Before I go home I’ll just check the announcement board. Our principal is a traditionalist so everything important is announced on the announcement board. This time I want to confirm that I’m on the list for the school’s womanless beauty contest.

My name is there all right. Peter Dupont in big letters. The problem is the big black line through it and the additional comment “Disqualified”. How can they do that! I’ll have to talk to the Principal!

Hm, maybe turning around that fast is not a good idea when wearing a wide short lavender skirt. A bra? Why should I wear a bra? They are uncomfortable and only included in the cheerleader dress code. Besides, I’m a boy so I have nothing to support.

In the Principal’s office I’m told that he is in the gym. As I head in that direction Mary from my AP Chemistry class tells me that the cheerleaders are in the gym and want me to come there. I like the cheerleaders. I usually hang out with them. What boy wouldn’t like to hang out with cute, perky and smart girls? Be a cheerleader myself? Don’t be silly. In our school only girls can be cheerleaders and I’m a boy. However, I usually help them practice. I sit with them at lunch. I even take ballet together with them. No, I don’t wear pink tights and prance around in pink pointe shoes. I wear my white thong leotard UNDER my OPAQUE lavender tights. And my pointe shoes are a manly RED.

Yes, I’m a boy but I don’t like to be put in a little box. People limit themselves and others so much that way.

“Peter, your belly dance teacher is here. She wants to meet you in the gym” Donald from AP physics calls.

I admit that belly dancing may be going a bit too far but in my defense it’s only because of a dare. Well, at least it was the first semester.

As I enter the gym I’m appalled. There are lots of people there. The Principal, the cheerleaders, the entire football team, including my best friend Michael (that has started to drift away from me), Aida (my belly dance teacher), coach Smith (boys), coach Forgeron (girls)…

More worrying though is the big banner with the text “Dupont Intervention”. Uh Oh!

“Peter, your girlishness is a constant distraction in school”. The Principal gets in the first punch.
“Peter, I hate to see you in your high cut leotard in PE.” Coach Smith follows up. Hey, in PE I use a full bottom leotard!
“Peter, you know that I’ll never allow you to perform even if you are my best student. I will not ridicule belly dance by allowing a boy to perform”. A low blow from Aida. I had suspected this but she had never come straight out.
“Peter, you freak us out. Seeing you naked with the girly tan lines in the locker room, euh!”. I had not expected my friend(?) Michael to stab me in the back!

Why can’t they let me be me? Why do they have to insist to put me in a little box labeled “boy”?

Then the banner falls down to reveal a second one. “Peter, admit that you are a girl!”

Coach Forgeron initiates the second phase attack. “If you admit that you are a girl you have a guaranteed spot on the cheerleading team.”
“You know that you hate ball games and my classes are mostly ball games” Coach Smith adds secondary artillery fire. I do hate ball games. I can’t really calculate how those lethal objects move. All too often at my head though.
“I’ll put you in the aerobics group. Guaranteed no balls”. Coach Forgeron dive bombs. Hey, what about MY balls?
“If you admit that you’re a girl you’ll be my star performer next performance at my dance school”. Aida releases a drone attack.
“Don’t worry, all other classes will be as before” Well targeted sniping from the Principal.

They and others keep attacking me from every direction. It gets very emotional. My tears ruin my make-up.

Then I start to realize that they only want a formal declaration from me that I’m a girl. No talk about hormones or psychologist evaluations. Nothing except that I acknowledge that I’m a girl. But that would be a lie. I’m a BOY!

I look around. If I refuse, I will make everyone here disappointed. I hate to disappoint people. If I refuse, I will most likely lose many friends and I will have much trouble.

Is being a girl in school (and belly dancing and ballet and …) really that bad? I can live with it.

“I’m the new girl in school.” I state with a smile.

Wild cheering breaks out. The squad had even created a special cheer for the occasion. When had they done that? They had practiced behind my back. I had not expected the football team to be so enthusiastic though. Michael approaches me.

“Peter, Petra?” Michael starts hesitantly. Yes, we definitely have to do something about the name. No way I’m going to be known as Petra! “Now that you admit that you are a girl, will you be my girlfriend?”

WHAT?! Oh well, in for a penny …

“Yes” I’m immediately swept up and kissed passionately. Yes, I definitely can live with being a girl. One more kiss please.

Of course, now that I’m a girl I’ll have to find “boy” things to do. Big manly things. I can’t let me be put in a little box labeled “girl”, can I? What shall I do? No team sports since I’m a cheerleader now. Boxing? Weightlifting? Javelin? Karate? YES, karate is definitely it. I wonder if I can get a lavender gi?