One Friday a rumor flew around school: One of the students was going to come out as transgendered. The rumor came from reliable source. Someone had heard the principal say it to his secretary.

Most people immediately suspected Andy Lawrence; a small nerdy (straight A) boy with a somewhat feminine behavior. In public opinion his only redeeming feature was that he was rather good at baseball. Not that he was a good batter or a good pitcher but his fielding had earned him a place in the school team.

However, apart from speculation there was no new information, until Monday. Monday morning Peter Worlowski caused a bit of surprise. Usually the footballer (tackle) sported an unkempt mop of hair. Now it was neatly androgynously coiffed. The usual flannel shirt was replaced by a shirt that almost looked like a blouse. There the androgynous part stopped. Even in present day US most people don’t consider a knee-length pleated black skirt anything but feminine. On the other hand the hairy legs and boots detracted a bit from the over-all impression.

Had it been Andrew nobody knows what would have happened. Now most students were VERY careful. Peter was known as the most aggressive tackle in the state. He had put not one but three opposing players in hospital. Regarding that other incident... Well the court ruled that it was self defence...

When someone was brave enough to ask him whether he was the transgendered student he replied:
“Nah, Ah just kinda like the feeling of the skirt against them legs”

Well, rumors kept flying. During first period teachers and other staff had no idea what to say. Peter was called to the principal. Afterwards the principal stated: “We can neither confirm nor deny that Peter Worlowski is transgendered”

Tuesday Peter came to school dressed the same way.

Wednesday Peter came to school with discrete, very well applied make-up. The principal repeated his “We can neither confirm nor deny that Peter Worlowski is transgendered”. Now some people started taunting Peter. He just smiled and did nothing. However, later in the week the smart people noted that the worst one, another footballer, received “extra attention” from Peter during practice.

By Friday things started to calm down. That soon changed.

Next Monday Harry came to school in what can only be described as a “school-girl” skirt. Harry was the baseball captain and a good friend of Andrew’s. Was Harry the transgendered one? The principal issued a statement: “We can neither confirm nor deny that Harry Smith is transgendered”.

The day after some of the other baseball players came to school in skirts. “We can neither confirm nor deny that ... is transgendered”.

Wednesday morning there were more boys coming to school in skirts. It had become the latest fad. Soon there were more boys than girls wearing skirts.

When a week later the principal finally could confirm that Andrew had become Andie no one really cared any longer. Slowly things returned to normal.

Some days later Harry and his girlfriend Andie came across Peter in the corridor. Andie got up on tiptoes to reach above Peter’s flannel shirt to put a “Thank you” kiss on a cheek devoid of all make-up below a mop of unkempt hair.

She asked:
“Why didn’t you tell us about your brilliant plan? We and the rest of the baseball team had to scramble to follow up”

“Nah, Ah hadn’t no plan. Ah aint a clever one like you. Ah told y'all Ah just kinda like the feeling of a skirt against them legs”

"But the principal said..." Andie started saying but Peter was already walking away with that special bounce of his that gave his barely regulation length skirt that extra swish. A pity about the hairy legs though.