I was already late so there was no reason to hurry to my next class. I thought seriously about just going home. I took a deep breath and walked to the girl’s restroom. I was pretty sure my face was a disaster and it was. Boys don’t have this problem.

As I repaired my make-up, I thought about what Bat had said. He just made that up on the spot. It wasn’t all over school, although it may be now. Even though it’s a lie, it can still damage my reputation. Why would anyone believe Bat? He was my friend once.

And then Nova! Oh my God! What was up with her? Despite his appearance, Tank is just a big, fluffy teddy bear. It was obvious he was just teasing. Nova should know that. I’m not going to invade her turf. She knows I don’t chase boys. Although, Olivia is right. Sorta. I do attract boys and I don’t know why.

Boys like Trace. I heard him tell Tank he wanted to ask me to the homecoming dance. Why? His girlfriend is beautiful. Was he just teasing like Tank?

And what the hell is up with Jeff? Why would he believe Bat? Was he looking for an excuse to dump me to go back to Olivia? Did our kiss Saturday night scare him that he might be getting feelings for me? Serious feelings? Am I placing too much on that kiss? Shouldn’t I feel disgust at a boy kissing me? But I’m not.

And Olivia? She can just go fuck herself.

I took another deep breath after fixing my face and left the girl’s room.

When I entered my Home Ec class, the teacher frowned at me. “You’re late, Ronnie. By almost half an hour!”

I looked down at my feet. “I’m very sorry. I had some issues to deal with.” I saw a couple girls exchanged glances and giggle. Maybe I should just withdraw from school? That would probably just confirm any rumors were true. I’m just going to have to ride this out.

Lunch finally rolled around without any further incidence. But as I carried my lunch tray to sit with the cheerleaders, Nova frowned at me and they all got up in unison and left the cafeteria.

“Nova…” I said as they all walked by. I need to tell Coach Martin I’m withdrawing from the cheerleaders. They all just declared I’m not a friend anymore by leaving en masse. I choked back the tears as I sat at the table alone. I put my head down on the table and hid my face.

A few minutes passed when I sensed someone sitting at the table with me. I looked up and there were three boys I didn’t know, sitting across from me, all smiling.

The boy closest to me ducked his head down and said in a low voice, “You’re that Ronnie chick, right?” I frowned and nodded at him. He looked back to his friends and then again to me. He said, “My buds and I would like to arrange a little Ronnie-de voo… get it? Rendezvous and Ronnie? Anyway, after school in Clark’s car we could…”

Narrowing my eyes at this creep, I snarled, “Are you propositioning me”

The boy shrugged and chuckled. “Well yeah. We heard you give the best head in school so we thought….” He grinned stupidly.

A sudden fury hit me and I stood up leaning across the table and slapped that little bastard as hard as I could.

He grabbed my hand and growled, “You fucking bitch!” He had a tight grip. I couldn’t pull my hand away and it was starting to hurt. His eyes suddenly cast upwards and he let go of my hand. It was suddenly very quiet in the cafeteria. I was shaking.

I looked behind me and the un-ironically nick-named Tank towered behind me, along with Trace. And then every boy on the football team stood.

In a quiet and calm voice, Tank said, “Apologize to the lady.” Tank put his hand on my shoulder.

The boy next to the creep scowled at Tank and said, “Who the fuck do you think…” He didn’t finish as the creep, now rubbing his red cheek elbowed him in the ribs. From the teachers’ table, I saw the football coach and Coach Martin get up and start walking towards us.

The creep looked at Tank and then back to me and said, “I’m really sorry. We didn’t mean anything. Honest.”

As the coaches got closer, Tank said quietly, “Everything’s cool, right?”

The creep looked to tank and then the approaching coaches. He nodded, but couldn’t look directly at Tank. “Yeah. Everything’s cool.”

The coaches arrived at our table. The football coach looked at Tank, the rest of the team and then to the creep and then to me. “What the hell’s going on here?”

The creep said, “N… nothing sir. Just a disagreement on last Friday’s game.” He turned to his two friends and said, “Let’s go.”

The coach could tell he was being lied to. He said, “Are you sure? It looked like this girl hit you. Do we need to talk about this?”

The creep looked at Tank who stood there expressionless. To the coach, he said, “No sir. It’s nothing. Everything’s cool.” To his friends he said, “Let’s go.”

Tank then turned to me. I felt so tiny next to him. He said, “Are you okay, Ronnie?” I bit my lip and nodded. I was trying to keep from crying again.

I said, “Thanks Tank. And Trace.” I looked behind Tank and continued, “Well, thanks to all you guys too.” The water works started again.

Trace smiled at me and said, “We’re here for you, Ronnie.”

Tank put his hands on my shoulders and held me at arm’s length. “Now it’s my turn to apologize. This morning I thought everyone was just clowning around. I didn’t mean to get Nova mad at you. I’ll talk to her and get things straightened out.”

“Thank you. This morning was insane.” I said as I hugged Tank.

Tank chuckled. “I’ll beat the shit out of that weasel Bat for you.”

The football coach said, “If you want to stay on the team, Tank, you won’t be beating the shit out of anyone.”

Tank ruffled my hair. “Even if he deserves it?”

Coach Martin interrupted and said, “Ronnie. Come with me to my office. We need to talk.”

I looked down at my feet. “Yes ma’am.” I started shaking. I’m getting kicked off the squad, I just know it. I quietly followed coach to her office.

Coach closed her door after I entered and pointed at a chair in front of her desk. She said, “Take a seat.” She then sat in her own chair.

I was sure she was going to talk about the events this morning. I just wasn’t sure how she would say it.

Coach Martin folded her hands on top of her desk and tried to smile. “I want to talk about these events I heard about this morning. Someone proclaimed you’re the school slut and Nova claims you tried to steal her boyfriend? She wants to kick you out off the squad. The principal had to break up a mob in the hall? A mob you caused? You got detention? Can you explain any of this?”

Tears welled up. “Nova wants me off the squad? Really? I didn’t do anything!”

Coach shook her head. “That’s not what I heard from Nova this morning. She was claiming you were dressed provocatively and flirting with Tank and Trace knowing they both have girlfriends and trying to get a date with them. Is that the provocative outfit you were wearing?” She pointed at me.

I looked down at myself and said, “It’s a sweater dress. And Tank and Trace would tell you a different story. They both apologized to me at lunch for going along with what they thought was a joke.”

Coach Martin smiled slightly at me. “Your dress looks very nice. I have to admit that I didn’t understand Nova’s rant. You never struck me as the kind of girl who would do such things. But I am required to follow up on these things. How did this start and how did it get so out of hand?”

I told coach about how Olivia started everything with her demand I drop Jeff as my boyfriend and how Bat escalated everything with his horrible comments and how it all descended into a ridiculous free-for-all of boys asking me to the homecoming dance. There was even a video of the insanity on YouTube until they had to take it down.

Coach Martin was silent for a few moments as she tapped her pen on some papers on her desk. She said, “This is no doubt a nightmare for you. Nobody wants their reputation debased. I know you want to hear something different, but you’re going to have to ride it out. No wait. Listen. Most people don’t like Olivia and she’s just the same type of person she was trying to paint you as and they know she’s a liar. This guy Bat is also known as a liar. And Nova? She’s very insecure when it comes to boys. You know that.”

Looking at the floor and feeling nervous, I asked, “Are you going to kick me off the squad?”

Coach just shook her head with a chuckled. “Ronnie! Why would I get rid of one of my top cheerleaders? Especially over crap like this? So no. I saw what the girls did to you at lunch. I want you to be about ten minutes late to practice today. Go fix your make-up or something. I need to have a talk with them before you show up. I’m not putting up with that type of behavior.”

I nodded. “Thank you, coach.”

Coach sighed. “See you this afternoon, Ronnie.” She turned and left her office. I stood up and left the office. I entered the nearest girls restroom and pulled my compact out of my purse and checked my make-up for the thousandths time today. I need to stop crying. Or stop wearing make-up. Both would probably be best.

I glanced up at the hall clock on my way to the gym. I stepped into a girls restroom and just stood there trying to cool down. Fifteen minutes is probably enough time. I took a deep breath, got up and headed for the gym. When I entered, all the girls jumped to their feet and Nova rushed up to give me a hug.

“Oh Ronnie! I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me, but I’m… and well all of us want to apologize for our behavior. I hope you can forgive us.”

I glared at Nova. “I don’t know, guys. You hurt my feelings pretty bad.”

Nova sighed. “I don’t blame you for being pissed. Tank got on to me as well. He said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to date me if that was how I treated a friend.”

Coach stood behind me and said, “Okay, girls. What lesson have we all learned today?”

Steph said, “That Olivia is a bitch!” Everyone laughed, including Coach.

I grinned and said, “I think that’s something everyone can agree on!”

Susan looked at me seriously and asked, “Are we still friends?”

“I sure hope so!” I exclaimed. Everyone moved in for a hug. I asked myself should I forgive everyone so easily. The answer was yes as I wanted to move beyond this. Well, forgiveness won’t come so easily to Olivia, Jeff and especially Bat.

Coach said, “Okay Ronnie. Go change so we can start practice. And listen up girls. I have an announcement before you all go home.”

Nova kept apologizing all through practice until I finally threatened her if she didn’t stop. Not seriously, of course.

Practice finally ended and Coach put up her hand to stop us from entering the locker room.

“Okay girls,” said Coach Martin. “I have a quick announcement and then I have these cards to hand out. The next two days are going to be special days. No regular classes, but you will still have practice. Sorry.” She smirked when she said “sorry.”

She started calling our names and handing us each a card. “The school is participating in a special program where we’ll be doing a health seminar for two days. There are separate classes for boys and girls. Seniors are exempt as this will get covered in your regular health class. Seniors will report to the auditorium instead for a special, to be announced lecture each day. On these cards are the class rooms you’ve each been assigned. No normal classes the next two days. Any questions, feel free to ask me.”

There was some grumbling from the squad. Nobody likes attending a special class. I looked at my card and felt a sudden cold spike down my spine. This can’t be right.

I walked up to Coach Martin and said, “Coach. This can’t be right, can it? It has me down for boy’s health.”

Coach looked over at me and asked, “Well, you’re a boy, aren’t you?”

“Am I? I mean, yeah. If you want to get technical and all,” I said. “I came to school today wearing a dress and I still have make-up on. To everybody now, I appear as a girl. Won’t it look strange for me to show up for a boy’s class?”

Coach shook her head. “I don’t think we can change it. You won’t get much out of girl’s health seminar anyway. Just dress as a boy and don’t wear make-up. And take your earrings out.”

“But people know I’m a cheerleader!” I protested. “They know me as a girl and then I show up as a boy?”

Coach sighed. “Up until a couple of weeks ago, nobody knew you. You said so yourself. You were either invisible or thought to be a tomboy. This is a big school. Chances are likely that you’ll be in a class with people who don’t really know you. Which is the majority of the school. The football team won’t be in any of your classes. They’ll take their together in the boys gym. If it gets uncomfortable for you, tell whoever the teacher is that you need to see the principal. We’ll try to work something out. Honestly, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She turned to deal with some issue Susan had.

I looked at the card again; the words Boy’s Health screamed at me. I’m not a girl. I really don’t think I want to be a girl. But shouldn’t I at least be treated as a girl? My life has gotten really complicated lately.

As I entered the locker room, Nova walked up to me and asked, “Are you really going to have to come to school dressed as a boy tomorrow?”

I nodded.

Nova grimaced. “Well shit.”

To be continued…