On the Flip Side
by Torey

Author's note: On the Flip Side is the sequel to Switching Playing Fields.

Chapter 1

I looked down the lane at the vault.

I can't believe I'm actually going to try this.

It was a dare. Jessi dared me.

I took off running. I placed my hands on the vault and soared into the air, turning a flip.

I landed on my feet.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you did it!" Jessi yelled. "Wow! On the first try. You don't know how many times I landed on my butt before I could do that!"

Beth, Kim, Emily and Gina were amazed, too. They cheered, clapped and gave me high fives.

"Hold it right there!" were the next words we heard.

"Uh, oh," Jessie said. "It's Coach Martin and Coach Mills."

Coach Mills was the high school gymnastics coach.

"Beth Garrison, aren't you supposed to be at the boys gym?" Coach Martin asked. She seemed very irritated.

"Uh, no, I've been transferred back to girls P.E.," Beth said. "It's basketball season."

"Well then I suggest you go see Coach Collins," she said, pointing to the office of the girls basketball coach.

"The rest of these hooligans belong to me," Coach Martin said. "Lucas Lacy, Kim Arnold, Jessi Mears and Emily Crue hit the steps. Gina Lenetti, since you're unable to run gymnasium steps, you get laundry detail."

"Before you run your hooligans, I'd like to see if he can do it again, this time with a couple of spotters," Coach Mills said.

I was stunned. Do it again?

Jessi and Emily took their places to spot.

I walked back to get ready for another run.

"Oh, yeah, do it this time in bare feet," Coach Mills said.

I took off my shoes and socks.

"Go," she said.

I ran toward the vault again. I jumped. My hands touched the vault. I flipped in the air.

I landed on my feet. I slipped, and took a couple of steps back, but still stayed on my feet.

"Good job!" Coach Mills said.

"I will now leave you all to run gymnasium steps," Coach Mills said. "But Lucas, gymnastics tryouts are at 3 tomorrow at the high school. I'd love to see you there. Jessica's going to be there, she can fill you in on all of the details. I left some forms in Coach Martin's office."

"No one is to touch the gymnastics equipment without permission," Coach Martin said. "What you ladies did was irresponsible. Someone could get hurt. Now move!"

We started running the steps. We knew we were going to be running for a long time.

#####

"Gymnastics?" Mom said. "You really want to try out?"

"Yeah," I said. "I think it will be fun. You put me in Aunt Paige's gymnastics class when I was 7."

"That's a little different, don't you think?" Mom said. "She taught you to tumble. She taught you to do boys stuff. You'll be trying out for the girls' gymnastics team."

"So you're not going to let me try out?" I asked.

"I didn't say that," Mom said. "One thing I love about you is that you like to do things outside the box. Does it really mean that much to you?"

"Yeah Mom, it does," I said. "It really does."

"For once, I'd just like for you to ask me, 'Mom, can I try out for basketball'." Mom said. "Or baseball, something normal for a boy to do."

"Mom, you know I suck at basketball and baseball," I said.

"Point taken," Mom said. "I remember waiting in the stands, praying for you to get a hit."

She signed the form.

"I've just got one question," Mom said. "Will they make you wear a leotard?"

"I don't know, Mom," I said.

"Not that it matters," she said. "I've seen you wear a skirt, a homecoming gown and a regular dress. What difference does it make if you end up in a skimpy leotard."

#####

There were about 20 girls in leotards...and me at gymnastics tryouts.

I wasn't wearing a leotard, just the spandex shorts I wore to field hockey practice and a T-shirt.

We ranged from high school seniors to seventh graders. There weren't enough from the high school to fill the varsity team, which was why Coach Mills opened the tryouts to middle school students.

State rules allowed middle school students to compete on varsity as long as they attended a feeder school. Some of the girls already knew they were on the team. They were the all-arounders, which included a senior, sophomore and Jessi.

"We have to have six girls compete in each event, of which we keep the top five scores. You don't have to be able to do all four events. If you have the potential to do one well, you've got a shot to make the team."

I lined up with the girls to do vault. Several had troubles even jumping over the vault. I was able to jump over the vault, but landed on my butt a few times. But I was able to land on my feet some, even though it was sloppy at times.

I didn't do the math. I didn't know how many girls were able to vault successfully.

"You've got a real good shot," Jessi said as I followed her over to the floor exercise.

I didn't intend to do floor during tryouts, but accidentally found myself in line.

"It's your turn," Coach Mills said, turning on the music.

I'm really going to make a complete fool of myself, I thought.

I decided to try the tumbling my aunt taught me. That was really about all I could do.

"You, if we can teach you to dance a little, and a few more basic elements, we might have the makings of a countable floor routine," Coach Mills said. "I really wasn't counting on you being able to contribute on floor. What a pleasant surprise."

"I think you just made the team, if you hadn't already on vault," Jessi whispered.

"Of the middle school students, I need Jessica Mears, Lucas Lacy and Kacey Prentiss to stay," Coach Mills said. "The rest of you can go. Thanks for coming. I want to encourage the rest of you to keep working. I know we'll have slots open next year."

We joined the high school girls on the team on the bleachers.

"Ladies...and gentleman," Coach Mills said. "We've got a long way to go before our first meet."

After the meeting, Coach Mills took me aside.

"One thing you won't have to worry about is being accused of having a competitive advantage," Coach Mills said. "And be prepared. You're a rarity. I know of only one other boy who has even competed in girls gymnastics in this state. That was years ago."

"Coach Mills, I've got a question," I said. "What will I have to wear at practice and at the meets?"

"Good question," she said. "I would like you to go ahead and get practice leotards. But you can go ahead and wear the shorts you wore today over them. At the meets, I'm afraid it will be just the leotard. But Jessi tells me you take ballet. You need to wear a dance belt under it. And the good thing is you can wear your warmups until it's your time to compete on vault or floor."

Chapter 2

I hadn't been to "the barn" since I was about 8-years-old.

"The barn" was what Aunt Paige called the building where she taught gymnastics, cheerleading and tumbling.

She talked Mom into letting me take class when I was in kindergarten and I took lessons for about three years. I never really told anyone, but I could still tumble, do cartwheels and handstands.

That is until I showed I could tumble during gymnastics tryouts.

"My gosh, Janice, it's seems like he's grown!" Aunt Paige said when we walked into the building.

"Come on Aunt Paige, we just saw you guys a month ago," I said.

Truth of the matter, we really didn't see Aunt Paige or my cousin Claire a whole lot even though they lived only about a half hour away.

Mom called her the other night to let her know about me making the Spring Hill High School team. Aunt Paige was thrilled I would be following in her footsteps just like I followed in Mom's when I played field hockey.

"Did you know Phoebe Mills and I were on the same team in high school?" Aunt Paige asked.

"I didn't know that," I said.

"You need to tell her you're Paige Blake's nephew!" she said.

Aunt Paige was a former state champion gymnast. She went south and competed at the University of Georgia, where she was an All-American and an NCAA champion.

She was a pretty good coach, too. A couple of her former students made the Olympic team. Several of her students competed in college.

When she found out I was going to be competing in gymnastics, she offered to coach me each Sunday along with my cousin Claire, who was in the sixth grade, and a friend of her's named Willow, who was in the fifth grade.

"Janice, remember when Lucas was little I promised you that I wouldn't teach Lucas girls stuff?" Aunt Paige said. "Guess what Lucas, you get to learn girls stuff every Sunday!"

Mom rolled her eyes.

"I'm beginning to get used to it, Paige," she said. "Lucas, I'll be back to pick you up around 5."

"Before you get started, let me lead you over to the boutique," Aunt Paige said.

The boutique was a little store Aunt Paige set up in "the barn" where she sold leotards and other gymnastics warm up clothes.

"Your mom said you needed practice leotards," she said.

I nodded my head yes.

She picked a few off the rack that she guessed were about my size.

"You can go in there to try them on," she said. "This will spare you the embarrassment of having to go to a store to get some."

I actually appreciated that.

"Mom, he should try one of those floral print ones," Claire said as she walked into the boutique with Willow.

"Um, that's Okay," I said as I went into the changing room.

I picked out a couple of blue ones, a red one and a black one.

"So you found some you like?" she asked.

"I found some that fit," I replied.

She then asked me if I had my dance belt on under my spandex shorts.

I nodded my head yes.

"Well, then go back in and put one of them on and join us out in the gym," she said.

I gave her a strange look.

"Your Mom said because of the uniform rule, you're probably going to have to wear just the leotard when you compete," she said. "You might as well get used to wearing one."

I didn't argue. I put on one of the blue ones.

With the dance belt, I didn't show too badly.

But I still felt a little exposed, especially when it didn't quite cover as much of my butt.

Claire whistled when I walked into the gym.

"How does it feel to have a leotard on, cuz?" she whispered.

"I feel like I'm naked," I whispered back.

"I know the feeling, but you'll get used to it," she whispered.

We spent the first hour of practice working on vaulting.

Claire and Willow did their regular work. Aunt Paige then had them demonstrate simpler vaults and had me repeat them.

I think I did okay, although I nearly landed on my head once and leaded on my butt quite a few times. I ran into the vault a few times as Aunt Paige tried to show me how to tumble onto the vault.

Next up was the floor. I watched Claire and Willow do a couple of complicated routines. They worked on adding elements to their routines.

We started with simple tumbling and handstands. We also worked on adding a few dance steps, some I already knew from ballet.

"The challenge will be the string it all together," Aunt Paige said. "I want to surprise Phoebe. I want you to be able to have a floor routine ready when you have your first meet."

I was allowed to take a break when Claire and Willow went to work on the uneven bars. I pulled on a t-shirt and shorts over my leotard and watched them both do some amazing things on the bars.

I have to admit it actually looked like fun. But I also wondered how a boy could do the uneven bars without...well you know..."pulling a groin."

"Alright, it's time for beam work," Aunt Paige said.

I was always amazed watching the girls on the beam. They had to be fearless doing flip, turns and other moves on something that high up in the air that was only a few inches wide.

Both Claire and Willow took their turns on the beam. They took a few spills as the worked on more complicated moves.

"Okay Lucas, shorts and T-shirt off, it's your turn," Aunt Paige said.

"Um...my turn?" I said. "Aunt Paige, I'm only going to be competing on the vault and the floor."

Aunt Paige shook her head and smiled.

"Before we are done, you're going to be able to compete on all four apparatus," Aunt Paige said. "We're going to work on making you a complete gymnast."

She showed me a simple way to mount the beam. She also had Claire and Willow demonstrate simple moves I could do sitting. She then made me stand up and try to walk on the beam.

I wobbled, but was able to walk the length of it. I slipped and fell off a couple of times, but I was able to turn around, which was a minor victory.

"Good job today," Aunt Paige said when Mom came and picked me up.

"I've got a little something to give you," she said, handing me two tubes with rolled up posters inside.

"They're of Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson," she said. "They won gold medals at Beijing. I figure there has got to be room on your wall for them along with Peyton Manning and Lebron James."

####

"You're not hurt are you?" Beth asked as the picked me up from the floor at the roller rink.

"Uh, no, just my pride," I said. "I might have a bruise on my butt after we're done, but I'm beginning to get used to bruises."

"I've been meaning to ask how gymnastics was coming along," Beth said.

"It's a challenge," I said. "A lot harder than field hockey, and field hockey isn't easy."

"I figured that," Beth said. "I'm amazed you're doing it. I can't wait to see compete in your first meet."

"Well, how's basketball coming along?" I asked.

"Pretty good," she said. "Coach Collins wants us to play an uptempo game this year. We've been working on our pressure defense.

It was Beth's idea to go skating. With our schedule, neither of us got a whole lot of free time. Basketball was an every day commitment, just like gymnastics. She also managed to squeeze in a few dance classes, including the one we took together on Saturday morning.

And she was trying to teach me how to couples skate, which was a bit of a challenge since I was trying to make a leap from doing the robot.

"You'll get the hang of it," she said. "You're one of the most coordinated boys I know."

"Thanks," I said. "I think I've got an amazing teacher."

I tried to tell her how beautiful she looked. I loved how the light bounced off her hair, which made her look angelic.

She had a reputation for being a tomboy because the played football, basketball and softball.

But she was amazingly graceful. I saw that in dance. And I was seeing it on the roller rink floor.

But she reminded me a lot of Gina Lenetti in how she could switch from being an amazingly beautiful, graceful girl, to being a tough minded competitor.

I saw that side of her when we took a break and played pool and ski ball. She revelled at beating me in both, but she didn't rub it in too much.

I actually liked that side of her.

She stole a kiss from me after she beat me for like the 50th time in pool.

"Lucas Lacy, did I ever tell you you are a beautiful boy," she said.

"No I don't think you have," I said. "Is that a good thing?"

"Oh, yes...yes it is," she said. "And I love how those earrings look on you. You should wear them more often."

I had worn them only once, at the field hockey banquet. But for some reason had the urge to wear them again for our little date.

"I'm glad you noticed," I said.

"I love it when you wear pretty things," Beth said. "You need to wear them more often."

Chapter 3

"Okay Lacy, 10 more crunches!"

I swear Gina Lenetti missed her calling. Did I mention she should have been a drill sergeant?

She pushed us at field hockey practice.

Now she's pushing us in P.E.

"Push ups next, you know what your goal is," Gina said, holding a clipboard, bracing it with her crutches.

"Mears, who said you were through?" Gina barked. "You've still got 10 more crunches to do, too. So do you, Miss Crue."

Fitness test day, you gotta love it.

Coach Martin sets the goals she wants us to reach. It's part of offseason work for field hockey.

"Do I get style points for doing push ups the conventional way, big sister?" I asked our teacher's aid-turned class torturer.

"Nope little sister," she said. "And just because you're doing them the boys' way doesn't mean you get to do any less."

"Gee thanks," I said in the most sarcastic voice I could.

"Glad you're whipping them into shape," Coach Martin said.

Whipping us into shape? I thought gymnastics was doing a pretty good job of doing that.

"I'm doing the best I can, coach," Gina told Coach Martin.

"Just remember, your time is coming at the high school," Coach Martin said. "You're really going to be out of shape when you get that cast off."

"Can we be the ones who push her in her workouts?" Emily Crue asked.

"That way we can torture her," Jessi added.

"Nice try!" Gina said. "Just for that, you're going to have to do plows."

Plows, in case you don't know, is where you basically fold your body in half while you're laying down, slinging your legs over your head.

I once convinced myself it wasn't possible for a boy to do that. After being pushed by Gina during field hockey season, I found out it was indeed possible.

My field hockey teammates, you've got to love them. And I'm not being sarcastic.

With the exception of P.E., I didn't see much of them during the offseason, especially with gymnastics practice in the afternoon. That is except Jessi, who was also on the gymnastics team.

"Be sure to check your locker, Lucas," Gina said after class. "I left you something."

Taped to my gym locker was a pink envelope. It looked like an invitation.

It was.

"You have been invited to pledge Les Amies sorority by Gina Lenetti. Rush party at Gina Lenetti's, Friday at 7 p.m."

#####

"I thought sororities were for girls," I told Jessi on the way to the high school for gymnastics practice.

"I thought so, too," Jessi said. "But I'm glad you got an invite. At least I'll know another pledge at the rush party."

"So you got one, too?" I asked.

"I've been asked to pledge by Melanie Piper," Jessi said. "I think it will be fun."

"I really don't know if I should go," I said. "Field hockey, homecoming court, gymnastics..."

Jessi could see my point.

"But since when does that bother you?" Jessi said. "Besides, a bunch of the eighth graders who were on the field hockey team are in that sorority. It will be our only chance to spend time with them since they won't be on the field hockey team next fall. They'll be here at the high school."

She had a point about getting a chance to see our old teammates. We were all really close.

They seemed almost a different breed from our gymnastics teammates. Coach Martin said it was probably because of the age difference.

"You guys are going through a lot of different things," Coach Martin said. "You are also scattered across two campuses."

We were also more of an eclectic mix. There were also a few cheerleaders on the squad -- something our eighth grade field hockey teammates seemed to disdain.

"We hope you and Jessi don't come back as bouncy, perky cheerleaders," Gina said after we made the team.

I rushed to get dressed as quick as I could. Unlike at the middle school, I dressed in the boys' locker-room instead of an empty girls locker-room.

Members of the boys basketball team would soon be in the locker-room. I rushed to pull my spandex shorts over my leotard and quickly grabbed a t-shirt to pull over the top.

I didn't entirely succeed at the first. And the t-shirt also turned out to be a poor choice.

"Guys, look at the fairy wearing a leotard!" one of the boys said.

Pretty soon I was surrounded by about five other guys.

"Are you sure it's a boy," said another boy. "His t-shirt says Spring Hill Girls' P.E.!"

They were having a good laugh. I felt like climbing under a rock.

But I slipped out as best I could.

"Sorry I'm late," I said when I got to the gym.

"Any problems, Lucas?" Coach Mills said.

"Oh...." I hesitated. "Nothing, really."

"That's good," she said. "Get over there and join the circle for stretching and warmups...oh, and I had a talk with your aunt. I think it's cool I've got Paige Blake's nephew on my team."

My gymnastics teammates were were a quiet bunch. Most were a little more...how can I put this...more girly than my field hockey mates.

There was our fellow middle schooler, Kacey Prentiss. She was the perky cheerleader type that Gina detests. But she was actually pretty cool once you got to know her.

Shelley Lambert was our senior. She was the closest we had to a Gina Lenetti. She was our undisputed leader. But she wasn't really the drill sergeant type.

"She's more of a mother hen," said Dominique Jackson, one of our freshmen, who had the gift of gab.

The best gymnast of the team was a sophomore named Kylie LePre.

"She is definitely the team diva!" Dominique said.

But she was also a hard worker. Almost every event she did during practice, you stood there with your mouth open in amazement.

But she didn't let it go to her head. She was a hard worker. And she also seemed to take an interest in me from almost the very first practice.

"You're doing good!" she told me after one fall during practice on the vault.

I was amazed when she took me aside to give me a few simple pointers that "might help."

Dominique was amazing on the floor. She could tumble. She could dance.

"You know what you need when you're out of the floor, Lucas," she told me after I took a turn. "You need to put a little more soul into your dancing. You need to use a little more hippage."

"I didn't think guys used hippage," I said with a laugh.

"Well, you want to make it entertaining, don't you?" Jessi said laughing. "Put a little more hippage out there."

I spent most of my time alternating between practice on the vault and floor, but after Coach Mills talked to Aunt Paige, the routine for me changed slightly.

"I want you to spend the last 30 minutes working with Shelley on the beam," Coach Mills said.

I saw where the mother hen part came into play. Shelley would demonstrate how to get up on the beam, and had me do it. We did sitting routines and then finally walking steps.

Evidently I must have been doing something right. Pretty soon almost the entire team gathered around the beam while I worked on a simple routine.

"A little more work with him Shelley, and we may have something that could count," Coach Mills said at the end of practice.

#####

"So you've been invited to pledge Les Amies?" Beth said while we were catching a breath before doing centre work in ballet class.

"Yeah, Gina invited me to pledge," I said. "Crazy idea, I guess."

"I don't know," Beth said. "You seem to be the sorority-type, at least the closest a boy can be to the sorority-type."

"Well, I still don't know if I'm going to do it," I said.

"Why not?" Beth said. "If they're like the one I'm in, you'll do a lot of worthwhile service projects. And there will be a lot of other fun things you'll get to do, too. You should so do it. Or at least check out the rush party."

I told her I would at least give it some thought. I've pretty much gotten used to being surrounded by girls anyway. That was also the situation I was in in ballet class.

I was surrounded by beautiful, graceful girls in leotards and tights. And I quite liked it.

"I've got something to give you when we get out of class," Beth said.

I wondered what it could be. Beth was always full of surprises.

She held something behind her back when I walked into the lobby after getting dressed.

She then pulled out a little box with a bow on top.

"You can open it if you like," she said.

Inside was a necklace with a heart.

"I thought it would go good with your earrings," she said.

I smiled.

"Thanks," I said. "Can you help me put it on?"

"I thought you would never ask," she said.

She pulled it out of the box and put it around my neck.

She brushed hair out of the way and hooked it up.

"If your hair gets any longer, you're going to have to wear ponytails at your gymnastics meets."

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!"

Chapter 5

"Good, you guys are here," Melanie Piper said when Jessi Mears and I arrived for our shift during the "Santa's Toy Give-away" our sorority was sponsoring for underprivileged children in our community.

The pledges were to be "Santa's helpers," helping Santa Claus pass our gifts to children. It sounded like a worthwhile cause on a Saturday morning after ballet class.

"Jessi, you'll be getting Amber's uniform as soon as they're done," Melanie said. "Lucas, you're getting Caroline's."

I was a little bit stunned. The uniforms were...well...Santa dresses and boots, dresses that matched the Santa suit, red with fur white trim that came down to just right above the knee. The boots were red with white fur trim on top. And of course, there were the Santa hats.

"Aren't there any boys' costumes?" I asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"Whoever heard of a boy Santa's helper?" Melanie replied.

"Well, there are elves," I said. "I could wear an elf costume."

"Stop being a drama queen, little sister," Gina Lenetti said.

I didn't notice her come up.

"It's not like you haven't worn a dress before," Gina said. "You've worn a skirt for field hockey. You even wear a girl's leotard in gymnastics. Besides, I think you're going to look really cute."

Really cute wasn't quite the look I was going for. But I saw the line of kids, so I wasn't going to put up a fight.

I took the hanger from Caroline and went into the men's restroom, hoping no one would come in while I changed into the "Santa's helper" dress. It was a bit of a fight trying to put on the thing. It was a bit tight to begin with, but this wearing clothes with a zipper in the back, what idiot came up with that idea?

I was relieved when no one came in. I quietly slipped out of the bathroom door hoping no one would notice.

"Don't we look CUTE!" Jessi said when she emerged from the women's bathroom.

"Come on you two, we've got to get a picture," Gina said, directing us toward the mall fountain. We put our arms around each other and smiled for the camera.

"No one is going to mistake you for a boy, anyway," Melanie said. "So I don't know what you're worried about."

I wasn't convinced and wasn't looking forward to meeting the guy who was playing Santa. Surely, he would figure things out.

Surely, I was wrong.

"I want to get my photo taken with these two lovely girls who are my helpers," the man said.

He was a pretty convincing Santa. White hair, white beard, glasses and all.

Jessi and I granted his request, posing with him at his Santa chair.

"So what are your names, ladies?" the man said.

Jessi and I looked at each other and laughed.

"I'm Jessi and this is Luke," Jessi said.

"I swear, I don't get this giving a girl a boy's name," the Santa said. "I'm sure Jessi and Luke are short for other names."

We told him they were, but stopped short of telling him the "Luke" was short for Lucas. What he didn't know wasn't going to hurt him.

The kids were amazing. Seeing their faces light up as we passed out gifts to them made pulling a two-hour shift in a dress at the mall actually worth it. Jessi, the Santa and I posed with several kids wanting pictures.

Many of the kids were dirty. Some wore rags. They tugged at your heart strings.

"Hey mommy, I got a Hannah Montana doll," one girl said after I gave her a gift. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

One boy got upset because he didn't get a Hannah Montana doll like his sister.

"I think one of Santa's elves thought you would want a boy's toy instead," I said. "Let me ask your mommy if it's okay. I'll see if Santa has another Hannah Montana doll for you."

"Why thank you for asking," his mom said. "It's okay for him to have one."

I found a doll for him among the extra toys we had in one of Santa's bags.

"My mommy said she saw you at a gymnastics meet," another little girl said. "I want to take gymnastics, too!"

"Maybe if you're a good girl, your mom will let you take lessons," I said.

"My Aunt Paige is giving a free clinic over in Dyersburg today," I told the girl's mother. "She sometimes gives free lessons. Here's her number."

"I want to be pretty like you when I grow up," another girl told me.

I promised myself I wouldn't tear up. I couldn't keep that promise.

"Here's a tissue!" Jessi said. "I'm so glad we got to do this!"

#####

Beth was waiting for me at the end of my shift. She couldn't resist getting a photo of me in my "Santa's helper" suit before I passed it off to another Les Amies pledge.

"Your mom told me she was taking you to your Aunt Paige's gymnastics clinic," Beth said. "She asked me if I wanted to come along."

"So you're going with us?" I said. "Cool!"

My cousin Claire was waiting at the door when we finally arrived at "The Barn."

"There are a ton of ankle biters in there today," she said. "Mom's waiting for us to help with registration."

"Okay Lucas, go get on your leotard and help Claire at the registration table," Aunt Paige said.

I searched my dance bag. I forgot to bring a practice leotard.

"Aunt Paige, I forgot to bring one," I said. "All I have are my dance clothes."

"Go into the boutique and pick out one your size and put it on," Aunt Paige said. "Then get back out here and help with registration."

I walked into the boutique. The only leotards my size were floral print ones.

I'll never live this down, I thought, not with Beth and Claire outside. But I also knew Aunt Paige wasn't about to budge. Claire and I were supposed to be "role models" today.

"Wow, you look really different," Beth said as she took my picture.

"Not one word of this to anybody," I said to her and Claire, who had this huge grin on her face.

"You look really pretty, cuz," Claire said. "Now here, help me write name tags and put them on each girl."

"Hey, you're the girl who was the Santa's helper!" one girl said. She was the girl who wanted to take gymnastics lessons.

"I am so glad you told me about this," her mother said. "It's all she’s talked about."

"Look, mommy, she has the same leotard I have! Awesome!" the girl said.

My Aunt Paige gave her the leotard for free.

"So what is your name?" I asked her.

"My name is Marley, M-A-R-L-E-Y!," the little girl said.

I wrote her name on the name tag and put it on her leotard.

"Well Marley, you can be my little twin sister," I said.

Claire and I were the examples Aunt Paige used at each apparatus. Claire demonstrated the more complicated stuff. I showed the real basic stuff.

We took a break for lunch. Marley came and sat down beside me with her little brown bag, which contained a sandwich. She also showed me her little "makeup kit," which contained makeup and play nail polish for little kids.

"Can I put some on you, then we'd really match!" she said.

Sure, I said and watched as she carefully painted my finger nails and toenails purple.

I even let her put on some purple lipstick before our lunch period was over.

"Lucas, I just want you to know how proud I am of you taking up the time with that little girl," Aunt Paige. "This is probably something she'll never forget."

It was also an experience I'll never forget.

#####

"Hey look, there's a little fairy," were the words I heard from the bleachers during our second gymnastics meet. This time it was a tri-meet with with Creekmore and Bellemead high schools.

I wondered if it were one of the boys who played on the field hockey team.

A uniformed officer went into the stands to find the perpetrator.

"He'll be taken out of here," the Creekmore principal promised Coach Mills.

"Lucas, don't worry about him," she said. "Just relax and stay focused. I know you can do better on your second vault."

I made a 7.9 on my first vault. Kaycee's best was an 8.1, so I needed to do much better to help our team.

I raced down the lane, did a handstand Aunt Paige showed me before hitting the vault.

I soared through the air, flipping, and then landed on my feet.

I was amazed by the applause.

"Look at you!" Kylie said. "I know it's going to be a good score."

"The score for Lucas Lacy...a 9.1," the announcer said.

It was my first ever 9-anything. It also put us solidly in first after one event. Kylie led the way with a 9.8.

I noticed some excitement as we went to our next event. A uniformed officer carried a boy out of the stands. It was one of the boys who played on the Creekmore field hockey team.

"It figures!" Jessi said to me. "I hope they suspend him."

It really didn't bother me too much. I'd put up with a lot worse.

We closed the meet on the floor. We actually pretty much had the meet wrapped up.

"Just go out there and have fun!" Coach Mills told us. "There's no pressure whatsoever!"

That made things a lot easier for me. I did my usual tumbling passes and handstands. I also tried to use a little "hippage" as Dominique would say...at least as much as I could to "And My Heart Will Go On."

I was mobbed by my teammates when I came off the floor.

"That's the best I've ever seen you do!" Shelley said. "You haven't even done that well in practice!"

I posted a 9.0. It was our fourth best score. It was the first time my floor score counted toward our team score.

"Keep it up Lucas!" Coach Mills said. "We've got some big meets coming up after Christmas."

####

"Here are your sandwiches," Beth's mom said, bringing a tray into her room.

"Thanks Mrs. Garrison!" I said.

"Thanks, mom!" Beth said.

"What polite kids," Beth's mom said. "Your mothers must have raised you right!"

I went over Beth's house after the meet. I still had my warmups on and leotard underneath...that was until I kicked off my shoes and my warmup pants. I still had my warmup jacket over the top part of my leotard.

I was just trying to get comfortable since we were trying to play an endless amount of video games.

"Hey Lucas, check this out!" Beth said.

She had taken a break and was looking through her telescope out of the window of her room.

I put on my warmup pants and headed to the window. I have to admit her telescope was one of the coolest things in the world, I thought.

"Oh my gosh!" I said. "That's really beautiful. That's really amazing,"

It was the first time I'd ever seen Saturn and its rings up close. Beth also showed me Jupiter, Mars and a really close up shot of the moon.

"You know, I really wouldn't mind being an astronaut some day," she said.

"I think that's really cool!" I said. "I really haven't given it much thought of what I want to be."

"Luke, can I ask you a question?" Beth asked.

"Sure, what's up?" I asked.

"Jessi was telling me about the Les Amies winter formal next month," Beth said. "I was wondering if you had a date."

"I was thinking about asking you," I said. "Or hoping you'd ask me. This being the only boy in a sorority thing has me a little confused about etiquette."

"I'd love to be your date, Lucas," Beth said.

"I'm glad you do," I said before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"So what should I wear?" Beth asked.

"I dunno," I said. "You'll probably have to get a coat, tie and a pair of slacks to match the dress I'll be wearing. But I haven't even picked one out yet."

Chapter 6

"You know your father didn't mean it," my stepmother said as I sat on the swing on their porch.

"He meant every word, Marie!" I said.

"You have to see things from his perspective, Luke," she said. "You don't know how embarrassed he was when he saw you on CNN. His friends let him have it really hard."

"No harder than me," I said. "Does he think I like to be called names? Does he think I like being picked on? Does he think I like being beat up?"

"You know he doesn't," Marie said. "I guess that's one reason he doesn't want you playing field hockey or competing in gymnastics."

"That's right, sport!" my dad said, coming back at on the porch. "That's why I'm going to call your mom and tell her I don't want you to do that anymore."

"What if I don't want to quit?" I said. "Because I don't."

"Do you want people to think you're a fag, son?" he asked. "I don't want people thinking my son is queer. I don't want people to think my son is a sissy."

"I'm not gay dad!" I said. "But I don't care what people think."

"But what if I care about what other people think," dad said. "Do you like people making fun of your family?"

I ran off the porch and went running into the woods. I hated coming to California during Christmas. It wasn't very fun for me or Katie even before I decided to go out for field hockey or gymnastics.

My little brother Micah and little sister Sasha, his world evolved around them. Even moreso now that I was doing, in his words, "sissy-things. He spent most of his time out in the yard trying to teach Micah to "play ball" so he wouldn't grow up to be a "sissy" like me.

I sat in the swing at the park wishing I were back home. I couldn't wait to get on the plane and head back East.

"Is this swing taken?" Marie said.

"I guess not," I said.

Marie wasn't the evil witch mom claimed she was. She could be pretty cool sometimes.

She was what my uncle Joe called a "feminazi, tree huggin' liberal." How she hooked up with dad amazed him, since dad was "Mr. Right-wing Republican'."

I was just beginning to understand what some of that meant.

"My favorite event is the uneven bars," Marie said. "I always felt like I was flying."

"I didn't know you competed in gymnastics," I said.

"All the way through high school," Maria said. "I haven't mentioned it to your dad, but I'm proud of you. Everybody in my NOW chapter thinks you've got to be one special kid. I tell them you are."

I smiled. She brushed my hair out of my face.

"I will try to smooth things over with your dad," she said. "But you've got to give him some time."

"But I just want him to accept me for who I am," I said. "Not for who he wants me to be."

"I can't promise you that he'll fully accept that, you know how he is," Marie said. "But you know I have. I'm proud to say I've got a beautiful stepson who isn't defined by what other people think he should be.

#####

"You've got to overcome your fear, Luke!" my Aunt Paige said as I balanced with one foot on a beam maybe four inches wide and a few feet off the ground. "I'm here. So are Claire and Willow. We'll help you if you fall."

I hopped and landed on my other foot. I then pivoted around, but slipped off the beam.

"I'll never be able to do this!" I shouted.

"Don't ever say never," Aunt Paige said. "I know you can do this. But you've got to let go of that fear."

The truth is it wasn't just the fear. It was the frustration of the trip to California. It was dad's disappointment.

"Why couldn't dad just let me be me?" I thought.

He didn't call to demand that I quit. Marie was true to her word. But he didn't mask his disapproval even after Marie's talk.

"Something's gotten into you," Coach Mills said the other day at practice.

I was afraid of letting them know how I felt. I couldn't be free in practice. I was afraid it was going to affect me at meets.

My dad had me questioning everything. Should I even be playing field hockey or competing in gymnastics, much less wear a dress for homecoming or a sorority function, much less be in a sorority?

I mean, what kind of boy does those things? Maybe dad's right. Maybe there is something really, really wrong with me.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Lucas?" Claire asked during practice.

"I'm afraid she's right," Aunt Paige said. "There is no use practicing any further unless you are focused like on gymnastics like you normally are."

Just then a woman came into "the barn". It was Marley's mother.

"I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for the clinic," she told my Aunt Paige. "I want to thank you, too, Lucas. I do know you're a boy. She doesn't. She can't stop talking about her big sister!"

"We appreciate that, Mrs. Morgan," my Aunt Paige said.

"Call me Kim," she said.

"I enjoyed working with Marley," I said. "She's a special girl."

"Lucas, I want to know if you can do me a huge favor," Mrs. Morgan said. "I won a radio station contest and got two free tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert. I'd love to go with her, but she keeps talking about wanting to go with her big sister. It's a week from Saturday."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Sure, why not?" I said.

Part of me thought, "you've got to be kidding."

But Marley melted my heart during the clinic.

I really didn't want to disappoint her.

####

I have to tell you I stayed in my little funk for about a week.

Mom tried to pry things out of me, so did Coach Mills. And Aunt Paige. Not even Gina or Beth could drag out the feelings going on inside my head about what I went through with dad.

It showed at the meet. None of my scores counted for the team in the vault or the floor. We still won, but it was by far the worst I'd done since the season began.

I thought about those things heading to Marley's house before the concert.

"I really appreciate you doing this for Marley," her mother said.

Marley was at the sitters while her mother came and picked me up.

She told me how Marley's dad ran out on them when Marley was just a baby. He paid no child support, had nothing to do with her.

Marley's mom was laid off from her job just before Christmas, so Christmas was a little skimpy. They were just now getting back on their feet.

"I found a job a couple of weeks ago, so we've been able to hang on to our apartment," she said. "Marley's had to learn to do without a lot of stuff that most little girls take for granted."

That's why the night of the concert was going to be a special night for her.

"Mrs. Morgan, can you do me a favor?" I asked. "I know this may be a strange request."

"What is it?" she said. "You've got me a bit curious."

"You said Marley thought I was a girl," I said. "She might be disappointed seeing me like this."

I was dressed in a T-shirt and boys blue jeans.

"And?" she asked.

"Can you help me look as much like a teenage girl as possible?" I said. "You know, one that really likes the Jonas Brothers."

She laughed.

"This is going to be fun!" she said as we pulled into the drive way.

She called the sitter and told her Marley needed to stay over a little while longer.

She told me to follow her up to her bedroom.

"Let's see," she said. "We're about the same height, that helps."

She pulled out a pair of faded, ripped women's blue jeans. She pulled a Jonas Brothers t-shirt from her dresser drawer.

"I got these during our trip to Disney last year before things got really tough," she said.

She then disappeared into her bathroom and came out with a bras in her hand.

"This belongs to my 12-year-old niece, she left it when she went home," she said. "Go in there and put them on."

She then applied the makeup and did my hair. She put a "doo" rag on.

She also gave me a little information on the Jonas Brothers before Marley came bouncing through the door.

"My big sister's here! My big sister's here!" she said.

"Yes, and we're about to go see the JONAS BROTHERS!" I said as she gave me a big hug.

"You know my little sister Katie is extremely jealous of us tonight!" I said as we walked out the door.

The concert itself, well, it was loud. Imagine thousands of screaming girls...well about 4,000, with maybe a few dads or brothers drug to the concert. But the crowd had to be about 99 percent female.

Marley was in heaven. She screamed at nearly every song. She told me she was in love with Joe. I joked with her and claimed I had a crush on Kevin. We danced with the rest of the girls.

I was for one night the one thing my father despised..."a girly-girl."

And it was fun, especially knowing that it made Marley's night.

"I love you big sister," she said as we walked to her mother's car.

"I love you, too Marley," I said, almost in tears.

Marley couldn't stop talking about the concert on the way home.

"You two seemed to have had a great time," she said.

"Yes, we did!" I said. "Tell your mom we're going to have to have another girls night out. Except next time, we may need to bring my sister Katie."

"Well, there is the Taylor Swift concert coming up next month," her mother said. "Maybe I can swing three tickets."

Chapter 7

"What in the world could it be?" Mom said as I opened the package Maria sent me.

I honestly had no idea. It came as a complete surprise.

"Books!" I said.

It also included a note.

"These were mine when I was your age. Katie and Sasha are too young. Thought you might enjoy Jane Austen's books. Love, Marie."

There were three books: Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

"I read those when I was your age, too," Mom said. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but it's really a thoughtful gift. You need to call her and thank her."

Mom handed me her cell phone.

"Hi dad," I said. "Yeah, everything's okay. Why am I calling? I need to talk to Maria."

Dad acted like he really didn't want to talk to me.

"Hey Maria!" I said. "Yeah I got them! Yeah, I'm going to read them. That's why I called. Thanks so much. Doing good. Yeah we have a meet on that Thursday. You want to talk to Mom?"

I handed Mom the phone. Mom was surprised Marie wanted to talk to her.

"Hello Marie," she said. "Yeah. He would probably love that. I think it would really be an adventure for him. Yes, I'll let you ask him."

She handed the phone to me and had a big grin on her face.

"Hey!" I said. "Wow! That would really be cool! I'd love to go!"

Marie was being honored by a feminist group for a magazine article she wrote and was going to receive her award at a banquet in New York City. She knew dad wouldn't want to go, so she was inviting me.

We would be going to see the New York City Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet on the night before. She was going to come East a day early to watch me compete in gymnastics.

#####

"You know you really should get your hair cut," Mom said as I wrestled with putting my hair into a ponytail.

"Come on mom," I said. "Boys wear their hair long now, Mom. And wear ponytails."

"But do you have to tie it with a ribbon?" she asked.

"We want to look nice at the meet, Mom," I said. "All the girls are doing it."

"But you're not a girl," she said.

I rolled my eyes and admired my work in the mirror.

"Take your duffle bag downstairs at put it in Marie's rental car since you guys will be flying out after the meet," she said.

I grabbed my duffle bag and my gymnastics bag and went downstairs where Marie and Katie were waiting.

"Wow!" Marie said. "Don't you look cute!"

"Mom doesn't think I should wear the ribbon with my ponytail," I said.

"Don't encourage him, Marie," Mom said with a laugh.

Marie winked at me.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing you compete tonight, kiddo," Marie said.

We were competing against three of the state's top teams.

"We'll probably be competing against all three at state if we make it out of the regional meet," Coach Mills said at our team meeting before we went out to the floor to stretch.

I looked up into the crowd and saw Mom, Aunt Paige, Claire, Marie and Katie sitting in the stands together. I was still amazed Mom was letting Katie sit with Marie. Beth and Gina were also in the crowd.

"Are you nervous?" Kylie asked me before I made my first run at the vault.

I nodded my head.

"Just try to relax," she said.

I took off, did a handspring before soaring over the vault. I came down, took a step back, but stayed on my feet. The crowd applauded.

"Good score, good score!" Coach Mills said when an 8.7 was posted.

"Good score," Kylie whispered. "But I know you can do better."

I took a deep breath before taking another run down the lane. I ran, did my handspring, soared over the vault. This time, I stuck my landing!

I looked up and saw Aunt Paige high fiving Marie.

"Way to go little sister!" Gina yelled from the stands.

Shelley came up and slapped me in the butt. It stung.

"Way to go!" she said. "But don't let it go to your head!"

I posted a score of 9.3, my best score of the season.

It helped us to the lead after one event, but Bellemead High School took the lead by a couple of one-hundreths after two events after we had a couple of stumbles on the uneven bars.

They still held that lead after we were done with the beam.

Kaycee slipped on the floor, putting pressure on me to post a good score the team could count.

"Go out and dazzle them!" Dominique said when I got ready to take the floor. "Put some sass in your routine! Use some hippage."

I almost died laughing. She relaxed me.

My tumbling passes were the best of the season. I danced as well as I'd ever done with the music and did a couple of handstands that Aunt Paige helped me put into my routine.

I posted a 9.1, by best score of the season.

"Your best meet by far!" Coach Mills said. "I'm so proud of you. I don't know what's gotten into you. But I hope it stays."

Jessi, Kylie and Shelley posted great scores, but no one could touch Dominque, who scored a 9.8.

We won the meet to stay undefeated.

Mom, Aunt Paige, Marie, Claire, Katie, Beth and Gina were waiting for me. They clapped when I came out of the lockerroom.

"I want you to have fun in New York!" Mom said when I got in Marie's rental car. "Be good."

"I will, Mom!" I said, rolling my eyes.

"I'm sure he'll be a complete angel," Marie said.

"Well, call me if you need me," Mom said.

"You realize you still have the ribbon in your hair," Marie said as we drove off for the airport.

"I know," I said. "Thought I'd keep it in for a while."

"You realize people at the airport will think you're a girl," Marie said.

"I'm cool with it," I said.

"Well, if you're cool with it, then I'm cool with it," Marie said.

#####

Mom called it a "5-star hotel" in the middle of Manhattan.

"Breath-taking view, isn't it?" Marie said as we looked out of the window at all of the skyscrapers lit up at night.

I nodded my head.

The room had a hot tub and the biggest bathroom I'd ever seen in a hotel room.

"Hope you don't mind that we only have one room," Marie said of the beds that were side by side. "I used to bathe you when you were a kid and I've seen you in your underwear."

It wasn't a big deal to me.

"We need to both get showers and hit the bed," she said "We've got a big day of touring tomorrow."

We were going to the Statue of Liberty. We were going to go downtown and see "Ground Zero", Time Square and Rockerfeller Center.

We both read in bed before falling asleep.

"You're reading Emma?" Marie asked. "How do you like it so far?"

"I like it a lot," I said.

Touring the next day was pretty awesome. We went to the top of the Statue of Liberty. She bought us matching Yankees' caps and jackets that were really cool.

We at lunch at a small cafe downtown.

"You've got a choice tonight," Marie said. "We can do the 'manly' thing tonight and go see the Knicks, which I'm sure your dad would want us to do."

"Or?" I asked.

"We can go over to see the Rockettes at Radio City," she said.

"The Knicks suck!" I said. "I'd rather see the Rockettes."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Marie said. "But what about going to do a 'manly' thing."

"You bought us Yankees' caps and jackets," I said. "Isn't that a 'manly' thing?"

#####

Shopping, dinner and the ballet.

That was the plan on Saturday. The banquet was Sunday.

"I'm going to pick out a couple of dresses at Bloomingdales," Marie said. "We'll get you a tux."

Marie tried on several dresses.

She asked me my opinion on each.

"For a boy, I think you've got a really good perception of what I'm looking for," she said when she finally settled on the one she was going to wear to the ballet.

I took it as a complement. She actually noticed me looking through dresses while she was looking for a dress to wear to the banquet.

"Have you found something you like?" she asked.

"They all look really nice," I said. "But I like the blue, and the red one, too."

"Would you rather wear them than the tux?" she asked.

I blushed. I was almost afraid to answer.

"You can tell me," she said. "It's okay. No one has to know that you wore a dress to the ballet or the banquet."

I nodded my head yes.

"We'll have to get you some shoes," Marie said. "And some underwear. I'll take the dresses home with me. Your dad will never have to know they're yours."

####

Marie did my hair, make up and nails.

She seemed to be having as much fun as I was.

"Marie, can I tell you a secret?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?" she said.

"I dunno, there are times when I really do enjoy being a girl, you know?" I said.

"I know," Marie said. "I was thinking that watching you out there bouncing around in your leotard, with the ribbon in your hair at the gymnastics meet."

I have to admit Marie did a great job getting me ready, even better than Gina's sister and friend did during homecoming.

I looked really classy. So did Marie.

"You ladies look really nice," the doorman said when we left the hotel and got into the limo.

"Thought you would like the limo better than the taxi," Marie said.

"We're really riding in style," I said.

"Of course we are," Marie said. "We're going the ballet, not touring."

We went to a very fancy Italian restaurant. I had no idea what to order, so Marie did the ordering for us. She ordered some type of Ravioli that the waiter said was a good choice.

We ended up talking to an elderly couple sitting at the table next to us.

They were also going to the ballet.

"You have a very beautiful daughter," they said.

I blushed.

"She's my stepdaughter Chloe," Marie said.

"Chloe?" I whispered. "Oh my teammates would really have fun with that."

"I've always liked Chloe for a name," Marie said.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," I said. "Maybe it suits me."

We had very good seats at Carnegie Hall to see the ballet.

The dancers were absolutely amazing.

"Oh my God, the girl playing Juliet is very beautiful, don't you agree?" Marie asked.

"Yes she is," I said. "She's very graceful."

"I am so amazed how they dance en pointe like that," Marie said.

The guy playing Romeo was also fantastic.

"Marie, you want to know something?" I asked.

"What is it, kiddo?" she asked.

"The girls are very beautiful," I said. "They do some fun things. But I'd rather dance the guy's parts. I like doing the leaps and the jumps. I like partnering the girls."

Marie gave me a hug.

"Lucas Lacy, you are one extraordinary boy," she said. "One beautiful, extraordinary boy!"

On the Flip Side, Chapter 8

Kacey winced in pain. She was in tears as we all ran to her side.

"It appears to be a fracture," Coach Mills said as brought some ice to put on her ankle.

"What are we going to do, we've got the regional meet on Saturday," Jessi whispered to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. We had enough all-arounders.

But Kacey was one of the competitors on the beam.

"You're going to be okay, Kacey," Coach Mills said as a trainer picked her up and carried her to the training room.

"I'll call her parents, coach," the trainer said. "Then we'll take her to the clinic."

We were silent after watching our teammate being carried out of the gym.

"We need to get rid of these long faces," Coach Mills said. "We've got a lot of work to do between now and Saturday."

The regional meet was the most important of the season so far. The top two teams went to state.

We were the favorites, but there were three other really good teams competing.

"A wobble here, a fall there, and we'll be sitting our butts home," Coach Mills once said.

"Ok, Lu, I need you over at the beam," Coach Mills said, looking in my direction.

She'd never called me that before. At least I thought she was talking to me.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked.

I walked over to the beam. I had been practicing all season with Aunt Paige at "The Barn."

Shelley had also been working with me on the beam at practice.

"Get up," she said, and then gave me instructions of what she wanted me to do.

"It's a simple routine," She said. "Shelley's been telling me of your progress. We need a margin of error on the beam at the regional. Congrats Lu, you're that margin of error."

I felt more like error than margin. I slipped. I fell, twice.

I remember watching a movie about skydiving once. "Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane" was a line in the movie.

I was thinking, "Why would anyone want to do flips and turns on a beam just a few inches wide and about four feet off a perfectly good floor?"

Somehow, I managed to stay on the beam and had an Ok landing. I was a bit wobbly throughout the whole routine, and didn't exactly stick the landing...but for me it was pretty good.

"Way to go Lucy Lu," Coach Mills shouted. "That's what we need out of you."

"Lucy Lu?" I asked.

"She calls us all nicknames," Shelley said. Just ignore it.

*****

"Give me the towel!" I shouted, almost in tears.

"Luke, I'm sorry," Beth said. "I really don't know why I said it."

"Well it hurt, it's insulting," I said. "No one likes to be called really small. I know its small."

"I was just being honest, really, I'm sorry," Beth said. "It's small, but I do think its really cute."

"That's not helping," I said, grabbing the towel.

"Oops, Luke, that didn't come out the way I meant it," she said.

The remark? She said no wonder I could pull it off in a leotard and a dance belt, because my "package" was well..."small, really small."

How did she know? Let's just say Beth has this way of talking me into things.

Beth the artist wanted to paint "a nude." So hear I was sitting on a hay bale up in her grandfather's barn, buck naked. Well, except for the towel she just tossed me.

I started looking around for my clothes.

"Luke, I really am sorry," she said. "Please, give me the towel and lets start over."

I agreed and calmed down, well as much as I could sitting naked on a hay bale.

"Besides, you have the absolutely cutest butt of anyone I know," she said.

"Please stop it!" I said.

But deep down I actually took it as a compliment.

"That's why I can't wait to see you take your warmups off at meets," she whispered as she put a flower in my hair.

"Beth, I'm doing this for you," I said. "Can you do me a big favor?"

"Which is?" Beth asked.

"Will you be my date at the Les Amies Winter Formal?" I asked.

"I was going to ask you if I could be your date," Beth said.

"Gina knows where we can pick out a tux and a dress," I said.

"Which one of us is going to wear which?" Beth asked.

"I dunno," I said. "Maybe we can do it the normal way this time."

"Oh you're spoiling all of the fun!" Beth said. "Besides, how normal can it be? You're the sorority sister."

"You have a point," I said.

*****

Mom wasn't actually thrilled with our "uniform" for the regional meet.

Dominque's mom was chairwoman for the American Cancer Society's Think Pink campaign in the fight against breast cancer.

She purchased pink, spangly leotards for the meet.

I might have made it worse by painting my nails _ hands and feet _ pink in solidarity with the rest of my teammates.

The regional meet was at Abingdon High, and it was packed.

"Which one is the boy?" the Abingdon coach asked Coach Mills during warmups. "I can't seem to tell."

"That's Lu over there," Coach Mills said. "He hasn't hit that testosterone growth spurt yet. And since he let his hair grow long, I couldn't tell the difference if I didn't know him."

Our first event was the vault. No real pressure.

I posted an 8.3, and it counted toward the team score.

We led after the first two apparatus', which also included the uneven bars, the only one I was sitting out. Marie keeps insisting she's going to teach me when I go and visit her at the lake this summer, that is if we can ever sneak off from dad.

Of course, I still don't know how I can compete in that without hurting my...well....package, no matter how small Beth thinks it is.

Our third event was the floor. It's become my favorite event. I was a bit wobbly, but did okay. I posted an 8.4.

Dominique owned the event as usual, scoring a 9.7.

We led by the slimmest of margins heading into our final event of the day, the beam. We could win the meet. We could still finish third or fourth, season over.

Since I was the lowest seed on the team, I went first. It's a lonely feeling standing on that beam and looking around. I tried not to be nervous, but it didn't work.

I slipped off the beam in the opening steps. I got back, but fell again. And for a third time as I did my dismount, falling flat on my butt.

In field hockey, I was the tough guy. Not in gymnastics.

Maybe I've been around girls way too long. I started crying on the mat.

I didn't stop when I got to the bench. I felt I let my team down.

It didn't help that Jessi had a fall on the beam as well.

"We're not going to finish first," Coach Mills told Kylie and Shelley. "We're going to have a hard time holding on to second."

Then she walked over to the bench where Jessi and I were still weeping.

"Listen to me, both of you," she said, sitting between us and putting her arm around both of us.

"I'm proud of you both," she said. "You're middle schoolers. You did okay. And Lu, this was your first time to compete on the beam. Don't be so hard on yourself. Besides, this isn't over."

She was right.

Shelley and Kylie both did well on the beam. We held on to second place.

Abingdon won.

"Are you Lucas," Abingdon's coach asked after the meet.

I shook my head yes.

"I just want to say I'm very impressed," she said. "And to be competing on beam, you're very brave. I don't know of any other boys who would even come within five feet of a beam, let alone get on one."

That made me feel a lot better, as did Coach Mills' words after the meet.

"The top eight teams in the state get to compete for a state title," she said. "We are one of those teams. Abingdon won tonight, but we can beat them. We beat them during the regular season. We can beat any team there."

She made a point to talk to me as I got into the car with mom.

"Don't let it bother you," she said. "You've got the first time out of the way. You'll do better at state."

I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home.

A basket was sitting on the front porch filled with DVDs and candy.

"There's a note," mom said.

It was from Marie.

"Wished I could have been there, kiddo! Competing on the beam for the first time is a big deal. If you guys make state, I'll be there! Love Marie.

*****

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a black tux with a stripped tie.

"You look nice," Beth said.

"Thanks!" I said. "I may also try that one over there."

"Maybe you should," she said.

"You don't think this is the one?" I asked. "You said I looked nice."

"You do look nice, but maybe that one isn't the one, you know?"

I knew what she meant. It wasn't quite right.

"Why don't I try some of dresses on and see what you think," Beth said.

I agreed.

She tried on four. She looked good in all of them.

But still, they didn't seem to be her.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Beth said.

She was eyeing a tux near the wall.

I grabbed the blue dress she was holding.

"You go get the tux," I said, "I'll try this number on."

We both laughed.

The tux she originally tried on wasn't her either.

And the dress wasn't me.

But she tried on two more tuxes before she settled on one she really liked.

Me, I melted when I saw it.

Lavender. Shoulder bearing.

It was saying come on, try me!

And try it, I did!

"Oh my God!" Beth said as I modeled if for her.

"You look dazzling!" she said.

"I know, I know," I said. "I want it, I want it. But what will mom say?"

"You know, this stuff is pretty good!" I said as I fumbled through using chopsticks.

"I thought you would," Marie said. "I'm glad your mom let you come with me to this place. I used to come here with some friends when I was in college."

It was a small Chinese restaurant where Marie said we would get the full effect.

"You know, you're nothing like what mom used to let us think you were like," I said. "You're really cool."

"Thanks," Marie said. "I can understand how your mom feels. But I'm really glad she's letting us get to know each other better."

Marie wasn't "the other woman." She was the woman after the woman who, along with dad, broke up my parents' marriage.

But mom was jealous of her. She was young, beautiful and hip, as mom says. And now that she and dad had kids, mom felt like we were being neglected, although that wasn't really true.

"So, are you excited about the meet tomorrow?" Marie asked. "I know I was really nervous at my first state meet."

"I'm a little nervous, too," I said. "I don't want to mess up and let my teammates down."

"You won't," she said. "I've got faith in you. You'll do fine. Just relax and have fun. Most girls...I mean kids...never get a chance to even compete at state. It's something you'll cherish the rest of your life."

"Excuse me, ma'am," a woman said as she walked by our table. "My daughter thinks your daughter looks just like Selena Gomez. We think she's very pretty."

I rolled my eyes.

"Why thank you," Marie said. "I think she's very beautiful, too."

"That doesn't bother you?" Marie said as the woman walked away.

"A little sometimes," I said. "I get that a lot now that my hair's long, and people don't know me."

"Well, why don't you get it cut?" Marie said.

"Because I don't want to," I said defiantly. "Boys can have long hair, too. Haven't you heard of Rocker Hair?"

Marie giggled.

"I never said I didn't like it," she said. "I love it on you. But it doesn't really look like Rocker Hair. It's too wavy, got more curl to it. But I think it makes you look very beautiful."

I blushed.

"It does," Marie said. "I am curious what is going on inside of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's one thing to be a boy playing a girl's sport," she said, "and you compete in two. But you seem to take it to another level at times, the homecoming dance, dressing as a girl at the ballet and at my banquet and joining a sorority."

"Is it bad I'm more comfortable around girls?" I asked. "Or that I like doing some of the things they do?"

Marie smiled.

"No honey," she said. "I think it makes you unique. I think it makes you special. You're going to make one extraordinary young man these days...or young woman..."

Again I blushed and then decided to change the subject.

"Marie, can I show you something?" I said.

"What is it kiddo?" Marie said.

"There's this shop where Beth and I went to look at tuxes and dresses for the winter formal," I said. "Can we go there? There's something I want to show you."

"Sure!" Marie said. "Is it very far from here?"

*****

I showed Marie the tuxes I tried on. I showed her the dresses that Beth tried on.

"They all look nice," Marie said. "You'll both look good in anyone that you choose. But I have the feeling there is another reason you wanted us to come here."

There was in deed. Hanging in the corner was the dress, the lavender dress.

"I wanted to show you this," I said, pulling it off the rack.

She smiled.

"Why do I have the feeling you're not thinking about Beth wearing it?" she asked.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked.

"I really can't give you an opinion until I see you in it," Marie said.

I took it and went to the dressing room. It wasn't too hard to put on. Maybe I was getting the hang of it.

"What do you think?" I said as I modeled it for Marie.

"It's gorgeous," she said. "And you look gorgeous in it."

"What do you think mom will think?" I asked.

"She is a little uneasy about it," Marie said. "I can't blame her. But I think it's more of how you'll be treated than anything else."

"I think just about every one there expects me to be wearing something like this," I said. "They'd probably be shocked if I were the one wearing the tux by now. They're cool with it."

"Is this something you really want to do?" Marie said.

"Yes! Yes it is!" I said.

"I'll smooth things with your mom," she said. "And I'll pay for the dress. We're not leaving the store without it."

I smiled and skipped my way back to the dressing room.

"I feel a little unglamorous now," I said when I returned.

"Oh, you'll always be glamorous to me," Marie said. "Oh by the way, your dad is going to be in Alaska on business when you come to the lake to visit for two weeks. But I still want you to come. You're not disappointed I hope."

"No," I said.

Actually, I felt a little relieved.

"I think I'm going to mark boy's swimsuit off my list when you come," she said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"I saw some cute bikinis and tankinis at the boutique the other day," Marie said. "I think they'll suit you better."

*****

You could hear a pin drop in our lockerroom at the state meet.

"This is it," Coach Mills said before we took the floor for warmups. "We've been working toward this day all year. Go out and give it all you have. Go out and have fun. You'll remember this the rest of your lives."

We gathered in a circle.

"Ok ladies," Shelley said. "Carpe..."

"Diem!" we shouted.

It didn't take long for me to face my biggest challenge.

We were on beam first.

"It's just a simple routine," Coach Mills told me before I mounted the beam. "I know you can do it."

I did my best to zone the crowd out. That was something Aunt Paige told me to do.

"Come on Lu," my teammates shouted as I stood looking down the beam.

A wobble here, a wobble there, but I stayed on through the first trip down the beam.

I did a couple of tougher required elements on my turn-around. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it down the beam without falling.

Only one more trip, and you're home free, I thought.

I made it through the routine without falling. The only thing left was the dismount. I wanted to stick the dismount.

"Yo! Adrian, he did it," Dominique shouted when I stuck the landing.

My teammates mobbed me.

My score...8.1.

Nothing fancy.

"But we can use that, if need be," Coach Mills said. "Great job!"

Jessi followed with an 8.5. It was her best score of the season.

Dominique scored a 9.3. Kylie had a season best 9.8.

The whole place erupted when Shelley, our senior, finished with a 9.9.

My score wasn't going to count. But Coach Mills felt it set the tone.

"They fed off you, Lu!" she said as we carted our stuff to the uneven bars.

We were third behind Reid Prep and Abingdon. But beam was our worst event.

"They have to know this meet is gonna be ours," Dominique said with her usual confidence.

I started to put my warmups on since this was the only event I wasn't competing in. But then I saw Beth in the stands.

I stuffed them back in my bag, wiggled my butt at her and blew her a kiss.

She whistled.

I just smiled and took a seat by my teammates and pulled for the ones on bar.

We posted a good enough score to overtake Abingdon. Reid Prep still led, but we closed the gap.

Next up was the vault–my event.

Jessi, as the lowest seed, led off.

She posted a 9.0, a season best.

"Okay Lu! The pressure is off," Coach Mills shouted before I went running toward the vault. I did a handspring and stuck the landing.

I grinned a mile wide when a season-best 9.2 was posted.

"That's good!" Coach Mills said. "But you can do better. Be explosive!"

I raced down to the vault again, hitting my hand stand and soaring a little higher. Again, I stuck the landing.

Our fans erupted. A 9.4 was posted.

Dominique matched my 9.4. Shelley scored a 9.6. Kylie led us with a 9.7.

She and Shelley had done better, but we trimmed Reid Prep's lead a down to one-hundredths of a point heading down to our final event, the floor.

"Remember Lu, a little hippage," Dominique said when I took the floor.

My heart raced when they turned on the music. It was Don't Stop Believing, the Glee version.

I heard the crowd roar when I did my tumbling passes. I threw in a tour jete no one was expecting, and a couple of pique turns during the dance part.

It was the most fun I've ever had.

"Oh my God! That was great!" Jessi said as I came off the floor.

"Way to go kiddo!" I heard from the stands.

It was Marie.

There was even more applause when my score was announced: a 9.6!

Jessi did well. She scored a 9.3. Kylie scored a 9.7, Shelley a 9.8.

"We've got this if Dominique doesn't fall apart," Coach Mills said. "Lu's 9.6 already puts us over the top, I think."

Dominique doesn't fall apart on the floor. It's showtime for her and she brought down the house.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in state history, a perfect 10 on the floor!" the P.A. announcer said when he announced her score.

One on the state championship by a landslide.

Shelley was in tears. It was her moment as our only senior, our leader.

We crowded around her on the podium to accept our trophy.

"Good job Lu, I'm really proud of you, especially with how you did on the beam," she whispered to me.

*****

The country club was all lit up for winter formal.

Marie sprung for a limo to pick me and Beth up. And yes, she looked really handsome in her tux.

"Okay Mel, fork it over," Gina Lenetti said when she saw Beth escort me into the room.

She and Melanie Piper had a bet. Gina bet her $10 that I would show up as the girl.

"I should have known," Melanie said.

"Thanks for not letting me down, little sister!" Gina whispered to me.

"Would I ever let you down?" I asked.

"You never do," Gina said.

We went through the ceremony where the pledges were officially inducted into the Les Amies.

We posed for our picture and sang the sorority song.

Then we danced the night away.

Beth and I walked out to a lit up gazebo for some fresh air.

"You look lovely tonight," Beth said.

"You look good, too," I said. "But don't you think it's a little weird for us to do this."

Beth smiled and gave me a kiss.

"It's who we are," she said. "I football pads, basketball shorts and tuxedos. You're field hockey skirts, leotards and ball gowns. Who cares what everyone else thinks?"

She was right.

In other places, people might have a problem with it.

In our world, things were just right.

I kissed her back. Put my head on her shoulder and cried.

I wished this moment could last forever.

The End