“Come on girls, we’re home. Wakey wakey”

Huh! Girls?

“Come on sleepy” Gran’s voice came from behind me
“Gran?”
“You’ve been asleep all the way from Cambridge luv”
“Dreaming” I mumbled stretching as best I could in the back of the car
“All the excitement, come on inside with you, and you Britney”

I extricated myself from the seatbelt and stumbled into the house with Britney hard on my heels. Of course Deb and Jules wanted to hear about everything so bed was put on hold! Dad talked Gran into staying until Tuesday, which meant a couple of nights in the camper for him! Finally, after I’d fallen asleep for a second time Dad called time and I stumbled up to bed.

What a weekend! Urgh, school tomorrow!

“So Drew, I want to hear all about Germany” Mad enthused as the four of us walked to school Monday morning.
“Hey you guys, we need to practice our cheers later” Sabrina called back to us
“After school?” Mad suggested
“We can go to the park straight from class” Brit decreed
“Okay” Mad allowed, “you gonna come Drew?”
“Hey after the weekend, she’s on the squad!” Brit told everyone
“Briii-it!” I moaned
“Well you were great in that fashion show”
“Fashion show?” Sabrina and Mad echoed
“I’ll tell you later” I sighed
“So?” Sabrina asked
“Eh?”
“You’re coming to cheer practice, right?” she pressed
“Okay. But I’m only watching”
“If you say so girlfriend!” Brit mumbled.

It was like being the new kid at school, I know it was only a couple of days but everyone else seemed to know where they were going and had met the teachers. Me and the gang are third years (Brit keeps on about 11th grade?) so we get some new subjects (and teachers) this year before we choose our GCSE’s next year. So today I start TD, tomorrow it’s IT and we’ve got Politics, Social Studies and Community Projects later in the week.

I got through the morning and then of course at lunchtime me and Brit were real popular. All the gang, Bernie, Ally, Rhod and Mad along with Darla, Sabrina and Amy commandeered a spot under one of the Weeping Willows that provided a bit of privacy. Where’s Dan I hear you ask? I feel a bit sorry for him really but Miss Bell has got him under virtual house arrest! So lunchtimes he’s stuck inside, in the secretary’s office.

So with me filling in a few details now and then, Brit brought the gang up to date with our trip. Of course that meant that Amy and Darla now had to have my status explained to them.

“What’s the fuss? I always thought you were a girl anyway Gaby” Amy told me
“Can you call me Drew at school plee-ease?”
“Okay, if that’s what you want”
“So are you gonna be in the cheer squad?” Darla asked
“Of course she is” Brit pronounced, “you should have seen some of her moves in Germany”
“Really?” Bernie enquired
“Yeah she was really shakin’ them tail feathers”
“Gaby you little minx!” Ally snorted

I was saved from further humiliation by the first buzzer going.

“So, straight to the park after school then” Sabrina stated

Everyone bar me, Rhod and Mad then did some weird bum slap and shake which finished with a group high five resulting in six giggling girls and three bemused teens.

“What was that about?” Mad asked as we headed towards the school buildings.
“It’s our squad signature” Ally advised, “we’ll teach you and Drew later”

Deep joy! I just hope no one sees me later. The afternoon session seemed to drag on forever, tech drawing was okay but to finish with double English and ‘an introduction to Shakespeare’ was too much. The promise of an hour prancing around the park straight after didn’t exactly fire me up either. And with half the ‘squad’ in my class there was no chance of escape.

“Hey Drew, you fancy giving the RC’s a run tonight?” Clive asked as we filed out of class.

Oh how I’d like that!

“Can’t, I’m stuck with Britney”
“Bummer” Paul mentioned from behind me, “still they go home this week don’t they?”
“Yeah, there’s a party thing on Thursday, Mr Wood mentioned a special assembly on Friday then they leave Saturday morning”
“You seen Gaby lately?” Clive asked
“Er no, not for weeks”
“I wish she came here for school” Clive sighed
“Yeah maybe you’d stop mooning over her then” Paul mentioned
“There you are Drew, come on we’ll be late” Brit grabbed my arm and dragged me off
“See ya Drew” Clive called out
“Tomorrow” I replied

“You got your sports kit?” Brit asked as we joined the throng of departing students.
“No, what for?”
“Well you can hardly cheer in that get up can you”
“I don’t want to cheer”
“‘Course you do, we’ll sort you out when we get there”

I can do without being ‘sorted out’ thank you!

We met the rest of the crowd at the crossing then I sulked along behind as the gaggle of girls headed over the river towards a quiet corner of The Carr’s.

“Has any one got a spare skirt for Gaby?” Brit requested
“Can’t I just wear my trousers?”
“Don’t talk daft” Ally told me
“I’ve got my netball skirt” Bernie offered, waving a navy blue garment.

I groaned. Netball equals very short skirt, I like watching the girls when they play because of the short skirts, I don’t want to wear one!

“That’ll be brill,” Mad stated gleefully
“Here you go Gab” Bernie handed me the garment

Almost resigned to the situation I saw a way out.

“I can’t just change in the middle of the park”
“You can go into those bushes,” Brit ‘helpfully’ advised, pointing to a nearby mound of foliage
“And you’d best put these on too” Mad threw me another garment.
“It’s alright Gaby, we’ll make sure no one see you” Ally added.

Luckily there was a small clearing in the middle of the bushes and a quick check didn’t reveal any obvious peepholes.

“Come on Gab, times a wasting!” I think that was Darla
“Okay!” I shook out the skirt and the bundle that Mad threw me, which turned out to be her PE knickers, full cut and designed to hide tanks!
Five minutes later I emerged from the foliage sans trousers, doing my best to keep ‘my’ skirt from blowing up a la Marilyn.

“That’s better Gab, but those shoes have to go!” Brit declared
“We’ll practice barefoot,” Darla suggested which prompted a general removal of footwear and foot coverings.

We’d been prancing around for best bit of an hour when my worst fears were realised.

“Hey Clive, isn’t that Gaby over there” Paul’s voice carried to us on the breeze.
“Admirer Gaby?” Amy asked
“Er sort of”
“Clive’s got a crush on her,” Mad told the Americans
“You sly puss!” Brit declared
“What are you lot up to?” Clive asked as he and Paul arrived at cheer central clutching various RC equipment and Clive’s Subaru.
“What’s it look like knob head?” Bernie shot back
“I dunno” Clive ignored the insult, “some sort of dancing? Hi Gaby”

I smiled weakly back

“If you must know, we’re cheering” Brit volunteered
“I thought Drew was with you?” Paul queried
“He was for a bit but he went to see his Gran” Mad came to my rescue
“Do you fancy going to the pictures Saturday Gaby?” Clive enquired
“Er I won’t be around then” I hope!
“Maybe some other time”

Paul had drifted off a short way

“Come on Clive!”
“See you then Gaby, bye
“Er bye”
“Yeah bye bye big boy!” Bernie muttered
“You’re well in there,” Amy mentioned as Clive hurried over to rejoin Paul
“Gaby’s got a boyfriend, Gaby’s got a boyfriend“ Brit sang out
“Give it a rest Brit, she’s a bit shy”

I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me

“Come on let’s run through the routine once more before we finish” Amy suggested

When the rain came ten minutes later it caught us completely unawares. We all just grabbed our bags and footwear and ran barefoot for the nearest shelter.

“We’d better get home” Ally advised
“Us too" Bernie agreed
“Okay see you guys tomorrow” Brit mentioned

The four of them darted off as the rain eased for a moment.

“You coming back to mine?” Mad asked
“Best not, I really should go and see Gran as she’s staying, she’ll have tea ready by now knowing her”
“Okay”
“Come on the rains stopped” Sab stated

I pulled my shoes on and chased after the others as we made our way home.

“Phew! I thought we were gonna get caught good and proper there”

The sound of rain hammering down outside masked the thump of my heart, fresh from running the length of the estate.

“There you two are”
“Oh hi Gran”

The look on her face told me something was wrong.

“You didn’t wear that to school?”

Then I realised. I’ve just come from the park wearing Bernie’s skirt and Mad’s knickers!

“No Gran, just for cheer practice”
“Cheer practice? I think you and me need a chat later Drew. Come in and get your tea, but go and get something dry on first. Go on, the pair of you.” She shushed us inside and not needing an invitation I legged it for my room.

The evening had completely turned around, gone were the rain clouds and we were now sat in the garden under a cloudless blue sky. The evening was now punctuated by the twittering of birds and the incessant droning of a strimmer two doors away. The only sign of the earlier downpour left was the fresh ‘green’ smell of the grass and shrubbery.

“So you’ve been pretending to be a girl?” Gran asked after I finished my tale of woe.
“Er not exactly Gran” boy is this embarrassing. “Well actually the Americans all think I’m a girl who’s pretending to be a boy”
“And not doing too well at it either if the weekend and Britney’s reaction was anything to go by”
“Not you too Gran!”
“Calm down Drew. All I see is my grandson, admittedly it came as a shock to see you in a skirt on Friday, but I still see you”
“Thanks Gran”
“That’s what I see Drew. What other people see is something else. Did anyone query your gender over the weekend?”
“The guy at Stansted?”
“Thought you had the wrong passport. He thought you were a girl”
“Well I was wearing a dress!”
“Even so, he was certain you were a girl, not a boy in a dress. And then there was Marcus and that nice Mr Hamburger, they all saw a pretty girl not a boy”
“I’m doomed!” I bemoaned
“No you’re not. Now be honest Drew, how do you feel about it all, really, the truth mind”

I sat and watched next doors cat stalking some unseen prey across our lawn and tried to square my answer.

“Really? Well I hate all the deception stuff, I want people to just see me.”
“You you or Gaby you?”
“Me me of course”
“You don’t like being Gaby at all?”
“I didn’t say that, it’s okay sometimes but I’d like to have a bit of control over when I’m her”
“So you like pretending to be a girl?”
“It’s okay sometimes”
“Drew, son, do you, if it was possible, would you like to be a girl?”
“Graaa-an! Get real! No way, why would I?”
“Calm down. I had to ask Drew”
“I only said being Gaby is okay” I stated, a tear starting to well up.
“I know luv, come here” Gran pulled me in for a hug and the floodgates opened
“Why do so many people think I’m a girl Gran?” I got out between sniffles
“Honestly?”
“Uh huh” sniff.
“Well you’ve got your Mum’s features, and with your hair and earrings you look just like her. In fact at first glance most of the women in our family look pretty similar”
“Jules doesn’t!”
“No she got her looks from your Dad, but you and Madeline, your only second cousins but you could be twins to look at. For better or worse Drew, you’ve got your mothers looks and for now at least you’re stuck with ’em”
“So there’s nothing I can do Gran?”
“Well you could chop all your hair off and stop wearing unisex clothing but I don’t think it would help much. You just have fine features and a pretty smile”

I slumped back into her embrace

“Why can’t I be me?” I mumbled

Gran hugged me closer and gently rocked the swing seat back and forth.

Tuesday arrived cloudy but dry, Dad’s taking Gran home as he’s got a meeting somewhere over that way which meant that there were six for breakfast.

“Are you going to be okay Drew?”
“Yes Gran” I hugged her tightly
“Well if you want to talk, you know where I am”
“Thanks Gran and thanks for taking us to the show”
“I enjoyed it and I hope my granddaughter did too” she smiled conspirationally
“I think so. Oh I’ve still got your earrings, I’ll go get ‘em” I started to pull away
“Whoa kiddo! I gave them to you”
“But Gran I thought…”
“Gaby can wear them when she’s around or you can give them to someone you care for. It’s up to you but they’re yours to keep.”
“Thanks Gran” in truth I was rather glad, I quite like them!
“Now, get off to school and be the best you you can” she hugged me close and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Bye Gran, see you soon”
“Bye Drew”

“You okay girl?” Brit enquired as we walked along to meet Mad and Sab
“Yeah I guess”
“You brought something to wear for cheer practice today?”
“My badminton kit”
“That should be okay, I just wish you’d wear a skirt to school”
“I prefer trousers!”
“Who should wear a skirt?” Mad enquired
“Oh hi Mad, Gaby should wear a skirt to school”
“She does sometimes but she gets too many boys following her around” Mad chuckled
“Maa-ad!” I complained
“Well it’s true, just look at Clive last night and that Paul was eyeing you up too” Mad mentioned
“Leave her in trousers Brit, give us ordinary folk a chance!” Sabrina chimed in.

School was okay until afternoon break. That was when Amy told us that Miss Bell had arranged for us to use the sports hall for our cheer practice! Why me? Somehow I have to become the ‘real’ Gaby while I’m at school this afternoon, Grrr! Let me tell you, if I could reasonably get out of this I would but I’d not only have Brit on my back but Mad and the guys too and that means I’d never hear the end of it!

As it turned out I didn’t get out of class on time so I had to leg it across to the sports hall where I found the others already excitedly chatting away.

“Come on Gaby shake a leg girl” Darla exclaimed

I gave her a look and headed towards the changing rooms only to be thwarted by locked doors. Dang! Toilets, they’d do. I dived into the gents and as there was no one else around I quickly changed from my school uniform into Gaby’s badminton kit. I slipped the silicon blobs that make her breasts into the cups and gave my hair a quick brush. The girl in the mirror does look a lot like Mum, Gran‘s right there. I gathered my stuff and headed out

“Oi! What you doing in there girl?”
“Huh?” I spun round to find one of the cleaners staring at me
“What’re you doing in them toilets?” he repeated
“Just getting changed, the changing rooms are locked”
“Well you should use the ladies, not the gents, you sure there’s no boys in there?”

Oh boy! Now he thinks I’ve been in there with a boy, if this ever got out I’m mince!

“Sorry I just went in the first one I came to”
“There you are Drew, come on Miss Bell is going to coach us” Mad enthused

Rescue!

“Nice pants” Amy mentioned when I joined the others. Well I can’t say that I like them but these tennis knickers do preserve my dignity.
“Right! Now we’re all here” Miss Bell started looking pointedly at me, “lets see what you’re made of”

For the next ten minutes we went through the routine that Brit and the girls had worked out, it was odd jumping about with my boobs jiggling away but by the time we finished I’d fully slipped into Gaby mode. Then for the following half hour or so our ‘coach’ did her best to polish our performance and the routine.

“Okay guys, sit yourselves down” we didn’t need much encouragement, my legs felt as though I’d just finished a race!
“Well done everyone, that was really good. I know my students have their cheer uniforms but what are you others going to wear?”
“We hadn’t really thought Miss” Ally admitted
“Well I’ve spoken to Mr Wood and the school is sponsoring your uniforms”
“Oh cool!” Mad exclaimed
“I bet it’s something really dorky” Bernie moaned

I just groaned to myself and saw Brit grinning to herself.

“But we’re doing it on Thursday, there’s not time” Ally mentioned
“It’s just as well I jumped the gun a bit then. Amy, can you fetch the box over by the door”

Amy jumped up and retrieved the box in question.

“Thanks Amy, I spoke to Britney and Sabrina last week so you can blame them for the design”
“Come on Miss lets see” Darla enthused

Coach Bell opened the box and extracted a bag that she opened to reveal ‘our’ new uniform.

“Oh kewl!” Bernie exclaimed
“That looks awesome” Darla stated, “nicer than ours”
“Thanks Miss” Mad added
“I’ve got you poms and sneakers too, this ones yours Ally” and Miss Bell proceeded to hand out the kit.
“You’ve got to try them on,” Sab stated
“Miss?” Ally queried
“Go on, I want to see them myself. But be quick, we have to be out of here in a few minutes”
“Come on” Mad enthused.

A few minutes later the ‘Sherwood Foresters’ emerged back into the hall. The costumes were yellow and blue with red trim and were like a sort of leotard with a skirt sewn on. I am gonna so have to wear that damned gaff with this!

“Whoo, whoo, whoo!”
“Yay Foresters!”

The Americans voiced their opinions of our turnout quite loudly.

The main door swung open and the cleaner poked his head in

“Sorry ladies, I’m going to have to lock up”
“Okay, we’re done now, come on girls get your bags” Miss Bell instructed

You may have noted a lack of enthusiasm on my part, well I’m well pee’d now! I was hoping to get back into my school uniform but now I’m stuck in this silly costume. The others were all chatting away as we exited the building, I was just following along, praying that no one sees me in this get up.

Jessica smiled at the sight of the departing students. ‘They’re a good lot of kids. Drew looks like she has reservations though. I guess being a cheerleader doesn’t fit her self-image of tomboy. That child is certainly one mixed up young lady, maybe this will help with her self identity, she can’t pretend to be a boy like she claims, no boy could look as good as she does in that outfit’ she watched as the girls split up to go home.

Of course my wishes never come to anything as halfway to Mad’s we spotted Rhod and Dan. Bum! After the Mfanwy affair this was not going to be good!

“Cool uniforms” Dan advised
“I thought you were grounded Dan?” Sab mentioned
“He’s on parole,” Rhod told us, “the shy one is Gaby, Dan”
“Hi Gaby!” Dan grinned, “We were looking for you actually Sab” Dan went on. The two lads joined us as we headed through the gennel. “Look I’m really sorry about what I said Sabrina, I didn’t mean it. Honest. I know I deserved to be punished. Can you forgive me?”
“What about Rhod?” Mad asked
“He’s apologised to me and mum already” Rhod put in
“Sab?” Dan looked pleadingly at our chum
“I guess I can accept but I can’t forget”
Dan’s face lit some, “that’s cool, thanks Sabrina” he gave her an awkward hug, awkward because we were still walking.
“We’d best get home Dan” Rhod stated
“Yeah, okay. See you guys tomorrow, those uniforms really are cute”
“Dan!” three voices echoed
“I was only saying”
“See ya” Rhod waved as we separated.

I heard the two of them as they turned away

“That Gaby is one good looking girl,” Dan stated
“Remind me to tell her” Rhod replied

Maddy Bell 18.07.04 (2nd Edit 24.07.04)