It was a lovely end-of-summer day. The Friday of the first week of my second year in High School. I was waiting for the school bus. The sun shone, the birds were singing, no classes in the afternoon due to try-out for the school teams. Then I turned around.

Sigh! I had implored him, begged him to be sensible but there I could see him coming dressed in a shortish denim skirt.

Eric was a compulsive prankster. Usually great fun to be with. Since both his parents worked he had more or less grown up in my house. Ever since my family had moved into the house next to his eleven years ago we had been inseparable. His quick mind had got us into uncountable scrapes, and out of nearly as many. The fact that he was a waif-like shrimp had never slowed him down. We played on the same little league team. He was a terrible player but did wonders for our morale. Everyone liked him. In Middle School the bullies tried to get to him but since he was a friend of the biggest and strongest kid in the grade, me, they soon stayed away.

He really was great fun to be with but his pranks sometimes got a little bit too far and/or wearisome. In particular some of the girls had grown tired of him. I think he targeted them a bit extra because they were so obviously dismissive of the little runt. However, everyone, absolutely everyone, expected him to turn up dressed in a skirt or dress that day. A new gender neutral dress code came into effect that day. The only question was whether he’d come as a boy-in-a-skirt or something over-the-top. Well, despite the length of the skirt it appeared he’d chosen the boy-in-a-skirt option.

In school it was obvious the teachers had been told to make nothing of him. The kids were mostly taking the same approach except some of the in-crowd girls that kept complementing him on his skirt. He kind of was disappointed by the lack attention.

At the beginning of second period one of the really popular senior girls came into our classroom with a note from the principal. It turned out that the girls in beauty class wanted Eric as guinea-pig for their class. With a little bit of fluttering eye-lashes the beautiful girl got the poor sucker to agree and they left.

Walking to the next class I couldn’t see him. Ten minutes into class he came crashing into the room. He closed and locked the door. He was not the same boy I had seen an hour ago. The denim skirt had been replaced by an equally short very nice black A-line skirt. His legs had been shaved and now sported thin black pantyhose. Instead of sneakers he now wore patent leather shoes with a small but noticeable heel. The soft white blouse was new as well. The girls had done wonders with the make-up and his shoulder-length hair. He really was very pretty. If he’d really been a girl I’d have said beautiful. The teacher pointedly ignored him and continued the class. Eric sat down next to me.

- The girls are crazy! Please protect me! They told me this is only the beginning. Don’t leave me for a second.

Leaving the class-room some of the nastier bullies were waiting for him. OK, so I’m big and strong and was trying out for the JV foot-ball team that afternoon but no way I could match those three seniors.

Luckily the varsity QB happened to pass just as things were beginning to get really unpleasant. Tom is the undisputed alpha male of the school. As a junior he took over as varsity QB in the spring when the old one got seriously hurt. He led the team to a series of wins. However, he’s not likely to go to university on a foot-ball scholarship. Not with his grades! On top of this he’s a genuinely nice guy that couldn’t stand bullying. He really was a kind of idol to me. The only thing was that he’s never dated any girl, or for that matter any boy. We all assumed he was too committed to his studies. No matter. After a short “conversation” with the bullies he took Eric to the cafeteria to make sure that he wouldn’t have any further problems. They sat at table in the corner and talked the whole lunch break.

As soon as Tom left the girls pounced on Eric. Since I really saw no harm in it and since he had been a kind of a pain in the ass lately I let them drag him away. They solemnly swore that he’d come to no harm and suggested that I should watch the cheerleading try-outs.

Fortunately the cheerleader tryouts was after the JV football tryouts so I was just in time to see the last half . Most of the girls were really pretty in their leotards jumping around and doing their moves. Some of them talented as well. Then the last applicant was pushed out into the gym: Eric. He really looked very, very cute in that shimmery high cut leotard that really set of a pair of legs that I hadn’t realized before were quite amazing. For a while he just stood there but then the prankster in him got the better of him and he started doing an exaggerated, extra-feminine version of what a boy would like a cheerleader to look like. As he got going he really got into it. I had to remind myself that he was Eric and not a girl to stop myself drooling. At the end we all applauded.

Well, he got accepted!

Sitting in the bus back Eric was kind of absent. Really pretty in the black skirt and white soft blouse, and those amazing legs in the black pantyhose, he clasped the consent form for cheerleading, and corresponding change of PE class.

I nudged him.

- So have you learned your lesson not to mess with the girls so much? And why have you kept those
consent forms? You aren’t going to be a cheerleader, are you?

and adding in a sarcastic tone

- Or are you thinking about your gay boyfriend?

Coming back to reality Eric responded

- Oh, Tom isn’t gay. He’s bisexual. It’s just that he can stand the way the girls are pushing themselves on him. Besides he hasn’t found anyone that shares his love of ballet. In fact he had a spare ticket for the Nutcracker tonight so he asked me to come. That reminds me. Do you think your mother could take us to the mall? Tom is taking me to this really fancy restaurant first and I have absolutely nothing to wear!

For some strange reason all of a sudden I no longer liked Tom.