Chapter 4

"But I don't want to quit!" I yelled at Mom as she tended to my fat lip and black eye.

"I was afraid this was going to happen," she said to Coach Mills outside of the principal's office.

"Lucas, you should have made me aware you were being teased," Coach Mills said. "I know you were being tough because you're a boy. But you're also in the seventh grade. You are younger and smaller than those boys are."

What happened? One boy pulled a pair of briefs underwear over my head. Another one shoved me in my locker and tried to lock the door.

"We don't want any fucking faggots here," the boy said.

I tried to them I wasn't a faggot, but they wouldn't let up. I swung and missed, but another boy didn't. He hit me in the eye and my face hit the locker-room door.

I was saved by a senior on the varsity basketball team. He shouted at them, and tried to catch them. He was only able to catch one of the boys.

He then took us both to Mrs. Parker's office. She is the principal at the high school.

"Ms. Lacy, you and your son can come in now," Mrs. Parker said. "You, too, Coach Mills."

"I talked to Joey Perry, he was the senior who stopped them," Mrs. Parker said. "He caught one of the boys but said he didn't get a look at the other boys. Lucas, here, won't give me a good description of the other boys, and I think I know why."

She guessed I feared retribution, which I did.

"The boy who was caught won't give up his teammates," Mrs. Parker said. "I've informed Coach Holt that if the other boys don't come forward, I'll suspend the whole junior varsity squad."

"Ma'am, don't do that," I said.

"I don't have a choice," she said. "I'm not going to let this happen anymore."

"I can't understand how it could happen in the first place," Mom said.

"I can understand why you're angry, Ms. Lacy," Coach Mills said. "I am too. He's one of my kids. I just wished Lucas had let me know what was going on."

"Well, it's not going to happen again," Mom said. "Lucas, I don't want you to be on the team anymore."

"Ms. Lacy," Coach Mills said. "I WILL make sure it won't happen again. We want Lucas to be on the team."

"And I want to be on the team!" I shouted.

"Don't you raise your voice, young man," Mom said. "If they can assure me this won't happen again, I'll let you stay on the team if that is what you want."

"It's what I want, Mom," I said.

"We'll work things out, Ms. Lacy," Coach Mills said. "We'll protect him. But Lucas, don't try to be 'Mr. Tough Guy.' If someone is harassing you, I want to know about it."

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

Coach Mills's solution was to have me dress in her office. I was to knock once I got to school. She would let me go in and change before hitting the gym.

I received applause when I showed up for practice the next day.

"You should tell us if you're being harassed," Shelley Lambert said. "You're on this team. We've got your back."

"And not all of the guys on the basketball teams are jerks," Dominque said. "Joey's a cool guy. He's Shelley's boyfriend."

#####

News of my brawl with the basketball team spread pretty quickly. Every girl knew it in the Saturday morning ballet class.

"Should we start calling you 'Rocky' now," said Amanda Mercer, one of the girls in the class.

"Okay, Amanda, I don't think that's too funny," Ms. Tucker said before class started.

"Jessi told me what happened," Beth whispered. "Those guys are big jerks. I hope you're okay."

I assured her I was.

Ballet was actually a place where I could de-stress from everything that was going on. It was kind of hard to have your mind on other things when you were trying to remember difficult combinations.

Ms. Tucker kept things pretty simple at the barre with plies, tendus, degages, fondues and developpes. I tried my best to keep my balance during the adagio at the centre.

But I enjoyed the allegro most of all, the jumps, the leaps. The girls were impressed by how high I could jump.

"Wow, your leaps are really powerful," Jessi said. "You're really coming along."

"Beth, Lucas, can you stay a few minutes after class," Ms. Tucker said after we finished up with bows and curtsies.

"Sure," we both said.

She told Beth to put on her pointe shoes.

"I hope you both don't mind if we work a little bit on partnering," Ms Tucker said.

We were actually both excited about it.

We worked on a few simple things. Ms. Tucker showed me how to turn her while she was en pointe. I followed her in another combination and turned her while she was doing a piroutte. We also worked on finger turns.

Again, I was amazed by how beautiful and graceful Beth was. I was completely mesmorized.

#####

"I'm really glad you came," Gina said as I walked in the door at the Lenetti house the night of the rush party.

"I still don't know why I was invited," I said. "Boys aren't supposed to be in sororities."

"Melanie and I checked the by-laws, little sister," Gina said. "There's nothing in there that says a boy can't join Les Amies."

"Um, just the name seems to say that," I said. "It's girlfriends in French, I think."

"We'll Lucas, we think of you as a girlfriend, as a sister," Gina said.

I did actually take that as a compliment. We went through quite a few wars together as teammates during field hockey season.

The party started off just as Beth said. Melanie explained what the club was about. It was a "social organization" for girls to strengthen bonds and have fun.

There would be service projects. We would be feeding the hungry, visiting nursing homes and raising money for a children's hospital.

We would also be having something called a "winter formal."

It sounded okay. I knew most of the girls, so I decided to pledge.

The senior members of the sorority picked little sisters. Jessi was Melanie's little sister. I was -- you guessed it -- Gina Lenetti's little sister.

And as pledges, we got to do some silly things at the party. We played a few games of twister. We went on a scavenger hunt at a nearby mall...doing things like getting our pictures made with a man in a toupee', a woman with a wild hairstyle, had to talk a teenage boy into buying tampons, that sort of thing.

We ended the party by being showered with shaving cream.

#####

Our first meet was at Sycamore High School. The gym was packed. My field hockey teammates were in the stands to cheer us on. So was Beth. Mom, Aunt Paige, Katie and Claire were there.

We were competing with three other schools, including Sycamore. St. Luke Prep and Lakeview Academy were the other teams we were facing. Coach Mills called them all tough competition to open the season.

"They'll all be there at the state meet," she said before warmups.

We started on the balance beam first. I was a little relieved that I didn't have to compete in the first event at the meet. It sort of helped me with my nerves.

Shelley turned in our best score, a 9.5. Kylie scored a 9.4. Jessi did okay with a 9.2. We were in second place after one event, according to Coach Mills' math.

Vault was next. I would be competing for the first time.

You should have heard the roar of the crowd when Kylie knocked down a 9.8 with her vault. Shelley scored a 9.4. Jessi and Dominique each had 9.1s.

"We need an 8.8 to take the lead," Coach Mills whispered to one of our trainers.

We each got two vaults. Our highest score counted. The top five scores counted.

Kacey Prentiss went next. Stumbled on her landing pretty bad and ended up with a 7.8. She fell completely on her second and ended up with a 7.4.

"Nervous?" Coach Mills asked.

I nodded my head yes.

"Just do your best," she said. "That's all I ask."

I took off my warmups. Again, I felt really naked in a leotard.

I ran down the lane as fast as I could, flipped over the vault and fell right on my butt. A wonderful 7.1 score popped up.

Kylie put her arm around me.

"The good thing about this is that you get a second chance," she said.

I started down the lane again. My hands hit the vault the best I think they've ever had. I flipped in the air.

And came down right on...my feet!

I went over and grabbed my water bottle.

"Way to go little sister!" I heard Gina yell from the stands.

I went over to the stands where my field hockey teammates were sitting.

"I don't ever want to hear you complain about wearing a field hockey skirt ever again," Melanie Piper said.

"Frankly, I think leotards really suit him," I heard Emily Crue say.

Their humor really helped me relax.

It also helped that I got a break during the uneven bars. I didn't really notice until after the event that I forgot to put my warmup pants back on. I was just in a jacket and leotard like most of my teammates.

Again Kylie and Shelley posted good scores of 9.5 and 9.3. Jessi brought the crowd to its feet with a 9.7, her best score ever!

"Alright girls, we have the lead," Coach Mills said. "If we do solid routines, we'll win the meet."

This time, I went first. It was really simple. I had fun out there. I didn't make any mistakes doing my routine to "My Heart Will Go On," the theme to Titanic.

I know, really corny. But Coach Mills was the one who picked the music, not me.

I posted an 8.2. We ended up not counting it.

Dominique dazzled the crowd with a 9.9. Kylie nailed a 9.8. Shelley and Jessi had 9.6s. Kacey had a 9.3.

Did I mention that floor was our best event.

"Good job all of you," Coach Mills said when it was over. "If we continue to work hard and improve, I think we've got a really good chance to take state!"

#####

"I can't believe I'm really doing this," I said to Beth as she readied my face with makeup.

"Nonsense, I zam ze artiste and zu are my model," she said.

She wasn't kidding. In addition to being a great athlete and an amazing dancer, she was also an incredible artist.

She wanted to paint me for a contest she was competing in, although her idea was...well...a bit unusual.

"Lucas, I can't believe you are being such a good sport," Beth's mom said.

"Oh come on, mom!" Beth said. "It's not like Lucas hasn't been in a dress before. He wears field hockey skirts during his games. He wore a dress at homecoming and a dress at his team's banquet. He even wears a leotard at his gymnastics meets. This is nothing compared to that."

"Well, you do look awfully cute, Lucas," Beth's mom said.

I was wearing one of Beth's sundresses. She put a flower in my hair, in addition to the makeup, the necklace and the earrings.

My nails were painted.

I held a once bitten apple in my hand.

"So what are you going to call the painting?" her mom asked.

"The Country Girl," Beth said. "What do you think?"

"What about country boy in drag," I said sarcastically.

"Nah!" Beth said. "You look too much like a girl. No one would ever go for that!"