he gymnasium was crammed full of people. It was the second week of October and Halloween was just around the corner. With Halloween being so close, our student council on a whim had decided to hold something of a Harvest Celebration. You could tell it had been a last minute decision, because everything seemed thrown together. But all in all, things seemed to be turning out alright. Like I said, the gymnasium was crammed full of people, both students and teachers alike seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The savory smell of fresh popped popcorn filled the air. The Home Educational students had been put in charge of the food. And had settled on popcorn, hot dogs and ice cold sodas. A small bag of popcorn would cost you around seventy five cents, a hot dollar would cost you a dollar twenty five and a faygo pop, either cola, strawberry, orange or grape would cost you fifty cents. The Art students had been put in charge of decorations and with what little money they had been allotted they had done a wonderful job.
Pumpkin's provided by my sisters farm along with hay bales dotted the gym. Along with paintings of witches with the classic fairy tale appearance of green skin with warts on their noses, wearing long black dresses, crooked hats, mounted on broomsticks and sailing across star splashed skies hung all around the gym. Some panties even featured spooky graveyards with half sunken stones and moss covered angels. Some featured rundown houses with sagging roofs, and broken shutters. I guess since the celebration was to take place during school hours they wanted to conjure up spooky images via paintings.
As far as attractions went, we had a cake-walk toward the back of the gymnasium, in the center we had a bobbing for apples thing and toward the exit we had the kissing booth. Now, I had volunteered for the kissing booth. I mean I've done everything else, I've been in a dunking booth, once my freshman year and again the summer of my sophomore year. I was also covered from head to toe in green colored apple-sauce my freshman year as well for some charity. And also my freshman year I volunteered for the town's ducking stool. Heck, I've even been covered in baked beans! So it's safe to say I'm no stranger when it comes to getting messy for charity.
The only thing I've never done though is a kissing booth. So shrugging my shoulders, I decided to volunteer for that, you know, knock that off my high school bucket list. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a teenage movie. Anyway, since the whole deal was only to last an hour, I was to be the only one staffing the booth.
Now, I'm a shy girl, and I have a steady boyfriend, who when informed that I'll be volunteering for said booth only shrugged his shoulders. I think he was a little on edge with me volunteering, but he finally gave his nod of approval when I moved in and gave him a good kiss on the lips. Now my sister has a saying, you're not claimed till they put a ring on your finger. With that piece of advice, I felt free enough to volunteer. After all, neither Matthew and I had placed a ring on each other's figures. And while we were close enough, we still understood that either one of us could break off the relationship at a moment's notice.
Anyway, as it turns out I was the only girl brave enough to volunteer. Now me volunteering caused a few problems. Our student council, a collection of eight students, drawn from all four grades, was overjoyed that I had volunteered and accepted my application without batting a eye. Now the teachers on the other, they were a bit hesitant. See, I'm a odd ball, I'm the school's only Transgender student.
The fact that I used to be a shy boy named Mark cut very little ice with the students. None of them really knew me as Mark, as far as they were concerned, I had always been Madeline. I started my freshman year as Madeline, I tried out for the cheerleading team as a girl named Madeline, I had volunteered for the Discover Benton dunking booth girl named Madeline, I had volunteered for the fourth of July dunking booth as a girl named Madeline, My report card said Madeline, the teachers called me Madeline, heck even my bank account and my drivers permit said Madeline. So as far as my peers were concerned, I was just an underdeveloped girl named Madeline.
Really only the staff knew about my history as Mark. And that was the hang up and that was the main reason they hesitated till at last at the eleventh hour when no willing volunteer could be found, they were once more forced to turn to me. To me, it was a repeat of the thanksgiving charity fair.
And so that matter settled, I decided to go all out. I had this little back dress that fell just above the knee. The dress showed off what little cleavage I had. It was flirty and flattering too and could be dressed up or down, I paired it with my best pair of shoes, a pair of black ankle strap high heels. Those had been my first real pair of shoes I had brought, I brought them with my own money and my sister's help. I liked them because they made me feel taller than I really was.
For make-up and hair, I decided to go for a sultry look. I'll never forget the way my sister and her beloved looked at me that morning while I got dressed. Both just stood in the doorway of the bathroom, arms folded across their chest, head cocked to the side and a general look of concern showing clearly on their faces. But neither said anything about my sultry look or my heavy handed use of eyeliner and lipstick.
Heather did however say in an off-handed way that I was pulchritudinous enough without so much make-up and such a dress should only be worn on a date and not to a school's kissing booth. When I asked her to define the word “Pulchritudinous'' She simply wrote it down and told me to google it. And so I did, I pulled out my phone and googled it. It turns out the word is an adjective that means physically beautiful or attractive. Pulchritudinous in short it's a grandiose way of saying someone or something is good-looking.
But after that little comment I was left along. There was really nothing else for me to do besides pack my school bag, pick up the brown paper bag that held my lunch. A peanut butter sandwich, a few snack cakes and a juice box. The classic school lunch, and so with my lunch in hand, I bounced down the concrete steps and flagged down the trolley and I was soon off to school.
And so with all that covered, I'm now sitting here on a wooden stool behind a wooden counter. A large pickle jar sits on the wooden counter. A piece of pink construction paper is taped to the jar and the words 'Kisses for Charity' are written on it. Under that are the words 'All Kisses on Cheeks! - One dollar!” The jar is empty and next to the jar one would find four tubs of lipstick.
And so I wait. My fingernails, freshly painted and polish drum on the countertop and my eyes scan the crowded gym. And from the looks of things, only the cake-walk might bring in some money, because let's face it, everybody loves cake. I'm still surprised the classic pie toss is missing from the lineup of games, and the crowd pleased the dunking booth, heck they could have even hired a pitch and burst if they wanted too. But then again, with only a week to plan and a shoe-string budget to work with, it's a wonder this ever got started in the first place.
A quarter of an hour passed before anybody really passed the booth. Despite my flirty stance most of the boys stood to the side and only peered toward the booth. I think many of them were debating if they should risk Matthew's wrath by going up and dropping a dollar. A flock of girls also stood, shooting daggers at me. I knew soon another rumor about me would be floating along the corridors of the school.
I mean I was aware people talked about it. I mean school girls love to gossip, For example if you get Jamie and I together before long we are chatting it up. Like we talk about who's going steady with who, who's cheating on who and with whom. Who's given up their virginity to so so. Lily, and Robin though they often frown on this, soon join in. What can I say, we girls like to network out. Our social network is vast and often overlaps others. And through that social networking, I've discovered a few rumors about me.
One rumor was I seemed to enjoy getting dunked, because I had volunteered for the dunking booth twice. And the town's dunking stool once, another rumor stated that I might have developed a “Fetish” for getting messy since I often ended up getting messy a lot. That rumor piqued my curiosity and caused me to go to google. I discovered something called W.A.M that stood for (Wet and Messy) and it was a fetish. It seemed there was a whole internet community devoted to it. After doing a little more reading, I decided it was not really a fetish for me, but just something that often happens because I had a charitable heart and people would often pay good money to see somebody humiliated.
I did have to explain to Kayla why I was googling that though. I don't think she was amused, and I don't think she was upset. I think she was more confused than anything. For a moment I thought she was going to pull me over her lap for a one on one talk with Ms. Hair Brush, but I escaped that fate by the skin of my teeth.
Another rumor centered on me again being some kind of robot because I still used the staff's bathroom to change into my P.E uniform and to change into my cheer uniform. That rumor had followed me around since my freshman year.
The final rumor centered on me and my group of friends who gathered in the woods to tell spooky stories. That rumor said we were really gathering in the woods to perform hexing rituals, and that we would often dance around the campfire naked and offer kittens and puppies to some tree. That was silly, anybody who knew me, knew I was a semi-devoted Anglican who attended weekly services at our town's Episcopal Church, Saint Mary's. The rumor was cool though, though it might offend the witch of our group Cerridwen, who was a gentle green witch who often blessed us for safe travels through the woods.
This musing ate up fifteen more minutes of my time. But it gave me something to do as I waited and waited.
To be continued~
