Blackmailing Biscuit
Chapter 3 of 4

© 2013 D.L.

I started to wash myself down, beginning at my shoulders and working down. The sound of laughter, gasps and wolf whistling in the background didn’t initially register until I look down at myself and realize I’m stood naked in amongst a group of girls. I froze on the spot, paralysed with fear and embarrassment.

“You’ve gone awfully pale. Is something wrong?” a naked Maria states from my side. I turn to face her and see a worried expression on her face.

“I’m not supposed to be in here,” I softly say.

“Why not?” Samantha, who was stood showering on the other side of me, asked. “The same rule applies to you as it does to us. Nobody is being forced to undress in front of a member of the opposite sex, but we can choose to do so if we want. By that logic we are equally guilty of exposing ourselves to you as you to us.”

I stepped out of the shower to where the rest of the class were looking on in amusement at my predicament. I’m more embarrassed about letting my guard down and running into the shower without thinking than I am about being seen naked. I find undressing for P.E. uncomfortable anyway, and I’m used to having to put up with it every other lesson. After the initial shock started to dissipate, I actually start to feel more comfortable in here than I normally do in the boy’s changing room, despite the obvious difference in my physical appearance.

“I’m sorry, everybody,” I said, looking at my audience. “I forgot where I was for a moment. I didn’t intend to shower in here but I sort of went on autopilot when shouted at. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

“No, you forgot what you were, and that is an important difference.” The room fell silent except for a few astonished gasps as the nude figure walking towards me spoke. While my behaviour is somewhat surprising, it is nowhere near as shocking as that of the girl in front of me. The only parts of Natasha usually visible are her hands and face. The rest, including her hair, she keeps covered, at least while there is any possibility of being seen by a male. I understand that she does usually shower with the other girls, but like me is last in and keeps herself as hidden as possible under a large towel for as long as practical.

I glanced across at Mrs Phelps, who appeared to be in deeper shock than me. I get the impression that she never intended for this to actually happen, but the situation went beyond her control. She appeared to be on the point of hyperventilating, and two of the girls escorted her out of the room. Most of the attention is on me, so only a few people notice her distress and departure.

Natasha looked round at everyone and added, “I was about the only person here who wasn’t cheering for Emily to join us. So how come now that she’s here, I’m only the fifth person to head to the showers with her?” Turning back to me she continued, “Ignore them and take as long as you like. If they want suddenly to become a bunch of prudes now that the consequence of their actions has come about, then they can put up with being late to lunch. By the way, you still have a patch of mud on the back of your leg, so I suggest you wash it off before getting dressed.”

“You seriously expect us to get changed with a boy in the room?” Stephanie snidely replied, “That’s a bit hypocritical coming from you, Miss ‘Holier than thou’, ‘I must keep my modesty at all times’. I’ll be interested to hear what your parents think about this.”

Natasha stopped walking into the shower and turned to face Stephanie. “I follow the doctrine laid down by my parents and my religion. How I choose to interpret that is between my deity and me. I agree it is improper for a woman to be naked in front of a man outside of wedlock, but I also do not believe there is a man in the room with us.”

“I’ll admit Nathan here is certainly more boy than man,” Stephanie wiggled her little finger in the air. Most boys would be offended at that remark, but I simply accept that as fact. Having seen the other boys, I know I’m one of the smallest in that department. However, it’s still larger than I would like. She continued, “I didn’t realise you had an age limit. You certainly freaked out when Jason tried to swipe your scarf a couple of years ago. There were only younger boys to see you then, but you still made a fuss.”

I see Natasha pause and compose herself before replying, “Sorry Emily, if what I am about to say causes you embarrassment. There is more than one way to interpret gender. I do not believe it is as simple as a person’s sex. Emily here may be male, and even that is debatable given her lack of masculine development and the puffiness of her chest. Even so, I still think the person in front of me is a girl, all be it one with a small birth defect that I’m willing to overlook. I may be wrong on my assumptions, and I don’t expect her to either confirm or deny my suspicion. If I’m proven wrong in time, then that is my mistake and I accept that possibility."

Natasha walked past me as I slowly recovered from the shock. The boy’s up until now haven’t noticed or said anything about my chest. However, the girls, being intimately familiar with the effects of female puberty, appear to be more observant of my physical state. I knew there was a risk of being discovered, but I hadn’t counted on having it pointed out to the whole room.

I noticed a few of the girls twitch nervously, wondering whether to undress so respond, “Don’t feel forced to undress if you are uncomfortable. I don’t want anybody regretting doing so later due to peer pressure. I know what it’s like to have to undress in an environment you are not comfortable in, in order to conform, and I don’t want to inflict that on others.”

I turned and stepped back into the shower next to where Natasha was now washing herself. Stacy, Janet and Katie joined us a few seconds later. Stacy simply smiled and winked at me, as the only girl who officially knows my secret. Although thanks to Natasha, most would probably be thinking about it.

I quickly washed the mud off and rinsed the soap away. I ignored the other girls in the showers with me, making sure to stare at the wall when not looking at my own body to see if it's clean. I walked to the exit, brushing as much water as possible off me as I emerge. I picked my towel up and started to wipe myself down.

I didn’t bother to wrap or hide myself as I walked across the room, drying myself. I could see the rest of the class staring at me, presumably paying my physical development, or lack thereof, close attention. I saw no point in hiding my body, as most of them had opportunity to see me as I dashed into the shower, and I was too shocked to cover myself when I got back out. Thankfully, I haven’t become aroused at the situation, possibly due to the fear and anxiety of being naked, despite the visage of naked flesh I have witnessed. The hormone blockers also help in that department.

The door to the changing room opened a fraction and the voice of our headmaster called through the gap, “All of you who have yet to start changing, please come through to the sports hall now, the rest of you, please make your way here as quickly as possible. I need to speak to you all.”

About a quarter of the girls have headed into the shower, or were in the process of removing clothing. Just over two thirds of the girls leave the room. Stephanie whistled the tune to ‘There may be trouble ahead’ as she departed. What surprises me is a number of girls who have yet to make a move decided to stay sat in the room, even though they could easily have left having not started to undress.

I suspected they wanted to show their support, but were hesitant about showing themselves. Not wanting to make them feel uncomfortable, I deliberately concentrated on getting myself dressed, telling them, “I’ll keep my eyes away from the showers. I promise not to look directly at anyone else. Just keep your back to me if you are uncomfortable about being seen.”

I hesitated as I pulled my knickers up past my knees. Up until now, I hadn’t tucked myself as I normally do, which felt odd. Even though it may have seemed strange to those watching, I decided to go into full girl mode. I carefully arranged my genitals as I put my underwear into position, the tight fabric hiding the evidence that I’m different to the other girls.

I relaxed slightly as making the detested part of my body disappear brings me contentment. I was planning on hiding how familiar I am with wearing girl clothes, but considering the speed in which I removed them without any difficulty, pretending to struggle now is an act I am in no mood to perform. I therefore continued to dress myself without issue as swiftly as possible. By the whispering I could hear, it sounded like my lack of difficulty with dressing was being noticed. So was the fact that I seem to have more chest development than normal.

I am one of the first to finish dressing, and started to head to the door, being very careful to look down at the floor and not at anyone. I’m stopped by Katie, “Don’t go yet, I think it might be an idea if we all went in together. I think safety in numbers may apply here. We are all equally guilty of undressing in front of each other, and I don’t want you to take all the blame for this.”

Some of the other girls agreed, so I sat down again, keeping my gaze to my feet.

“Okay, we are all decent. You can stop diverting your eyes now.” Stacy declared for my benefit. I looked up to see everybody was at least in underwear if not fully dressed, those who were shy keeping their backs to me anyway. “Are you going to do some makeup before stepping out?”

I nodded and proceeded to the mirror, where a few other girls were also preening themselves. I rapidly and expertly reapplied the makeup I did this morning. This gathered a few stares and comments from some of the girls, as well as some compliments on my skill. I smiled back. I could see the quizzical expressions on their faces, but none of them had the courage to ask me outright, so I decided to end the speculation.

“Natasha, your assumption about me is correct. I’m transgendered. A girl trapped in a male body. I would like to thank you all for being so accepting of having me in here. Personally, I would rather be changing in here every lesson, but I know that will never happen. I certainly won’t be changing in the boys’ room anymore. Assuming I’m neither arrested nor expelled, I will either be withdrawn from P.E. altogether or arrangements will be made for me to change in private.”

I’m immediately wrapped in a hug by Stacy. “I wondered if you would be forced to come out today, but I never imagined it would be like this. The blackmail maybe, but not like this.”

“Blackmail?” Jessica says in surprise.

“Somebody is threatening to circulate pictures of her to make her pull out of the elections this afternoon,” Stacy elaborated.

“I have no intention of doing so, and I wasn’t going to say anything about it, in case I got accused of trying to get a sympathy vote," I replied. I then continued to explain about the notes I had been receiving.

With some trepidation, surrounded by a group of girls, I walked slowly into the gym where the head master and the rest of the class were waiting for us.

I took note of the slightly worried look on the headmaster’s face. I also observed the smug grin Stephanie was displaying. Mr Faraday did a double take as Natasha entered the room behind me. I don’t think he registered the fact that she was missing from the room until that point.

“Care to explain yourself?” Mr Faraday asked in my direction. The grin on Stephanie’s face grew wider as my discomfort rose.

“I was invited to join the girls and I took up the offer. There isn’t much else to say on the matter. I hadn’t intended to go as far, but l didn’t anticipate that I would lose track of my surroundings as easily as I did. I have already apologised to the girls for my lack of situational awareness.”

“First of all, nobody is in trouble, at least not yet,” Mr Faraday stated. “As far as I’m aware, no laws have been broken. There are laws on decency and public exposure, but I wouldn’t describe the changing room as a public place. In addition, you all mutually agreed to make what is normally a girl’s changing room into a unisex environment. Therefore, you can’t claim that seeing a member of the opposite sex in a state of undress was unexpected.”

I’m not as sure that seeing me naked was expected. I doubt most of the girls truly believed l would undress in front of them. As for the legal aspect, I do have a carry letter from my doctor for such situations, something Mr Faraday knows about.

“What I am concerned about is if any of you feel that you were bullied, forced or tricked into exposing yourself in front of a person of the opposite sex. You don’t need to say anything now, but if any of you wish to raise a complaint, then please come speak to me or any other member of staff in the next few days. I will understand that you may want to discuss this with your parents first,” the headmaster continued. “Nathan, that specifically includes you as well as you have as much right to feel coerced as anybody else in here. From what Mrs Phelps was able to tell me, you weren’t exactly a willing participant in these events.”

“While l may not have been intending to join the girls in the showers, I don’t blame anybody else for what happened. It was my own fault for not concentrating on what I was doing,” I decided to reply directly to the headmaster, despite not needing to do so.

With nobody else wanting to put in any complaints, Mr Faraday asked if there were any other questions.

“Will you be sending any letters home? I personally don’t have any problems with what has happened, but my parents may think otherwise,” Natasha asked.

“No, I don’t think that necessary unless you specifically want me to inform them. If anyone wants a note to take home, let me know.” The room was silent as Mr Faraday waited for a non-existent reply.

“So that we don’t have a repeat of this situation in the future, from now on I am banning any further usage of changing facilities by members of the inappropriate gender.”

“Hold on,” Jessica asked, “as Emily is obviously a girl, does this mean she is now banned from using the boys changing room? Will she be changing with us from now on?”

“I think you need to get your eyes tested,” Stephanie laughed. “I think Nathan definitely proved he’s male, albeit a very small one.”

“I never said that she isn’t male, just that she is a girl. Physical sex and gender isn’t always the same thing,” Jessica countered, “Mr Faraday, where did you intend her to change from now on?”

At first, I assumed that Jessica was being funny. She certainly got a few sniggers from some of the girls. However, they were the ones not present at my declaration of being transgendered. I think a lot of those in the know realised immediately that she was actually being serious.

“I’m glad at least one you was paying attention in class when we covered LGBTQI topics a few weeks ago. I was wondering if any of you would notice my deliberate choice of words,” The headmaster stated.

I don't think the issues we covered in the past few weeks are part of the standard curriculum. Certainly none of my friends at other schools have undergone similar lessons. I think Mr Faraday deliberately added them to the agenda raise awareness of the issue and soften the impact of my eventual change of presentation.

"The answer to that question really depends on Biscuit. Until I receive notification otherwise, Nathan is a boy and therefore is required to use the male facilities. However, if she were to declare herself as transgendered, and this was backed up by a medical diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria, then I would be required to make alternative arrangements," He continued to say, looking away from Jessica and focussing on me part way through the answer.

The ball was now back in my court to decide if I want to take this any further. Mr Faraday is well aware of my status, but as agreed, he was letting me decide if I came out or not. He obviously didn’t know what was said in the changing rooms. At this point, about a third of the people in the room already knew my status, and therefore what I was about to say. The others looked on in anticipation at my reaction.

Taking a deep breath, I declared "Mr Faraday, I hereby formally request to be recognised as transgendered. With immediate effect I wish to present, and be treated as, a girl. I believe you already have all the paperwork ready from my doctors for my transition?"

The room fell silent with anticipation awaiting the adult's response. He paused to look around at the expectant faces before answering, "Emily, as previously discussed, the school formally recognises your gender identity as female and we will treat you as such. As a girl, it is inappropriate for you to be asked to use the boy's facilities, and therefore will not be required to do so. As to Jessica's question, from now on Emily will use the same facilities as the rest of the girls with two exceptions. Unfortunately, as Emily is well aware, it is inappropriate for me to ask that a male use the female changing rooms, regardless of their gender identity. It is apparent that a number of you are not comfortably sharing the facilities with her, and I will not force anybody to do so. Emily will therefore use the private cubicle in the teacher's office. The other exception is in regard to the toilet facilities. Emily, you may use any of the girl's toilets, except for the girls’ bathroom next to the canteen. That way any girl who is not comfortable with potentially having you enter the room can use that facility without worrying about you being present. I will send a memo to that effect around at this afternoon’s registration."

Our school is almost 'H' shaped, with the canteen being in the centre. Each wing of the school has a set of toilets, with an additional set in the centre next to the canteen. The drama studio and music room is not part of the H, but are sticking out of one side. This is where the bathroom I used earlier is located. If you ignore the toilets in the sports block, which is separate building a short distance from the main school, I have access to five of the six girl's bathrooms on site. This is much better than my initial worry that I would only have access to the three unisex disabled toilets available. Anybody who cares deeply enough to avoid the possibility of me entering the room with them won't be massively inconvenienced by having to walk a long distance to use an alternative lavatory.

I suspect some may argue that it should be the other way round, and that I should only have access to the one of six, so only I am inconvenienced rather than potentially everybody else. Having discussed the issue with Mr Faraday before, I know that his opinion is that it shouldn't matter as all disrobement is done behind a cubicle door anyway, so there is nothing for me to see. It's also a big statement on the school's part that they are treating me as any other girl, irrespective of my physical appearance. It was actually my idea not to use all the facilities available to me to proactively counteract any arguments or objections thrown at my transition by other students. If they feel that strongly about the issue, then they still have one facility guaranteed to be transsexual free.

Seeing the stunned silence before him, with no further ado, Mr Faraday dismissed the class so that the remaining girls could change. The bell for the end of the lesson rung, and some of the girls dashed off to change, as to not to waste their lunch hour. A number of the more accepting individuals congratulated me, and I received several emotional hugs.

After most or the girls have departed, l asked Natasha, “Are you going to be in trouble if anyone tells your parents about this? You effectively said you don’t want them to find out, but I have a feeling Stephanie is spiteful enough to cause you trouble.”

“I sort of hope she does,” Natasha answered. “My parents couldn’t care less and will tear her off a strip if she tries to get me in trouble. Yes, I do wear this scarf for religious purposes, but that isn’t the only reason. They would be perfectly happy for me not to wear it. In fact, I often don’t bother when we go out at the weekends. The real reason I started to wear the headscarf in the first place is that I suffer from alopecia. Luckily, I haven’t had an outbreak for a few years. The school that I used to go to had a number of pupils who already covered their heads for religious reasons, so it was less embarrassing to use that as a reason rather than admitting my hair was falling out. When I moved here, I kept on wearing it out of habit. It is also my way of standing out from the crowd.”

I was simply glad to get out of the situation, without either myself or anybody else, being in serious trouble. One of the eligibility criteria for becoming a student representative is that you have an unblemished record. Any serious disciplinary action voids your ability to be elected. I did wonder if this might have been a ploy to get me in trouble but I disregarded that as unlikely.

As the day was fine, I decided to stay outside to eat my lunch in relative peace while the majority headed to the canteen.

“So, are the rumours true?” Charles asked as he sat down beside me.

“What rumours specifically?” Even though only a short time had passed, l suspected that countless rumours were already spreading through the grapevine about me. I needed to know which before answering.

“Did you shower with the girls?”

“Some of them, yes. But I’m not saying who, or what I saw.”

“We thought it must be a joke,” Clive added. “We assumed if that actually happened, you would have been arrested by now.”

I explained the conversation with the headmaster. They didn’t ask about me being transgendered, and I didn’t bother to volunteer that information.

We were interrupted by an out of breath sixth former skidding to a halt in front of us.

“Are you Emily Bridges?” she asked. I nodded and she continued, “You’re needed in room 16a immediately.”

“What’s going on?” Clive asked before I could respond.

“I’m not sure exactly, but someone was putting pictures of you on a wall and Mr Jones caught them. I gather they were doing it without your permission. I was asked to find you and make you come.”

Her poor choice of words caused raucous laughter to break out amongst the boys. I couldn’t help but giggle as the poor girl turned bright red.

I realised that the person front of me didn’t have a clue I was a boy and didn’t appreciate the significance of the photos. It would appear my fears about being exposed were justified. Although having already come out, the threat was now redundant. I made my way towards the classroom with the boys in tow. I was eager to discover who was behind this and if they knew that they were now wasting their time. As the girls in my class knew, I assumed that perhaps it was one of the boy’s, who may not yet have heard my declaration of my status.