Introduction

This story can be read stand-alone but might be more understandable if you read the two previous chapters first

Robin Campbell, as part of a scheme to stop the bullying of a friend, had attended Abbey Girls High School, living as a girl, and he had become extremely successful and popular academically and on the hockey field. After leaving school and attending University he returned to Abbey High as English teacher, and part-time sports master.
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Everything was going well, my wife Sara had just found out that she was expecting with our first child and we were both extremely excited and apprehensive, I suppose all first-time parents worry about how their life would soon change. At Abbey High I had got over the initial wave of preparing my course notes and working on my presentation to the classes and was settling in to the routine of daily lessons.

As well as my academic work, I also spent several sessions each week coaching the hockey team. In my time as a pupil at the school I had been one of the leading lights in the most successful hockey team that the school had ever had. Since then their performances over the years had been mediocre and I was determined to try to get them back to the high standard we had reached. Most of the girls tried hard and had the basic skills but there was no spark to their play, they needed inspiration and leadership on the field.

“Robin, can you spare a few minutes?” the headmistress Carol Cummings said as she passed me in the corridor one day. As you are new here you probably don’t know, but every year the girls, staff, and a few of the parents, put on a Christmas pantomime. It’s mainly for the girls and their families, but we also get a lot of the locals coming too, as it is usually almost as good as a professional show. Do you think that you would like to join in?” Little did she know that I had been in the audience and really enjoyed the show that had been put on in my year as a pupil at the school.

“Of course Carol, I’ll be glad to help, what do you want me to do?”

“The show is been produced by your Senior English Mistress, Mary Knight, go and see her and she’ll tell you where you fit in. It could be a different experience for you.”

“Hello Mary, Carol sent me along to join in with the pantomime, what are you doing this year?”

“We’re going to perform ‘Snow White’, the girls are taking most of the parts, and most of the adult parts are already taken by some of the parents, but we need someone to take the part of ‘Nursie', the traditional pantomime dame, are you up for it Robin?”

“Thanks Mary,” I replied “I see myself more as the handsome prince, but of course I’ll do it, it should be fun, the pantomime dames, always lay-by men in drag, usually have the best lines and the best jokes, and the men who take these parts are often some of the most popular in the cast.” Actually I was quite looking forward to the chance to dress in skirts and make-up again in public, even if it would be as a comical caricature.

it was actually a good part that Mary gave me, during rehearsals I was on and off the stage throughout the show, and was the main comedy lead. I was looking forward to the actual show and wearing my outrageous costume and make-up. Like most pantomime dames, my appearance would be as a big overweight woman with an enormous bosom, hair in a mop cap or rollers and with rosy red cheeks and lips and over-made-up eyes. The costumes for the Dames are usually outrageous too, all flowery and flouncy and ribboned, with a huge amount of padding to make them almost twice their natural size.

The actual shows would be fun and I was enjoying interacting with the girls who were taking most of the parts and with the other adults. At first I thought that I might be a figure of fun in classes because of it, but most of the girls thought I was a good sport and it helped me to keep their attention during lessons.

It was the week of the show and it was our last session before the full dress rehearsal the next day, when Mary called me over away from the others.

“Robin, we have a big problem, Susie Jones has been rushed into hospital this morning with a burst appendix and there is no way she will be fit for the show, you are one of our better actors, do you think you could take her part?”

“ But Mary, Susie is playing the Wicked Queen, Snow White’s evil stepmother, after Snow White that is the main female role, surely one of the senior girls or one of the other women would be better suited to it.”

“As I just said you are one of the better actors in the group and you learned your lines quite quickly, and you are almost the same size as Susie. Her costume would not fit anyone else, they are all hired and we are not allowed to do any alterations, other than a bit of minor taking in and tacking. Your singing voice is quite a high tenor anyway, almost a counter-tenor, with a bit of control it could pass as a female voice ”

“I take it that you want me to perform as if I was a woman, not playing the part as a man in drag, is that right.”

“You’re right Robin, the script is written for a woman not a pantomime dame. In the past the part has occasionally been played by a man, but usually in a glamorous manner, not as a drag role.”

“Before I go to the bother of learning the script, it might be wise for me to try on the costume to save wasting any more time.”

I went into the changing room, stripped off and put on the dress to check the fit, other than being a bit tight around the waist it wasn’t too bad, although a bit revealing with a low neckline and slits up the side seams of the skirts . Obviously it would need false breasts and something to trim my waist a bit, but it would work. The costume also included a long black curly wig so my short hair was not a problem either.

“ Ok we’ll give it a go, I’ll go over the script and learn the lines, but what about my part as the Nanny.”

“I’ll take over with that,” replied Mary, “I know most of the lines anyway from prompting during rehearsals and your costume will fit me, only I won’t need nearly so much padding!. You’ll need help with the makeup of course, because it is a glamorous female role, so it will be a lot more natural than the normal heavy stage makeup you would have as the Nurse.”

“I’ll get Sara to help me with that, she is very good at it and has done make-up for the local Am-Dram society and she is free of other commitments at the moment.”

I went home and told Sara the news and when she had finished giggling we sat down to discuss what to do.

“Although nobody at school knows, you have done this a few times before and are quite good at doing your own make-up but I suppose we will have to pretend that you need my help to look like a woman. You have your breast forms but you will have to come up with a decent story of who you have borrowed them from, blame it on the Am-Dram groups. The waist should be easy too, you have that cincher and those control panties with the padding on the hips and bum. We know you can pull it off but unless you want everybody to discover your secret hobby don’t be too good at it all except when you are on stage.”

“You’re right, nobody at the school has yet related me to the Robin Campbell that was a pupil there and I better keep it that way. I need to start learning my lines, and before I go to bed I will have a shower and shave off all my visible body hair, arms, legs shoulders and chest.”

The dress rehearsal was in the late afternoon after school, and Sara came in to help me get ready and help with my make-up. The breast forms had to be glued on as the dress showed a lot of cleavage, but with a very skimpy bra for a bit of support, and with the cincher and padded control panties the dress fitted like a dream.

The dress was a flowing chiffon style in dark purple with a plunging neckline, bell sleeves, a nipped waist flowing into a full length skirt with lilac box pleats and slits up the side seams to mid thigh, showing the lacy garters fitted over black fishnet tights, and the outfit was completed with 3” black pumps. With the wig and make-up applied ,a quick check in the mirror showed a very attractive, very feminine Wicked Queen stepmother for Snow White, and I strutted out to reveal myself to the rest of the cast.

I was greeted with a chorus of ‘oohs and ahhs’ and cheeky wolf whistles and stares of disbelief at my transformation, but the excitement soon died down and we got on with our rehearsal, and considering that this was my first time in the role I did fairly well, needing the odd prompt but no major problems.

“That was amazing,” Mary said when we were finished and back in the dressing room, “not only were you brilliant in the role, but you were totally convincing as a woman, if I hadn’t known I would never have guessed. I take it that you know that all the cast members will be attending school tomorrow in their costumes, including the teachers and staff as well as the girls, is it asking too much for you to join in as well? It is a fun bit of last minute promotion to get interest among any girls that have not already booked in to attend”

“You are joking aren’t you Mary? It’s one thing me looking and acting like a woman on stage, but if I taught classes like this tomorrow I would never be allowed to forget it.”

“The girls will be all right with it, they will be expecting you to be in costume anyway, you might get a bit of ribbing at first but it will soon pass. Come in a bit early to get ready and made-up. Let’s get out of these costumes now and get them hung up, we don’t want them all creased and dirty for the performance tomorrow evening.”

I removed the wig and make-up and took off the dress and the underclothes and then realised that I had forgotten to pack the glue solvent to remove the breast forms, so quickly put my bra back on to keep them under control before getting dressed in my shirt, trousers and jacket. Luckily it was dark outside and nobody would notice a funny man with breasts.

As my car was in for a service, Lucy was waiting outside in her car to take me home, and noticed my new additions straight away.

“Couldn’t you bear to be parted from them Robin, they will have to come off sometime.”

“Very funny Sara, I forgot the remover solvent, I’ll sort it out when we get home.”

Unfortunately life is never easy, we couldn’t find the solvent anywhere, so I was stuck with the breasts, literally, for a few days until I could get some delivered. That meant that in the morning I would have to travel to school on the bus with a fine pair of 38Cs.

“At least I’ll need to be in costume all day tomorrow, apparently according to Mary, it is traditional, so there should be no problem with me suddenly having breasts”

“Look Robin, think about it, you are going to be wearing make -up and a dress all day tomorrow anyway, why not travel to school in the morning in a skirt and blouse and jacket, your breasts will just be seen as normal.”

“This gets even worse, I know that we have the occasional trip away with me dressed, but that is somewhere where nobody knows me, it is different doing it on our doorstep.” Sara just smiled sweetly back at me.

Anyway, in the morning I made my way to the bus stop, in full make-up, a shoulder length auburn wig, a smart navy skirt suit and azure camisole top and kitten-heel sandals with a black shoulder bag, some from my own collection, the rest courtesy of Sara’s wardrobe. Once I got away from the house and sharp-eyed neighbours, I felt a lot more comfortable and confident, nobody at the bus stop or when I got on noticed anything unusual about me. At the next stop a young woman got on the bus, and sat on the seat next to me and started chatting mostly about the reliability of the bus service and the weather..

As we got off the bus outside the school, with a puzzled look on her face she stopped to talk to me.

“Do I know you from somewhere, you look very familiar? I’m Margaret Thomas, I went to school here a few years ago, I was known as Margaret Coulson then.”

“I’m sorry Margaret you must mistaking me for someone else.” I lied through my teeth, I now recognised her as one of the girls that had been on the hockey team with me. I rushed off before she pushed the conversation further.

I made my way to the dressing room, getting a few inquisitive looks, people wondering who I was, and was greeted by a startled Mary, who gave me a challenging look before the penny dropped.

“Oh my God Robin, I know that I said you would have to be in costume all day, but that didn’t include arriving at school dressed in females’ clothes, although I must admit that you do make a very attractive and passable woman. Get changed quickly before anyone else sees you, they might want you to dress like that more often, you are the only man on the staff.”

I explained the problem with the breast forms which amused Mary a lot, and she was quite sympathetic and understanding. I got changed into my costume and applied my make-up before anyone else arrived, and made my way to my first challenge, the staff common room. I was the first there and was making myself a coffee, when others started to arrive, and with all the conversations about my costume, figure and make-up I never got the chance to drink it before it was time for my first class.

Word has obviously got around quickly about how I was going to be dressed today as I was greeted with a cheeky chorus of “Good morning Miss Campbell.” After several minutes where I let them ask a few questions of “How do you like wearing a dress.”, “Who did your make-up.”, “What is it like now that you have breasts like the rest of us.”, “How do like walking in high heels.”, I settled them down and got on with business as normal.

As the girls trooped out to their next class, there were a few comments about “You look lovely today, and were a lot more fun than usual Miss.”, “Thank you for being such a good sport Miss.”, “Good luck on stage tonight Miss Campbell.”, I just let them all go with a smile. That was very much the tone for the rest of the day, in most of the classes there was a bit of banter from the girls
but nothing nasty or disruptive to the lessons and in general they were appreciative that I had the sense of humour and the nerve to go through the day as I was dressed. I was told that all the other cast members had been in costume all day and most had also suffered a bit of light-hearted
joking, particularly the younger girls who were playing the parts of the Seven Dwarves, but nothing like the extent that I had received.

After school finished, we had an hour-and-a-half to freshen up, redo our makeup and relearn out lines before the curtains opened up on the first might of the show, to a full house of pupils, parents, a few members of the general public, and a reporter from the local weekly paper. For an amateur production, it was a very professional-standard show and went down extremely well with the audience.

As is traditional in pantomime, the Wicked Queen, as the villain of the show, was booed and hissed every time I came on stage, particularly when I spoke the famous lines, “ Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all.” and when I gave Snow White the poisoned apple. But that is what pantomime is all about, real heroes and real villains, I didn’t mind at all, particularly when I received a big ovation at the curtain call at the end of the show. We all went back to the dressing rooms with a buzz of excitement and full of adrenaline, and were looking forward to the rest of the shows until the end of the week.

As I was still stuck with my boobs, after I cleaned off the heavy stage make-up, I replaced it with a normal everyday look, dressed in my skirt suit again, and was making my way out to Sara in the car, when I saw Margaret from the bus, talking to Carol, the headmistress, who called me over.

“Robin, do you remember Margaret, she says she was here at school with you a few years ago, and played in the hockey team with you, long before my time. She really enjoyed your performance tonight, as did I, really well done you played the role superbly. I’ll leave you two to chat for a few minutes, then can you give me a few minutes in my study before you go.”

“ Sorry I didn’t recognise you earlier Margaret but I was in a bit of a rush and you have changed a lot and caught me unawares. We must get together sometime to catch up.”

“ I know I’ve changed a lot in the last ten or so years Robin, but not nearly so much as you have. Carol was telling me how her sports MASTER, MISTER Robin Campbell, was playing the part of the Queen. Would you like to explain.” she said with a big grin on her face.

“ Look Maggie, it’s complicated, and I really haven’t got time to explain now, can we meet up tomorrow and I’ll put you in the picture. Please don’t say anything about me to anyone else until we have had a chat, as I said it is complicated and a long story.”

“ OK Robin, see you at ‘The Bull’ just down the road at 12:30, I’m really intrigued, bye.” and off she went with a spring in her step, ‘like the cat that has got the cream’, leaving me to face the next hurdle, Carol Cummings.

“ Ok Robin,” said Carol as I entered her study, I think you had better tell me what all this is about, this is a girl’s school and we have never had any boys here. I think this is going to be a good story. Judging by the way you look now, I am surprised to say that I can believe Margaret’s story, you really look the part.”

“ Carol, it is a long story but I assure you that it is all explainable, but can we leave this until tomorrow, Sara my wife is waiting outside in the car for me.”

“I would really like to know this, I don’t want any scandal, go and bring her into the warm and she can sit in with us.”

I went and fetched Sara and then gave Carol a quick version of the story, how I had helped a friend who was being bullied, living as a girl and attending Abbey High, and then stayed on to become the pupil of the year before returning to manhood, Sara chipped in occasionally to confirm bits of the tale.

“You know the rest since my return as a teacher. You also know that I sort of fell into the role of the Wicked Queen in the panto, and due to unfortunate events I needed to dress like this today to hide the fact that I suddenly had breasts as I couldn’t remove my falsies, hiding in full view as they say.

“Even more worryingly Maggie recognised me, I’ll have to deal with her tomorrow. I hope that none of this affects my job here, If I can get Maggie on our side, there should be no chance of a scandal. The worst that could come out is that the Wicked Queen was played by a man, which is not a big thing nowadays.”

“ Right Robin, I was worried that this could lead to some sort of sex scandal, particularly with a boy in the changing rooms and shower area with the girls. After you have talked to Margaret, I would like to see her again to get her side of things.”

“OK Carol, thanks for not flying off the handle.”

“I’ve been told that you wearing the costume went down very well with the girls today, and that they related better to you in class. Until you get your breast problem sorted it wouldn’t go amiss if you came to school dressed as you are now. You are the only male in the school apart from the groundsman and caretaker, and you will just blend in with us all. It’s up to you but I think it’s a fair solution.”

“ I’m not sure, I’ll think about it when I get home and give you a ring early tomorrow to let you know, so you can forewarn everyone, if that is what I decide to do. Goodnight Carol, I’ll see you in the morning.”

In the car on the journey home and after we had settled in, Sara and I had a long discussion about what had happened today and how it could turn out if I went in wearing a skirt. We decided that it might be best to just brazen it out for a few days, particularly as I had to meet Maggie tomorrow.

I arrived at school in the morning wearing the suit from the previous day, but with a fresh white blouse and a long winter coat this time as there was a distinct chill in the air. I was welcomed into the staff room with lot of compliments on my looks and was soon just blending in with the others without anyone paying me any special attention, I was just another one of the teachers, nobody special. The only difference to normal was that I was drawn in to the chatty conversations a lot more and fell into my stage character a bit and started speaking in my feminine voice and copying the mannerisms of the other women.

It was the same story with the girls in class, other than now being called ‘Miss Campbell’ things went on as normal and the morning soon passed. I gave up on correcting their use of the title ‘Miss” rather than ‘Mrs’ or ‘Ms’, they tended to refer to all the teachers as Miss, whether they were single or married was irrelevant. I left at lunchtime to go to ‘The Bull’ to meet Maggie, worried as to what her reaction would be.

“Hi Robin,” she stood up to greet me with a quick hug and cheek kiss, “let’s order some drinks and something to eat, and we can then sit down and you can tell me all about this, I am so confused.”

I repeated the story I had told Carol Cummings while Maggie sat there quietly, open-mouthed, amazed at what she was being told.

“But you were with us for a whole year, in classes, talking in the canteen, on the hockey pitch and even in the changing rooms, you just came across as one of the girls, there was no clue that you were really a boy, you fitted in so well.”

“ I must admit that it was difficult at first in the changing rooms, seeing you all prancing around in your underwear, but I soon got used to it and it felt no different to being in changing rooms with other boys, you were all just people, fellow pupils, my friends and classmates.”

“Ok. Robin, I can understand the history of your time at school, but why are you dressed as you are today, you don’t do this normally, do you?”

“Not at all. Somebody fell ill and I had to take on the role of the Queen and play it as if I was one of the female teachers. As you can see, I fitted some breast forms on with special adhesive, and we can’t find the remover solvent, so these are fixed to me for the time being and it is easier to dress like this rather than trying to conceal them by binding them up.The girls at school don’t seem to mind, I think that they just see me as another of their women teachers.”

“It’s amazing that you are able to do this, you carry it off really well.”

“Look Margaret can you keep this quiet, the school is worried that if this all gets out that there will be a scandal and all sorts of trouble. Remember how proud we all were when the hockey team won the County Cup and the league, if it gets known that there was boy in the team, those awards will be taken away and we will all be shamed. Sorry if it sounds like I am sort of morally blackmailing you, but what good would that be for any of us.”

“ Your secret is safe with me, on one condition. You have never came to the class reunions, I would like to see you at the next one, just into the New Year at the end of January, is it a deal? I think the other girls would like to see Robin again, you were very popular.”

“Agreed, you drive a hard bargain, but please as far as anyone else is concerned I am just Robin, a former classmate, ok?”

We chatted for a while catching up on what we had done with our lives until it was time for me to return to school and said our goodbyes with a farewell hug, promising to meet up again after the holiday period. I was sinking deeper into the mire of all this. I reported back to Carol that Maggie would keep quiet and that we should be ok, and that Maggie would pop in to see her, to confirm that nothing untoward had happened.

The review of of the pantomime was featured in the local paper, and whilst there was praise all round for the cast and the performance, I was singled out for special mention.

‘Robin Campbell was excellent in new role as the wicked Queen and she shows a lot of promise, perhaps the local AM-Dram groups should get in contact. We understand that Robin, a teacher and former pupil at the school, was a late replacement for a sick colleague, stepping in just one day before the show, but this was not obvious from her superb performance.’

The repeated references to me as female was a bit embarrassing, and drew a lot of cheeky comments from the girls and amused giggles from the other teachers. I didn’t know who the critic was but just wished that they hadn’t been so lavish in their praise, I was hoping to keep my true identity under the radar.

For the rest of the week until the end of term, even though I now had a delivery of the solvent, I carried on as ‘Miss Campbell’ to save changing back and forth for the panto, and soon nobody even particularly noticed what I looked like or sounded like. It was pointed out to me now that I was being seen as one of the women and becoming more involved with the general chat in the staff room my voice intonation and speech patterns were becoming more feminine and not out of place with the others. This even carried over into the classrooms and lessons, and now the girls were all calling me ‘Miss Campbell’, not as a cheeky joke but just as a term of respect for their teacher.

We broke up for the Christmas and New Year holidays and I was looking forward to returning to being‘Mr Campbell’ again back at home with Sara.

My father was unfortunately out of the country for Christmas and my sister Karen and her husband Colin were visiting her in-laws, so we invited Mam to come over for Christmas Day. Although it was only the three of us and not a full table of family we had an enjoyable time and an excellent traditional dinner, before sitting down to relax over drinks and watching the festive TV shows.

“ Oh Robin,” Mam said with a big smile,” I saw the review in the paper about your performance in the pantomime, you seem to have done a good job, you should have told me and i would have come to see the show. However, what I couldn’t understand was all the references to you as ‘she and her’ and that you were a former pupil, what is all that about?”

I explained to her how I had got into the situation and also told her about my few days teaching dressed as a woman and meeting up with Maggie.

“I thought that you dressing as a girl was all just to help out Josie Marshall and stop the bullying at school, but obviously it had some effect on you, do you enjoy dressing as a woman?”

“Honestly Mam, it’s not unknown, but it’s only been a big thing the last couple of weeks with the pantomime and everything that followed.”

“ Robin, do you think that I could meet ‘Miss Campbell’, I’m intrigued as to how you look, and am also slightly peeved that everyone else has met her apart from your own mother.”

“It’s been a busy day Mam, let’s leave it, maybe tomorrow when the excitement of Christmas has calmed down.”

Boxing Day morning, Sara convinced me that Mam deserved to see me so I transformed back into ‘Miss Campbell’ wearing a casual dress rather than the my normal (?) business that I had been wearing for work, and went downstairs to face Mam.

“I’m astonished Robin, I would never have thought that you would be so convincing, you are just so natural. After breakfast let us all go for a walk to get some fresh air and blow away the cobwebs from yesterday. Obviously you should just stay as you are, you’ve made a lot of effort with your make-up and hair and it would be a shame to waste it.”

The walk in the park turned into the next three days until Mam went back home, shopping trips, a theatre visit, lunches out, generally just socialising as any three women would. I found myself slipping into female mode again, the way I spoke, walked, giggled with Mam and Sara, and my general mannerisms. But it all had to come to an end and I prepared to go back to school as ‘Mr Campbell’.

It had been a hectic and unusual time lately, temporarily becoming ‘Miss Campbell’, and The Wicked Queen, and my time with Sara and Mam over Christmas. I just hoped that the next term in the New Year would be a little more routine.

To be continued