what she had got up to when she was younger. Everyone thinks of their Mum as a bit staid and boring, but she surprised me by telling me stories about her times working as a holiday rep in Torremolinos and Benidorm in Spain for a couple of years, and the wild partying times she had before she met Dad and had Cassie and me. I realised what she had given up for the family and gave her a hug as I thanked her for telling me. I think that it was the first time she had ever told me anything about herself and her life, normally all our conversations seemed to be about school or family business, and I promised myself that I would find out more in future chats.
“ Your father should be here soon, you may want to go up to your room for a bit and keep out of the way. I have told him over the phone what you have been doing dressing in girls’ clothes, and he is not wonderfully happy about it. It will be better if you let me have a talk with him before he sees you.”
Listening from up in my bedroom, I heard Dad come in and a lot of loud conversation between him and Mum before she came up to get me and lead me downstairs.
“ What on earth do you think you are doing Carl?” Dad growled at me as he caught sight of me for the first time dressed in girls’ clothes.
“ I am trying to get the school to change its dress code, I wore a skirt as a protest and it all just snowballed. The school insisted that if I wanted to look like a girl, I needed to do it properly and Mum had the same idea, both of them trying to embarrass me into giving up. I am dressing full-time as a girl and going to classes with the girls at school. By the way, everybody is calling me Carla now.”
“ Well I think that it is ridiculous, I actually agree with the reason for your protest and can even accept your idea of wearing a skirt to make your point, but this has gone much too far. I will be going to the school on Monday to get this all sorted out.”
“Please Dad, don’t do that, I am determined to stick this out until the school changes the dress code, and if you go up there causing trouble they will just dig their heels in and refuse to listen.”
“ Well, I do not like this, but your Mum has convinced me, against my better judgement, that you are happy and comfortable living as a girl for the moment. I am outvoted, and that is even before I ask Cassie what she thinks, I am sure she really enjoys seeing you like this.”
When the weather allowed we enjoyed sitting out at the garden table to eat. Usually when we all got home, Cassie and I went to our rooms and watched TV or played computer games, or in Cassie’s case spending half the time chatting on her phone or computer with friends. It was normally nice to relax and talk as a family while we were eating and have a pleasant evening sitting in the sunshine, but this time Dad was not his usual cheery self and just sat quietly deep in thought.
As we went back inside as it was getting cooler, Mum took one look at us and groaned.
“Cassie I keep telling you about using sun cream when you are wearing those skimpy tops, you are all red and your skin is hot, You are not much better Carla, you will really have to take more care of yourself now. There is some after-sun lotion in the cupboard, go upstairs and get changed for bed and rub each other with the cream, it will stop you burning up.”
As Cassie was applying the cream on my back she started giggling.
“ What’s up Sis, what is amusing you.”
“When all the redness dies down, you are going to be left with strong tan lines from your bra straps and the across your back from the edge of the sun top. The girls will love that when you are next in the changing rooms.”
Where have you been anyway, It might have been nice if you had been there to support me?”
“How did it go with Dad? I deliberately kept out of the way, I didn’t think it would help if I chipped in with my two pennyworth.”
“ Not as bad as I expected, he is not happy, but Mum convinced him to let me continue.”
The next morning at school went in a blur, nobody was bothering me or calling me names, and the other pupils, particularly the girls, just treated me as another one of the girls in their class.
After lunch in the needlecraft workroom, Zoë and I quickly finished off our dresses, made some slight adjustments and added trims on the sleeve cuffs, skirt hem, and collar, and attached loops for a tie belt. We trimmed off the excess from the seams and were ready to try them on.
“ After being behind, the first day, you two have caught up and finished first. Well done, aren’t you going to try them on?” Miss Rogers asked us.
I was wondering where to go to change when Zoë took off her blouse, dropped the dress over her head, dropped her skirt and and smoothed the dress down.
“ Come on Carla, don’t be shy, the others will be too busy finishing theirs off to look at you, and besides a lot of them have seen you in the changing rooms already, let’s see what you look like in yours.” After a look around to see that most of the girls were busy at their machines I just followed what Zoë had done.
“ I see you used your imagination a bit Zoë, the dresses are a bit more close-fitting than the ones most of the girls get from the shops and the trims you have added individualise them a bit. You have bent the rules but you will get no complaints from me.”
Soon everyone was finished and Miss Rogers walked around inspecting them all.
“ Well done girls, every one one of you. I know that these summer dresses are not the most popular style, and you would all rather be wearing something a bit trendier, but those are the rules and you all actually look very good in them. Although you are not supposed to wear them until next Monday, if you wish, you can keep them on for your last class of the day.”
When we walked into our next class there was a lot of murmuring and pointing from the girls and after it was over, some of them came and asked us if we could adjust the ones their mothers had bought for them as the way we had done ours was much more stylish. we offered to do the first three that asked us, but referred the rest to Miss Rogers’ needlework lessons.
Back at home I walked into the kitchen to show Mum my dress and she just stared at me for a few moments, without making any comment., before she came over to me.
“ You have done a really good job of that Carla, it fits you just enough to tell everybody that you are now to be considered as a girl. let me have a good look at it. She felt around the hem and sleeves, turning them back to inspect the stitching. “Thats’s a nice soft material and you have sewn it really well, you must be proud of what you have done.”
“ When Miss Carter first told me what I had to do I was really scared and embarrassed and nearly walked out, but Zoë was a massive help, she really knows what she is doing and corrected any mistakes I was making. It is more down to her than me that it turned out so well.”
“ You don’t want to ruin it, so go upstairs and get changed. You need to keep it nice and clean for when you wear it for school on Monday. ”
I was in my room in the middle of changing and standing in just my bra and knickers, when the door flew open and Cassie burst in without knocking first and being invited.
“ The girls at school were going on about you parading around in the new dress you have made and how good you looked. Let me see it.”
“ I’ve just taken it off and hung it up.”
“ Well, just take it back out and put it on again.“ she snapped back in her ‘don’t mess me about’ voice, and I did as I was told.
“ Hey, that looks great. I have never really liked that summer dress, I have always thought it a bit little-girlish, but it looks a lot better the way you have done it. You will definitely have to alter mine before Monday, I can’t have my kid sister being more stylish than me, can I.”
“ I’ll make a deal with you. I am going to Zoë’s tomorrow to alter some dresses for some of our classmates. I know that you hate needlework, but come and help us and we will tidy up your dress for you as you want it to look.”
“ It’s not how I would like to be spending my Saturday morning playing at seamstress with my kid sister and her friend, but it seems fair, it’s a deal, although I am not particularly looking forward to it.”
In the morning Cassie brought some stuff into my room and threw it on my bed.
“ I’m just going casual today. “ she said as she squeezed into really tight jeans and a skimpy top, Why don’t you do the same, I put some in your wardrobe for you the other day?”
“ I tried the jeans on, they are so tight and uncomfortable, I can’t believe that you actually like wearing them.”
“You have a lot to learn. As a girl you have to follow the styles and not stand out from everyone else, Everybody appears cool in them, it is expected.”
“ They are anything but cool, as in the proper sense of not warm. The whole reason I am doing this is because I wanted the option of wearing shorts and not having my legs all wrapped up during this hot weather. I am just going to wear my denim skirt, it is much more pleasant with the fresh breeze cooling my legs.”
“ Please yourself, I think you are beginning to like wearing skirts.”
Despite not originally being enthusiastic, round at Zoë’s Cassie soon settled down with us and seemed to enjoy acting as the model while we pinned her school dress to fit as she wanted it to look. When it was all finished she was delighted with how it fitted and looked, and kept it on while we made the alterations to the other ones for the girls at school. Because she was helping us by cutting, fetching and carrying, we managed to get them all done a lot quicker than we had expected and went to deliver them to the girls from class. Cassie decided to keep on the dress and come round with us rather than heading straight home.
“ Thanks, so much girls, I didn’t really want to do this today, but you have done a wonderful job on the dress, I won’t be embarrassed to wear it as I was last year. I have enjoyed myself with the pair of you today, it has been fun, let me know if you have anything planned, I might hang out with you again.”
“ We were planning to go down to the fair tomorrow, we haven’t been there this season yet, do you want to come with us, or will it not be cool being seen out with your kid sister?”
“ That sounds good actually, it should be fun, of course I will come with you.”
“ Hi girls,” Mum smiled at us as we arrived home and went into the kitchen, did you have a good day? It’s a change to see you wearing a dress Cassie, instead of your usual out-of-school denim jeans, Carla is a good influence on you. Is that your school dress from last year or have you been spending again?”
“ No need Mum , Carla and Zoë, mainly Zoë, did a super job on it don’t you think?”
“ Yes dear, I’ll definitely have to get Carla and you to make something for me now. You best keep that dress looking good for Monday, go and change, and it’s too hot for jeans, put on one of your light sundresses. “
I went up with Cassie to her room and sat on the bed while she looked through her wardrobe and, after pulling several out wrinkling her nose and putting them back, finally ended up with a spaghetti-strapped loose floral shift.
“You look a lot prettier in that than your usual ripped grunge jeans, you should dress like that more often, and I’ll tell you something, you will have the boys around you like bees at a honey pot.” Which brought a big smile from her.
“ There is another one for you here, you can try on if you want.”
“ I couldn’t wear something that skimpy on the top, I can’t take off my bra like you’ve done, and the straps would show.”
“ Hmm, you are right, we will have to do something about that. Don’t be so old fashioned though, most girls and women are not ashamed to show their bra straps any more, just put on the dress and we will go and sit in the garden with a drink.”
“ You girls are looking delightful,” Mum gushed as we went to go outside,” I have just got to take a photo of you together.”
We got our drinks and a chocolate bar, got a couple of chairs from the shed and chatted about what we were planning to do at the fair, until dinner was ready.
“ Cassie how many times do I have to tell you about using sun cream, and you too Carla, you have both caught the sun again and are bright red, get up to the bathroom, use the after-sun in the cabinet, if you have any left from last time, put some on each other to cool your skin down and stop your skin drying out and flaking.”
When we sat down at the table dad took one look at us and went quiet for a minute. “ What have you two done to my children, Instead of a son and a totally scruffy unkempt and unruly daughter I now seem to have two delightful young ladies.”, Mum burst into giggles and we both soon followed.
After dinner Dad suggested that as it was such a nice late spring evening that we should go for a walk around the lake in the nearby park, it was the first time since we were children that we had done anything like that when not away on holiday, and we all jumped at the chance of being a happy united family again, instead of us all doing our own things, Afterwards we stopped off at the beer garden of the nearby pub, lagers for Mum and Dad, and cola and orange juice for Cassie and me.
“ Hello Carla, it’s nice to see you out with your family.” I quickly looked to see Miss Carter with a rather tall attractive man beside her.
“Hello Miss Carter, it is a lovely evening isn’t it, we’ve just been for a walk together.”
“ We are not in school now, just call me Jane, and this is my partner Rob”
“ I apologise for my ignorant children Jane,” Dad butted in, “I’m Mike, this is Caroline and I assume that you know Carla and Cassie. Would you like to join us?”
“ I’d love to, but we are meeting friends over there waiting for us, maybe another time. I’m amazed at how well Carla has settled in with the girls, she is determined to make it work. You must be proud of her.”
“ Thank you for helping Carla with the summer uniform dress. She gave all the praise to Zoë, but I am sure that you had a big input too.” Mum replied.
“ Carla is a quick learner and is quite enthusiastic, Zoë kept her on the straight and narrow, but Carla did all the work herself.”
“ Am I the only one who does not totally accept that Carla in here for the immediate future, everyone else just seems to accept it without any qualms?” Dad said after Jane and Rob had left.
“ Just be quiet and enjoy your beer Mike.” Mum playfully snapped back at him.”
Sunday morning Cassie and I smothered ourselves in sun-screen moisturiser and I heard Cassie giggling as she did my back and shoulders.
“ What’s tickling you Cassie?”
With all that sitting in the sun yesterday, you have now got lovely tan lines, across your back and chest where the top of your dress sat and on your shoulders from the straps of the dress and bra. There will be no hiding those when you get changed for gym next week.”
Ignoring her I dressed for a day of fun at the fair, in a crimson tartan mini kilt and cerise sleeveless top and open-toed sandals, Cassie had decided on a low-cut strappy top and frayed hem Daisy Duke shorts.
“ Let’s hurry up and get out of the house before Mum sees you and makes you change.” I joked with her.
We picked up Zoë and got the bus down to the coast to the fair. It was not as big and brash as some of the theme parks, but we still had some scary rides on the rollercoasters and Pirate ship as well as the traditional Chair-o-planes, waltzer, and dodgems. We had a great time, getting really scared and having loud screams on the hairier rides, but always managed to calm down afterwards with ice cream, popcorn, toffee apples or candy floss. While Zoë and I got all our thrills from the rides and the treats, Cassie, being that bit older, was getting her thrills flirting outrageously with all the ride attendants and the boys following us around, well mostly following her Daisy Dukes if the truth be known.
Later after we had enjoyed, if that is the correct word, the thrills of the scarier rides we had a gentle walk along the promenade watching people in the penny arcades and bingo stalls, eating bags of chips, trying to keep them out of reach of the swooping seagulls, and just enjoying the freedom and the fresh air. We sat on the beach for a while, Zoë and I people watching, and Cassie boy-watching. She was getting to be a real flirt, I shuddered to think when what she would be like
in a couple of years time.
We took off our shoes and walked back along the waters edge, paddling in the rippling wavelets, being silly kicking the spray at each other, before saying goodbye to Zoë and making our way home.”
“ Just look at the pair of you, you look only half-dressed, particularly you Cassie. Your Dad is in the garden cleaning down the barbecue for later, go and get changed before he sees you, put on those nice dresses you wore yesterday.”
Giggling, we did as we were told and were down and out in the garden with Dad 10 minutes later.
“ Carla, are you going to help me out here with the barbecue, like you usually do, or do you want to help Mum and Cassie in the kitchen?”
‘ Just because I am wearing a dress doesn’t mean that I have forgotten how to cook chicken, sausages, burgers, and veggie kebabs, let me go get an apron and I will be right back.”
I left Cassie in with mum preparing the salad and side dishes, laid out the patio table, and sliced the burger buns and started watching the grill for Dad while he went to get cleaned up after laying out and lighting the charcoal.
Cassie brought out the crockery and the dressings and came over to me.
“ Hi, it was fun today with you two, I thought that it might be a bit boring with my kid sister and her friend, but you two are ok. Let me know if you have anything planned, I might join you again. Sometimes with my friends we are all trying to be grown-up or cool, and worry too much about what other people think, it’s nice to be a kid again occasionally. After all, I am still only fifteen, I have years ahead to be adult and sensible.”
“ You are welcome to join us anytime, and don’t forget you promised to help me make a dress for Mum.”
We enjoyed our barbecue, it was the first of the season for us. Usually, when we were in the house we all tended to do our own thing, Cassie and I going to our rooms to watch our favourite tv programmes, but after a barbecue we always spent time as a family, ‘bonding’ is the in phrase.
“ Mum , why don’t you set up the sewing machine and I will check that it is still working ok, and maybe tomorrow after school I can meet you at “ The Sewing Shack’, you can pick out some patterns and material and I can get started on your dress.” I saw Dad rolling his eyes at this, but he did not say anything, just gritted his teeth.
“ i’ll come with you too, I could do with a couple of skirts and we can make them up together.” added Cassie. Even if Dad was still a bit unsure of how I was now living, at least Cassie and I were becoming closer again, a lot of the ‘big sister/kid brother’ rivalry had now gone.
A bit later we had the machine set up and checked out, doing some test seams on an old blouse that Mum was going to throw out and it seemed to be working fine. It was not as flexible in stitching styles as the machines at school or the one Zoë had, but it was adequate for what we would need to do.
“ That’s all working fine Mum, we have now just got to decide what you want in style and something that won’t be too difficult to make and we can get started. I’ll see you at the shop at a quarter to four, you get there a bit earlier and pick out some patterns, and I will let you know which I can cope with.”
To be continued.
Chapter 5
Monday morning Cassie and I wore our summer dresses for school and I was quite proud of the work I had done, we both looked very stylish, at least as stylish as any school uniform could look, and we received a lot of compliments from our classmates, especially those whose dresses we had modified for them
At the end of lessons, Zoë called me over. “ Are you coming round this afternoon, i could do with a bit of help with my science homework again, I understand it much better when you explain it than when the teacher tells us in class.”
“ I’m meeting Mum down at The Sewing Shack first, but I can get her to drop me off at yours afterwards, if that’s ok.”
When Cassie and I got to the shop Mum had already picked out three of the styles she liked.a fitted sleeveless v-neck dress with a waterfall skirt, a plain shift with a boat neckline and capped sleeves, and a midi belted wrap-around,
“ What do you think Carla, could you manage any of those.”
“ I may need to simplify some of the edging, but I should be able to cope with any of them.”
“ Have you picked out your material yet Mum” Cassie chipped in. “ I think the waterfall dress in satin would look classic and refined in just a plain colour, white, or pale green to match your eyes. The shift would look good in some striking geometric pattern and for the wrap-around I would go for a floral print, those two in light cotton, or maybe seersucker for the wrap-around, what do you both think?”
“Don’t ask me, I might be good with the machining, but i will leave design choices to you two, you have a lot more experience in that than me. Have a look at the materials and then you can decide which to go for.”, I knew the limitations of my skills.
While Mum was making up her mind, Cassie picked out a pattern for a mid-thigh flared skirt with belt and tie cord. “What about this, it would suit both of us, different colours or patterns obviously, but they can be near enough to look like the same style. I love this one, please say yes.”
Mum couldn’t make up her mind between the waterfall and the shift and ended up buying the patterns and material for both.
“ Drop me of at Zoë’s on the way Mum, we are doing our homework together again, put all the stuff and the machine in bedroom 4, I will use that as a workroom.”
Zoë and I soon got through her homework, once I explained a few things to her it didn’t take her long. “Thanks again Carla, you’ve been a big help and a good friend, It will be a shame when all this is over and you go back to being a boy, skirts and dresses suit you.”
“ We’ll see what happens soon and whether the school rules change. If not you might have me around for longer.”
“ Do you want a lemonade or something we can sit in the garden for a while. but I want to get changed first and keep my school dress clean.”
“ Good idea, if I had known I was coming I could have brought a change with me too.”
“No problem, i am sure I can find something for you. Why don’t you bring a couple of your after-school outfits over and leave them here for next time?’
I was soon dressed in one of her denim mini-skirts and powder-blue sleeveless tops and we spent a while chatting about people and all that was going on at school.
“ Carla, I am going to the shops and will be passing your house, do you want a lift?” Zoë’s mum asked.
“ Oh, yes please, it will save a bit of a walk.”
When we got to the end of my road, she pulled the car over and stopped.
“ Carla I need to ask you a question and please be honest with me. Someone told me that there is a boy at your school that is dressing and presenting themselves as a girl, that they are a close friend of Zoë, and that they are spending a lot of time together. What do you know about it, I am worried for her?”
“ Do you really want to know, sometimes it is better to just let sleeping dogs lie?”
“ Are you not worried about her too? Come on, tell me, you know something.”
“ If you really want to know I will be honest with you. That boy you are talking about is actually me, I’m really Carl, not Carla. But you have nothing to worry about with me and Zoë. ”
“ Never, I don’t believe you, who are you covering for?”
“ Honestly it is true, come into the house and ask my Mum if you don’t believe me.”
“ Why are you doing this, do you want to be a girl?”
“ This is how it all started ……….” I told her the full story of everything that had happened since that first day and she just kept silent and looked at me in disbelief.
“ It’s only been a few weeks, and you are already so natural as a girl, not just how you are dressed, but how you behave and talk, it’s as if you have always been a girl. How do your family feel about it?”
“ Dad is not all that keen but Mum has told him to just put up with it, Mum was anti at first but has now got used to it and just accepts me, my sister Cassie really loves it, she likes having a kid sister.”
“ Mum, Mrs Marshall is here, she wants to have a talk with you, Because she was worried about rumours she was hearing about a friend of Zoë, I needed to tell her all about me, and what I am doing. I will go up to my room and leave you to talk in private.”
A bit later I heard Mrs Marshall drive away and went down to find out from mum what had been said.
“ I explained that we were fully supporting you in your campaign and that the school had insisted that if you chose to wear a skirt that you would have to fully present as a girl and would be treated as a girl, that it wasn’t something that you had a need to do. Despite you being at their house lots of times and just working together as two girls with Zoë, Mrs Marshall was concerned that it was not right for a thirteen-year-old boy and girl to be together alone in a bedroom.”
“ In a way, I understand, but we have never done anything wrong, honest, when I am there Zoë talks to me as if I was another girl, and as you have seen I am trying my best to behave like one.”
“She actually quite likes you and appreciates the help you are giving to Zoë. She said that you can keep going round there anytime you want, but the bedroom door must not be closed and she will be looking in on you at regular intervals, she has been quite understanding really. However, be careful, you may be accepted by the school and by Margaret, but not everybody will be so understanding and tolerant, and there are a lot of nasty people out there.”
“ Don’t worry Mum, none of the girls seem to mind when I am with them, and the boys are all keeping their distance, none of them want to be seen with me.”
“Margaret has got me thinking, neither of us is comfortable with you undressing in front of the girls, especially in the changing rooms and showers, and at the sleepover you are going to on Saturday. You could be accused of all sorts, flashing at them, even sexually assaulting them. I have an idea, you may not like it, but let me speak to someone first. Go upstairs, get changed and finish all your homework.”
I heard Mum having a long phone conversation and when I went back downstairs she had quite a serious look about her.
“ I’ve finished my homework, have you got time for me to take all your measurements, and if you tell me which you want first, I can make a start on your dress.”
“ Sit down, i need to have a serious talk with you first. As I said I am worried about you being accused of inappropriate behaviour with the girls. My friend Michelle is a nurse in A&E and she says that she can fix up your boys’ bits so that without a close inspection you can look like a girl down below. It will only be temporary until all this protest is over and can be easily reversed. It is not just for the benefit of you not embarrassing the girls, or stopping accusations about you, but it will mean that you do not have to worry about anyone seeing you either. What do you think?”
“ I am beginning to agree with Dad, this is going a lot further than I had intended. Can I have a talk with Michelle before deciding?”
“ Fine, she says if we go to see her, she can fix you up if you want to do it. Are you ok with that? Do you still want to get started on the dress or is your mind not on it now?”
“ No i am ok, it will be a bit of a distraction for me.”
“ Let’s get started and do the waterfall first in the mint satin. My birthday is coming up and it would be nice to get it finished for then.”
I soon had her measured up and the material sections marked out. Before I even started to do the cutting and tacking, I did a trial run on some small offcuts to set the thread tension right it was quite a delicate material and needed to be right to get a smooth finish. I didn’t want to rush it, as the more tired I was, the more likely I would be to make mistakes, so I packed it all away and went back downstairs.
“ Ok Mum, let’s go and find out a bit more about what Michelle will be doing. If I don’t like it, I will just say no.”
We were soon round with Mum’s friend Michelle, and she talked me through what she intended to do to hide my bits, and assured me that it would not hurt and that everything could go back to normal afterwards. As I had gym the next day, i thought that if I was going to do this, now was as good a time as any. After a lot of pushing and probing between my legs and glueing things together I was stood in front of a mirror looking at myself, and although I had not really seen any girls naked in the flesh, It looked to me just like I had seen in the photographs in the magazines the boys passed around. I now had a totally flat front groin curving back between my legs, there was no obvious sign of my boy bits.
“ Do you want me to complete the image? “ Michelle asked, bringing me out of my deep thoughts about how I now appeared. “ I have been to work and picked up some breast forms, false breasts, that I can fix to you, they will be a lot more convenient when you are changing than having to use the enhancers, and will look a lot more natural under your clothes.”
“ In for a penny, in for a pound, why not?” I thought. By the time we went back home, I looked, to all intents and purposes, just like the other girls.
On the way home, mum stopped off at Zoë’s, and I left her to chat to Zoe’s mum , while I went up to her room where I told her about what Michelle had done to me and why they had suggested it.
“ Let me have a look then, don’t be shy, you can’t tell me something like that and leave me wondering.”
Worried that our Mums might come upstairs, I quickly undressed to show her and put my clothes back on again.
“ Wow, that is amazing, you look just like the rest of us, you should have no problems in the changing room now, you can’t be accused of anything.”
The next day the netball session went off ok and nobody mentioned my body changes, if they noticed at all, because I did try to be careful and keep my back to them when putting on my sports kit. It felt strange running around with my new breasts bouncing and it distracted me from the game. Because my mind was elsewhere I played poorly, just when I thought that I was beginning to get the hang of the game.
After school and homework, for the rest the week Cassie and I worked on Mum’s dress, It was mainly me, but she helped with the cutting out and pinning while I tacked all the pieces together.
We called Mum up and got her to try it on while the two of us pinned it into a more fitted shape and changed it a bit as she suggested. It was soon finished and after I added a simple lining to help it hang better she tried on the finished dress, she gasped, and hugged us both.
“Thank you both so much it is beautiful and fits a treat. It is even better knowing that you two have made it. I’ll definitely wear it out for my birthday dinner with your dad”
“ You look gorgeous in it Mum, it really suits you. Get your hair done and a put on a bit of slap and he won’t be able to keep his hands off you.” Cassie answered with a cheeky smile.
“Thats’ enough of that, young lady, it’s just as well I am in a good mood with you.”
Saturday evening Mum drove me to collect Zoë and drop us off at Lucy’s for the sleepover. “Enjoy yourselves girls, call me in the morning and I will come and collect you.”
We were the first to arrive and Lucy took us into the garden room where we were to have the sleepover. “ My room is not big enough for everybody so this is where we will be tonight. There is food in the kitchen next door for later and we have the smart TV in here so can call up films or music channels, there are loads of cushions to sit around on, just make yourselves at home. Welcome to your first girly sleepover Carla, just relax and follow everyone else, you will soon get into the spirit of things.”
When Amy and the others arrived we all soon settled in, there was a constant stream of chatter and I struggled to follow the several conversations going on at once, but the others did not seem to have a problem with that, they were more used to it all than me.
Whilst we were all chatting we watched a couple of teen romcom films, stuffed our faces with sandwiches, biscuits and cakes, painted each others nails, played around with makeup and hairstyles, just like Zoë had described it for me. It was soon time to get ready for bed, although it was unlikely that we would being going to sleep early, there was still so much chatter going on.
We all took turns going into the en-suite loo to change into our nightwear. Cassie had talked me into taking a short light nightie with matching panties with me, rather than pyjamas, she said it would help me feel more girly. When I went back into the room, there were a lot of looks of amazement and surprise, most of the others were dressed either in pyjamas or plainer cotton shift nighties.”
“ Wow, when you do something you do it 110% don’t you Carla, we should all have dressed a bit fancier. I can’t have this, I am going to change into something sexier I’ve got loads of spare stuff if anyone else fancies a change.” Soon everyone else had borrowed one of Lucy’s nighties or sleep sets and it was all giggles and compliments for a while as we compared our styles and how we all looked.
“ Right girls, this is the bit that we all dread, it’s time for a bit of ‘truth or dare,’ are you all up for it?” Lucy grinned at us all, challenging anyone to say ‘no’.
We all sat in a circle and a bottle was spun picking out each of us in turn. It was all a lot of harmless fun, mainly ‘truths’ about boys they all fancied or the scariest things they had ever done, although there ere a couple of dares to do stupid things like imitating pop star’s dancing and singing while the music was called up on Spotify, but eventually it was my turn.
“ Truth or dare Carla?”
“Truth.”
“ Do you wish you were a girl?” Lucy was the first one to come up with a ‘truth’ question, and got a few dirty looks from the others for being so blunt.
“ That’s unfair, the rest of this has always been harmless fun, but that is a bit personal. Can’t you ask something else?”
“ Tell the truth Carla, or it will have to be a dare.” They all joined in until I had no real choice.
“ Ok, the truth is that at first it was all just a laugh, a protest, but things have just steamrollered, and I am quite settled and comfortable now as Carla. I don’t know whether I want to stay as a girl though, after all I have been a boy for 13 years, and a girl for just a few weeks. I am just enjoying myself with you all at the moment, and I do like being treated as a girl.”
“ What do you think girls, Carla never really answered the question, I think that there has to be a dare, do you all agree?”
There was a lot of murmuring then they all started chanting “dare, dare, dare ,dare!”
Zoë stood up and with a big grin looked at me “ I’ve got the perfect dare to settle all this, stand up Carla. Drop your panties and step out of them, now drop your nightie slowly down to the floor.”
“ No Zoë, this is not fair, I should never have told you.”
“ Dare, Dare, Dare, Dare !.” they all chanted again.
“ Ok you asked for this.” i said as I slowly dropping my nightie, revealing my body bit by bit.There was a sudden shocked silence in the room when they saw me with my artificial breasts and the female shape between my legs . I was just so embarrassed and ashamed, and felt like crying until Zoë came over and gave me a big hug. “They would find out sometime, this is as good a time as any. Put your clothes back on and we’ll get on with things.”
As I dressed the girls all started to clap and cheer, and one-by-one came over to give me a hug.
“ Sorry Carla,” said Lucy, “ I should not have pushed you into that, as I said before, you really go for 110% don’t you. Sit down and tell us all about it. When did you have the operation to lose your boy bits?”
“ Don’t be daft, I haven’t honestly, everything is just hidden away and glued up. Mum thought that to stop any complaints or suggestions of me interfering with any of you here or in the changing rooms, that it would be best if I was temporarily given no choice. A nurse friend of hers fixed me up and it will all last for a few weeks.”
“ Welcome to real girlhood Carla, you might look like us, and need to go for a wee like us, but count yourself lucky that you don’t have to suffer periods like the rest of us, that is the big downside to being a girl.” Lucy’s comment brought a mixture of giggles and groans from the rest of the girls.
There were lots more questions about how I felt living as a girl and wearing girls’ clothes and whether I would stay as a girl when the protest was over, how I felt about making dresses for Mum and Cassie and things like that. None of it was nastiness, just curiosity.
“ Promise me girls, not a word to anyone about what you have seen tonight. Most of the boys at school are either totally ignoring me or giving me a hard time, knowing what I have had done would just tip a lot of them over the edge.”
“Promise everybody, this is just between us girls.” Zoë asked each of them in turn before turning back to me. “When you change for netball a lot more of the teams will at least be able to see your breasts, like some of us did the other day when you changed into your sports bra.”
We all chatted away into the early hours until one-by-one we fell asleep and just curled up on cushions on the floor. When I woke up in the morning I felt hair all over my face and an arm over my tummy. I turned to find Zoë curled up on one side of me, and Amy cuddled up into my back.
Feeling worried that anything inappropriate had happened I looked around to see that most of the others were huddled together in various similar combinations, so I was suddenly relieved and did not feel so bad. Gradually everybody woke up, particularly when Lucy pulled open the curtain and the bright sunlight streamed in.
“ It looks gorgeous out there, does anyone fancy going down to the beach or do you all have to go home?” Lucy asked. Most of the girls had to get home, but Zoë, Amy, and I said we would like to join her.
“Did any of you bring a swimsuit or a bikini with you, or do I need to dig through my stuff again, if we are going to the beach we need to dress for it?”
While we were all queuing up for the loo and the girls going home got dressed, Amy disappeared for a while and came back with a big tray of pancakes, butter, jam and honey, a bowl of fresh fruit, and a jugful of fresh orange juice. ‘Tuck in girls.”
To be continued.
Chapter 6
When the others had gone Amy went and fetched a selection of swimwear for us to chose from. After trying them on, the others chose bikinis, but I went for a swimsuit which just managed to cover the line of my breast forms, but was cut quite high on the hips, and I was glad that I had been fixed by Mum’s friend, because it was quite revealing and did not cover much. We all packed our things in our bags and helped Amy tidy the place up.
We were a colourful bunch as we made our way down to the beach, some of us in sundresses, others in shorts and crop-tops. We found a decent bit of space sheltered by the dunes and reed and grass tussocks behind us. handy for the ice-cream shop and hamburger stall and in a good position to watch all the comings and goings
We enjoyed our day down at the beach, sunbathing and relaxing after our late and restless night.
We started watching a group of four boys trying to play volleyball, but with only two on each side it was hard for them to get a rhythm going and work up a decent volley.
"Is anybody feeling energetic enough to join in their game?"I asked the others. They giggled a bit, I think they were more interested in meeting the boys than playing volleyball.
“Do you want another few players, it will be more fun with a full team. I shouted over to them.
“That would be great, come and join us, girls, two of you come over here with us and two over there with the others, that should be a fair balance.”
"No,"said Lucy cheekily, "we were thinking that us four would take you four on, girls against boys, we think that will be fairer.”
"Whatever you want girls, but don’t complain when we thrash you.”
"Back at you, bigmouth! Typical boys, you think girls are useless at sports, we’ll see who thrashes who."Amy called back at them, giggling.
Although the boys were stronger and hitting the ball a lot harder than us, because of our netball experience we were much better at anticipating where the ball was going and were more agile around the court, and gave them a fairly even game, much to their surprise.
"That was fun and a good game, you must have played before"said Paul, one of the boys,”I was wrong to say that we were going to thrash you. Can we join you for a bit, I’ll go and get some ice cream and we can hang out for a while.”
The others gave me a quick look and I just nodded back as it was obvious they were liking the attention and I didn’t want to spoil their fun even if I was a bit worried that the boys might try to get a bit too friendly. As it happened, they behaved themselves and were just at the beach for a bit of fun themselves and were quite happy just sitting talking with us. When it was time to leave for home, they just got up, picked up their things and left with a wave and "Hope to see you all around again.”, much to the disappointment of the others who had been hopIng to be asked on a date or at least arrange another time for us all to meet at the beach."
We all went back to Lucy’s to collect our clothes and things and just as I was leaving she called me over.”
"Thanks for coming Carla, I hope you enjoyed it and weren’t too embarrassed when we made you strip. It was a bit of fun that just went too far, we all just got a bit over-excited.”
"Don’t worry it just added to the fun of the night, I was more worried that you would all be shocked and embarrassed at what you saw, or rather didn’t see.”
"You know Carla. what you have had done is pretty realistic, anybody that didn’t know better would really take you for a girl, you even have a decent figure and quite good skin, being a girl suits you. You are welcome to come to any sleepovers or parties we have from now, as Carla, the invites will not apply to Carl."
"We’ll have to see about that, I am not sure how long Carla will be around for. Thanks for the loan of the swimsuit Amy, I’ll take it home and wash it before giving it back.”
"No worries, keep it for next time, I never wear it anyway, it fits you well, you don’t have a bad figure, considering. I hope that Carla stays around for a while yet.”
Back at home after telling mum about my sleepover and day on the beach, obviously leaving out being dared into stripping naked, I was up in my room changing and about to take off the swimsuit when Mum came in.
"Sorry, for not knocking first Carla, Zoë and her Mum are downstairs and her Mum wants to talk to you. I like the swimsuit, but you are all red, I keep telling you that you should use sunscreen, you’ll have quite a tan when it all settles down. Keep the swimsuit on and just put your sundress over it and come downstairs.”
"Hi Zoë, Mrs Marshall, Mum says you want to see me.”
"Carla, Zoë has told me that you have been on the beach wearing Lucy’s swimsuit. That is not really appropriate, what if somebody recognised you as a boy, just think of how embarrassing it would be for everyone.”
"Carla, drop your dress to the floor."Mum snapped at me and I did as I had been told.
"Margaret, what do you see? Carla looks all girl, there is no reason for anyone to think otherwise, is there? The girls had a good time at the beach, no need to spoil it for them. Carla, go and change out of the swimsuit and come and join us in the garden.”
"i was soon outside with them enjoying the evening sun in the bright blue sky, everything had calmed down and Mrs Marshall had gone back to being her normal pleasant self. Zoë and I shared a jug of freshly-squeezed orange juice while our Mum’s had a bottle of white wine, as we sat and chatted for an hour or so. As they were leaving, Zoë’s mum gave me a hug. ‘ Sorry about being a bit over the top earlier, I was just a bit worried about what would have happened if those boys had been a bit more pushy. Don’t let it stop you coming round to see Zoë, you are welcome any time.”
This was the last week of the month and I was expecting to hear soon whether my campaign to change the rules had been successful. On one hand I was looking forward to being myself again, but on the other hand I was enjoying my time with the girls, they were turning out to be real friends. All my old friends, Sam and the other boys, were still treating me coldly and I realised that if they were that shallow, that they were not really worth knowing and worrying about. I put on my school dress, and brushed my hair, collected my things for school and set off to enjoy my time as Carla for as long as I could.
There were three major events that week which drew me even further into being Carla.
When I was changing for netball on Tuesday the girls were all sniggering about my tan lines as I was changing my top and bra, but there was a deathly silence as I turned to face them as I pulled up my netball skirt and they could see the flat front that I now presented, There were then gasps of amazement and a big cheer.
"Hey Carla you are really one of us now, no need to hide in the corner anymore. Let’s get out there girl and show us what you can really do on the court. Amy told us what she said to you after your first game with us, but there is no need to worry about that now, you must be well over your period.”, causing a lot of hysterical giggling and some quite lewd comments.
I was no longer self-conscious of the movement of my breasts as I ran around the court chasing the ball and realised all the girls had the same thing going on, even with sports bras there was still a lot of jiggling as they ran about. With not having to worry about my ‘boys’ bits’ showing when I was jumping, I was much more relaxed and played quite well setting up a few goals for our shooter. It was all good fun and good exercise and I wondered whether there was any way I could continue with playing netball with them when this was all over.
Partly due to the adrenaline rush we all had from the energetic game, and partly from the excitement of them seeing me getting changed earlier, when I came out the shower cubicle with my towel wrapped around me the girls all seemed a bit excited. I was surrounded by them, and felt someone grabbing my towel away from me, leaving me totally naked.
I was annoyed and embarrassed and about to shout at them when Zoë put her hands on my shoulders. “Just stay calm Carla, it’s an initiation we do to all the girls, usually in year 6, but you missed out on that. It is a way of welcoming you to the sisterhood of your friends. Besides everybody knows about you now, and none of us are bothered about it, in here you are just one of us. Now go and get dressed and we will go off to classes."
Accepting that they had all seen me, and realising that they had treated me no differently to how they had been initiated themselves at some time earlier, I moved my hands away from covering my breasts and my groin and proudly strutted over to where my clothes were hung.
I found that when I had been in the shower my bra and knickers had been replaced with a new lacy set, which I put on while they all clapped and chanted. "Put them on, you sexy thing"which I was told was a play on words from a 70s song by Hot Chocolate. This was the final part of the initiation for me, and I slipped on my dress, collected my things and we set of for our science class.
"Today we are doing something different."started Miss Thomas. "We hare going to discuss the human body and some of the functions. Will the boys go next door to Mr Campbells’ class, and his girls will be coming in here. Carla Duggan, please stay in here with the rest of the girls.”
"Today girls, we are going to talk about the female anatomy, specifically the reproduction system. I know that many of you will think you know it all and will be groaning and muttering when I am talking, but believe me you do not know nearly as much as you think you do. Most of what you think you know you have mainly learned from rumour and gossip and is more than likely mostly wrong.”
For the rest of the lesson she went through the internal workings of the female body, diseases and treatments, feminine hygiene to avoid some of the more common problems, menstruation and associated problems, fertility problems, pregnancy and childbirth, the menopause, and breast and cervical cancers. At the end most of the girls were looking a bit shocked and unnerved at the problems they might face in life and were not nearly as knowingly smug as they were at the start. The bit that particularly hit home with them was her description of childbirth. Most of them had dreamy rose-tinted notions of cuddly cute babies without really thinking about all the associated pain and discomfort and disruption to their lives, and made them listen a lot more intently when she talked about methods of birth control.
On the way out Miss Thomas called me over to stay as the others left.
"I hope you found that interesting and informative Carla. I know that most of it is not really of significance for you, but remember we were all told to treat you as a girl, and girls have to know these things, I hope you weren’t embarrassed at some of the diagrams I showed, and some of the functions I described”
"Not at all Miss. When you started, you said to the girls that all the rumours and gossip were probably misleading or wrong. That is even more true when the boys are sniggering about girls, they are even more ignorant and misguided, particularly about girls being on their periods and feeling a bit grouchy and the size of breasts and things like that. Most of the boys could do with the same lecture, the more we all understand each other, the more we can help each other.”
"I was a bit unsure about having you in this lesson in case the girls were embarrassed with you being here, but most of them now look on you as one of the girls anyway and probably didn’t even see any reason for you not to be here.”
"Miss Thomas, I appreciate that you asked me to stay for this lesson along with the others, I have learned a lot, probably more than most.”
On Friday afternoon, I was called out of class and taken in to see the Headmistress.
"Carla, there was a meeting of the school governors this morning, your protest, and what has happened since, was discussed in great detail. with a lot of strongly-held concerns on both sides of the argument. My tolerance of you wearing a skirt and my insistence on you doing it properly and conducting yourself as a girl did not go down very well and I have been told not to let this situation be repeated, I have been reminded that some people might not take such a tolerant and supportive view as your family and friends and the school could be in trouble.”
“Most things were my decisions, or at least suggestions that I agreed to follow, as far as I am concerned all I want is for you to change the rules, I am not looking to blame anybody else."
“However the governors have reviewed your request to be allowed to wear shorts in the hot weather and they have agreed to change the dress code to allow plain black knee-length shorts, proper dress shorts not sports wear. So you should be happy now and I expect to see Carl back at school on Monday, wearing shorts if you prefer.”
"I am really glad that you have all seen common sense and I am sure that the boys will be pleased too. However while all this has been going on I have really been accepted as one of the girls, and most of my friends and people I spend time with are girls and I am comfortable as I am.”
"I am a bit confused, Are you saying that you are wanting to continue to dress as a girl and be treated as a girl.”
“Playing sports with the boys, I was never particularly good and always got roughed up a bit, whereas playing netball with the girls has got me enthusiastic about fitness again and I would like to continue with that. Also, It was really interesting in Miss Rogers’ needlework class and I enjoyed that too, particularly learning a new skill and making this dress, I am so proud of that. I am sure that skill will come in useful in the future, in fact Cassie and I worked together as a team to make a dress for Mum that she absolutely loves. Now Miss Rogers is teaching us how to knit as most of the girls have never been taught or encouraged by their mothers to learn, and that is something I am doing at home with Mum, we find it very relaxing. I think that, all things considered, I will continue to dress as I am and be treated as Carla, at least until the end of the summer term and the holiday break.”
"I’m not sure that I can allow that Carla, it may be too disruptive to the other pupils, I am sure that they will be expecting to see Carl again. They have all tolerated you dressing as a girl to make your protest, but continuing to dress and act as a girl without that excuse may be too much for some. I think that you will have a much tougher time from now onwards.”
"It might be more disruptive if you force me to go back to being Carl. I am comfortable with the girls, as they are with me, I have made a lot of friends among them, and the boys generally don’t want to know me anymore. If I was suddenly to appear as a boy and be taken out of classes with the girls, I don’t think they would be very happy. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I started using the boy’s changing rooms and washrooms again, even if I go back totally to being Carl, you could very well have the scandal of a rape case, or at least a serious assault to deal with?”
“Are you finished?”
"It depends on you, can I continue coming to school as Carla?”
"Ok, if that is what you want to do, but to be clear I am no longer obliging or even asking you to do so, this is totally your decision, and the school is not liable to answer any complaints from your parents or the parents of other pupils.”
"That’s good, I can now settle down and get on with my next campaigns.”
"What on earth are you going on about?”
“In my time as Carla I have seen lots of imbalances in the way boys and girls are treated. For instance, the girls are now allowed to play football, but the boys are not allowed to join in with netball or hockey. Boys have to keep their hair short and closely trimmed, girls can wear their hair virtually any style and length they wish.Today I sat in Miss Thomas’s class with the girls when she talked about female issues and the boys were sent off for a separate lesson, I think it would be useful if the lessons were given to both genders, separately if it will save embarrassment for the teachers or pupils.
"That is quite a speech, are you finished, do you expect me to agree to all this?”
I could go on, but think that is just about enough for now. Finally, most of the cookery programmes on TV are presented by men chefs, and many of the cookery competitions include a lot of men. I think that boys should be allowed, or even encouraged, to take cookery classes too, and I am sure that many of the girls will appreciate that in years to come. I think that all classes and activities should be open equally to boys and girls. attitudes out in the big wide world are changing, the school needs to accept that, and, although not necessarily leading the way, at least needs not to be left behind ”
I stood up and walked out of her office feeling very proud of the way I had dealt with her, leaving her with her head in her hands, muttering,"Not again, what have I done to deserve this?”
The End