The Male Debutantes' Pageant

by Annabel Naismith

 

Chapter Eight

 

Bill Smith reached the front door of Jess's house and banged on it forcefully. The door was opened by Jess's father.

"Hullo Mr Collins. Is your daughter in?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"She has been giving my son Dan a hard time and I want something done about it."

"I see. What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean trying to pierce his ears for one thing. Then she dragged him round Crawley dressed as a girl. And she made him wear a little girl's dress and she's been threatening to send out photos of him wearing it."

Mr Collins turned away and called to his daughter. "Jess will you come here a minute."

"Can't it wait? I'm on the phone," came the reply.

"No, it can't wait. Come here now." Mr Collins raised his voice irritably.

There was a pause then Jess came to the door and stood next to her father.

"What has been going on between you and Dan Smith?" her father asked.

"The other evening Dan was round at Kirsty's and he asked if he could try on some of her clothes, you know a skirt and top. It sounded a bit kinky to me but she let him. Then he wanted to try on a dress and I told him I had a really pretty dress that would fit him nicely and he asked me to go and get it. Then this morning, he decided he wanted his ears pierced so I said I'd try and do it for him."

"You tried to pierce his ears!" Her father was incredulous. "Don't you know the health risks, you stupid girl?"

"That's what I told him. But he started to get upset, so I told him I'd try but I didn't have the right sort of earings and I wasn't sure if it would work. Then he asked me if I would go shopping with him because he wanted to buy some girl's clothes of his own."

Bill Smith listened to Jess's side of the story with growing impatience. "That's not the way I heard it. He told me you made him wear the dress and you tied him to a chair while you stabbed a needle through each of his earlobes and then clipped on earings when the you couldn't get ordinary earings through the holes you made. I think I know which one of you two is lying."

"Well you would take his side, wouldn't you." said Jess, with a shrug.

"So I hope you haven't been sending out these pictures of him in a dress."

"It's a bit late now, I've already sent them. But why shouldn't I? He wanted to wear the dress and I suppose deep down he wants people to know he likes wearing dresses. He wouldn't have asked me to get the dress and take the photos otherwise."

"I don't believe a single word of what you're telling me, you smug bitch." Bill Smith wagged a large forefinger at Jess.

"Don't raise your voice to my daughter."

"Well are you going to sort it out or do you want the police to get involved?"

"If what Jess said is true, then she's not done anything that would concern the police. I'll certainly talk to her about trying to pierce your son's ears. That was a stupid and potentially dangerous thing to try and do. I think it's best if you leave me to sort this out. Thank you for coming round and telling me about it. Good evening." Mr Collins shut the door, leaving Bill on the doorstep.

"Fucking smug bitch," he said through gritted teeth. As he walked down the path he clenched his fist and punched the fence. His fist smashed through the half inch thick paling. It made him feel better and he strode off, oblivious to the slight trickle of blood from his knuckles.

 

On Sunday morning the living room in the Jacobs' residence was a sea of bedding and teenagers. The eight girls had decided that none of the bedrooms was big enough to accommodate all of them so they had assembled all the available matresses from the upstairs bedrooms, along with a couple of inflatable matresses and slept together. But only after they had finished watching a couple of slushy films and chatted long into the night.

Jane Jacobs went quietly into the kitchen and boiled the kettle to make a mug of instant coffee. She looked in on all the youngsters and smiled fondly at them. They were a lovely bunch of kids, she reflected - she was very lucky that her children had such nice friends.

Mandy woke and stretched and looked around, taking a few moments to get her bearings. Then she saw Amy lying next to her and put her arm round Amy's shoulder to give her a hug. Amy woke up and saw Mandy looking into her clear blue eyes.

"Hi Mandy," she smiled.

"Hi."

Mandy leaned over and kissed Amy. She snuggled up to her and Amy lifted her duvet over Mandy so they could snuggle under the same duvet. Jane retreated into the kitchen to allow the youngsters a bit of privacy. She thought back to her youth, her first love and her first kiss. It seemed so long ago, so much had happened since then.

Gradually whispering started in the living room and increased in volume as the other girls woke up. Abigail realised that Mandy and Amy were under the same duvet.

"Ooh, look out. Mandy and Amy are getting a bit friendly," she said quite loudly.

All the others started to stir and Mandy tried to find her way back to her own matress and duvet but not before it was noticed by everyone where she had been.

"Have you been there all night?" asked Susie, showing concern for her younger sister's virtue.

"I expect they've been at it like rabbits all night," said Abigail with a big grin.

"Abi! No, Mandy just came for a cuddle a minute ago" explained Amy.

"Yeah, right!" said Alison sarcastically, "but I bet if Mandy stood up now she'd wouldn't pass for a girl!"

"Ali, don't be disgusting," said Karen.

Alison did have a point. Mandy's panties were not really able to contain the effect that snuggling Amy had had.

The last to stir was Danni. She taken off her wig and was wearing a nightdress which belonged to Amy. It was one of several that Susie had brought with her when she came over the previous evening.

Gradually the pressure within Mandy's panties subsided and she felt decent enough to get up and use the downstairs bathroom. Afterwards she went into the kitchen and found her mother looking dreamily out onto the back garden.

"Hi mum,"

"Good morning, Mandy. How was your first girly sleepover?"

"Good, thanks."

"How did it feel waking up next to Amy?"

Mandy blushed. "That was nice. We only had a little cuddle." Mandy did not know how much his mother had seen or how much she had heard of Alison's and Abigail's comments

"I know dear, I saw you. It's OK. It's a lovely feeling waking up in the morning next to someone you love and having a cuddle. I just want you to be happy and enjoy yourselves and above all stay safe. At this moment, nothing is more important to me than - Richard what on earth do you think you're doing? Come in here at once."

Richard/Dierdre had just walked past the kitchen window. S/he walked round to the kitchen door and stepped onto the mat that was just inside the door.

"Hello dear. Morning Mandy, old boy."

"Richard, If Mandy is supposed to be a girl, please don't call her old boy. And what on earth are you wearing?"

This fine spring morning, Richard/Dierdre had elected to wear a yellow cotton sundress with a pattern of small blue flowers but no wig. The ensemble was completed with a pair of old boots, brown with dried mud, and of an age and design that could have seen service in the Somme and been passed down through three generations.

"Something to do the garden in. I was just off to cut the grass. The weatherman said there would be showers later."

"Richard, you can't parade around the garden like that. Take those hideous boots off, and go and get dressed properly."

"Right oh. But who's going to mow the lawn?"

"Dierdre can, if she's properly dressed, or I will, or Mandy can. You can't wear a dress and have a man's hairstyle. It looks silly."

Richard/Dierdre removed the boots to reveal some old grey socks.

"And give me those socks. Honestly, I despair sometimes."

Amy came into the kitchen.

"Hello Dierdre, that's a nice dress. That colour suits you. Hello Jane," she said cheerfully.

"Morning Amy, I need to go and get presentable, apparently. I'll be back in a jiffy."

Richard/Dierdre calmly walked barefoot through the house greeting half a dozen teenagers. They were speechless then just grinned at each other.

The girls had a leisurely breakfast amongst the sea of matresses and watched the music channel on the tv.

Meanwhile a properly dressed Dierdre busied herself in the kitchen while Jane cut the grass.

Eventually the mattresses were put back, the girls dressed and Susie and Amy returned to their home for lunch but Abigail and Alison stayed to have lunch (prepared by Dierdre) at the Jacobs' house.

After lunch Sam called to see if Andy wanted to play in the woods. Jane answered the door and sent Sam upstairs to Andy's room.

"Oh my god!" was his incredulous reaction when he saw Mandy and Danni. "Have you two turned gay?"

Neither Mandy nor Danni could come up with a good reason to be dressed as girls on a Sunday afternoon.

Abigail could. "They're starting to practise to be ready for the pageant. And me and Alison are going to get you to start practising too. Come on Ali, let's get him!" The two girls trapped Sam and started tearing at his clothes.

"Help us you two," said Alison to Mandy and Danny, who were watching Sam's struggles with interest. The four girls quickly overpowered Sam, who continued to struggle.

"Now," said Abigail to Sam as she sat on his chest, "we can do this the nice way or we can be mean. What do you want?"

"You're all mad. Let me go. Get of mmmmmm." Sam's speech was halted by Abigail suddenly filling his mouth with a pair of (thankfully) clean white cotton panties.

"OK. We'll be mean. Get some tweezers, Mandy. We need to do some plucking. We'll start with eyebrows and then see if there's any armpit hair. Eyebrows don't really hurt much, we do those all the time, don't we girls." Abigail looked closely at her helpless victim, then gave an evil grin and continued. "But armpit hair is agony if you have that plucked."

Mandy returned with the tweezers and handed them to Abigail.

"OK, Sally," Abigail addressed Sam by the name under which he was to enter the pageant, "the more you struggle, the more I'll take off. If you lie nice and still, I won't pluck many eyebrow hairs but if you go struggling I'll give you a nice wide girly arch with high narrow lines."

Sam looked terrifed as he looked up at the tweezers. He kept still.

"Good girl, Sally," encouraged Alison, "now just lie still and enjoy some nice pampering."

In just a couple of minutes Abigail was happy with her plucking.

"OK Sally, now we'll do your make-up and then you can get dressed," said Abigail. "Pass the blusher, please Ali." Alison passed first blusher, then eye-shadow and finally lipstick, each of which was quickly and expertly applied by Abigail.

Sam cringed all the while the make-up was being applied. He was dreading being dressed as a girl. While Abigail continued to sit on Sam's chest, and Alison and Danni held an arm each and Mandy undid his baggy jeans. She slid them past his thrashing legs and pulled them off.

"Throw them out of the window, then she can't escape!" called Alison as she struggled to keep hold of Sam's arm. In a flash, Mandy had opened the window open and thrown Sam's jeans into the garden.

"Shall I throw those nasty pants out as well?" asked Mandy.

"No, I don't think so. We'd better keep her decent. Can you get a girdle for Sally? She needs a bit of control for her tummy." Abigail's comments drew renewed fear into Sam. He was trapped, with no covering for his legs and now he was about to be subjected to women's underwear. Sam was also a good deal fatter then Andy. Mandy got the girdle over one of Sam's legs and struggled to get the second leg in.

"Can you help me with this Abi," said Mandy. "She won't let me get both legs in."

Abigail turned round, leaving Danni and Alison leaning on a shoulder each of the tiring Sam. Mandy and Abigail twisted Sam over partly onto his side and managed to get his legs together just long enough to get the top of the girdle over his ankles.

"We should have tied her up," said Danni.

"Brilliant!" said Alison. "Do you hear that Sally? Danni wants to tie you up. You'd better start behaving or we will!"

Sam was getting quite tired by this time and decided it was time to co-operate. The others let him up and he removed the panties form his mouth.

"You've all gone mad. I don't want to be a girl"

"Now, now Sally," warned Alison, "you behave or you'll get tied up. And if we do have to do that, we pluck your armpits."

The girdle was tight on Mandy and on the much fatter Sam, it was a real struggle to get it over his hips and stomach, but when in position it did make his body shape noticeably less apple-shaped.

"Bra next" announced Abigail, once the girdle was in place.

Sam dutifully took off his baggy tee shirt and held out his arms so Alison could put the bra on. It was much too small and the elastic on the strap was severely strained to do the clips up. Sam had a generous amount of fat on his chest and Mandy and Danni teased as much as they could into the cups of the bra.

"Whoa, Sally," observed Abigail, "you're stacked! You've got bigger boobs than half the girls at school."

Sam was very self-conscious about the amount of flesh he had on his chest, which looked like the budding breasts of a pre-teen girl. It was worse when they bounced up and down when he ran.

Alison stood back to admire Sally's breasts. "She has," she agreed. "That is excellent; you're starting to make a nice girl, Sally."

"But I'm a boy. I don't want to be a girl."

"Oh stop moaning," said Mandy. "It's not so bad. Just try it. I'm having fun dressing like this."

"It's all right for you. You've got a girlfriend who likes you dressed like that."

"You never know," said Alison, "you might get to know girls better if you dressed like them. If you had lots of girls as friends, you'd be much more likely to get a girlfriend."

"That's right," agreed Abigail, " why don't all three of you girls come to youth club tonight dressed as girls?"

"Great idea, Abi," said Alison enthusiastically.

"I'm not going to youth club in a skirt and that's final," said Sam with feeling.

"I can't go home in a skirt," said Danni. "What would my dad say?"

"You could take your boy clothes and change when youth club finishes, then give your girl clothes to me to look after," said Mandy, instantly regretting saying what she said, as she realised that she was encouraging Dan to attend as a girl and therefore implying that she wanted to go dressed as a girl.

"How will I take the nail varnish off?" asked Danni.

"Oh, that won't be a problem. You'll have lots of experts to help," said Abigail.

"That's true," said Alison, "and Amy will be pleased to be going to youth club with Mandy."

Sam was still not convinced. "What will the other boys say if they show up as girls? They'll think they've gone mad or gay or something."

"Sam's got a point, Ali," said Danni. "They will think it's odd won't they."

"Hmm, that is a point. What do you think Abi?"

"I know," said Abigail, " why not get Karen to ring round the committee and make sure they're OK with it, then if Chris and Dave are on board, there won't be a problem."

"Come on, we need to finish getting Sally dressed," said Alison. "You go and get Karen to ring round the committee, Mandy, while we finish getting Sally ready to meet her public."

"Public? What public?" Sam was horrified.

"You know, Karen Jane and Dierdre and maybe Sam's mum would like to come and meet Sally."

"My mum? You wouldn't! I didn't agree to that. I didn't agree to any of this. I'm a boy."

"Oh come on Sally, mums love seeing their sons dressed as girls," said Alison.

"Mine seems to," said Mandy thoughtfully, "and her husband too, come to that."

"Your dad's dressed as a girl?" Sam had yet to meet Dierdre. "This I have got to see."

"You'll have some fun," said Abigail, "she's hysterical."

"Well get a skirt and top on and then you can," said Alison.

They could not find a skirt that had a big enough waist to get round the rather plump Sam so Mandy went to ask her mother if she had something they could borrow.

Mandy went downstairs to the living room. "Hi mum, we're making Sam into Sally but he's too fat to fit into any of my skirts. Have you got something she can borrow? And do you think Sam's mum would like to come round and see Sally?"

"Yes I'm sure I can find something she can borrow and yes I'm sure Janet would love to come and see Sally. I'll call her now and tell her to pop over. She wouldn't miss this for the world."

"That was a great idea getting Janet to come over, Mandy," said Karen, smiling at her younger sister. "Was that your idea, or one of the girls?"

Jane called Janet while Mandy asked Karen what she thought of the Mandy, Danni and Sally going to youth club.

"I'll get on the case. I bet Amy will be happy; I'll ring Susie straight away."

And so a quarter of an hour later, Janet was at the the Jacobs's house, along with Susie and Amy and their mother Jo, to see the debut of Sally. She had taken some persuading and been assured, falsely, that her mother would not be there. It was not, all things considered, a polished performance. The chubby Sally stomped gracelessly round the room and slumped into an armchair next to her mother.

Janet was hugely enthusiastic to see the preparation of her new daughter. She complimented Mandy and Danni on how well they were doing and was keen to ensure that Sally reached their standard. Sally's outfit was a honey blonde page-boy style wig of Dierdre's, a tee and knee-length skirt with an elasticated waist.

"So Sally's wearing a girdle, is she?" Janet confirmed on being told. "She could do with losing a bit of weight. Perhaps a diet, and maybe wearing a girdle all the time will give you a nice figure," she added to her new daughter. "Then we can get you some nice skirts and tops that you can slim into in time for the pageant."

Sally remained utterly unconvinced.

"I don't want to be a girl," she complained. "I feel stupid, I look stupid. I'll dress up for the pageant thing but I'm not going to youth club like this."

Jane looked critically at Sally. "Her deportment does need work, doesn't it?" she observed, as Sally sat bck in the chair with a face like thunder and her knees slightly too far apart.

Then Jane continued. "There is another issue to consider. If Mandy and Danni go to youth club what do I say to the school tomorrow? I had planned to go to the school and tell the headteacher that Jess made Danni wear that ghastly dress but if she goes to youth club voluntarily, it makes that argument rather weak."

"It seems to me that Jess's only hold over Danni was when Jess felt she could ridicule Dan," mused Dierdre. "Dan could say he's just been practising for the pageant, or something."

Amy picked up on Dierdre's suggestion. "If Danni and Mandy stick with me and Kirsty and Abi and Ali and all our friends, they'll be fine."

Alison and Abigail nodded on confirmation with Amy's suggestion and there was a general discussion. Mandy and Danni exchanged anxious glances.

As the discussion subsided, Jane spoke to Danni and Mandy. "Right you two, you don't want me to come to the school and report the attack Jess made on Danni's ears. Is that right?" Danni and Mandy nodded in agreement. "And you are confident the girls will be able to protect you from any bullying?" They nodded again. "You'll probably get called names, of course, but you can just ignore that." Danni and Mandy looked at each other and shrugged. They could cope with that.

"So all that remains is to let Danni's dad know that we have changed our plan. I'll just go and call him." Jane left the living room to make her call. While she was out of the room, Amy's mobile phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi Amy, it's Kirsty. We're on the A23 and well be back home in about 20 minutes. Where are you?"

"I'm round at Mandy's. Danni's here and so is everyone. Can your dad drop you off here?"

"Yes I'll ask him. How's Danni's ears?"

"They still look terrible but she's not been complaining, so they're probably not too bad. She keeps fiddling with her new studs though."

"OK, well give him my love and tell him I'll see him soon."

"Bye Kirsty." Amy pressed the button to end the call.

"Danni, Kirsty's on her way home and she'll be here in twenty minutes and she sends her love," reported Amy to Danni.

The weather by this time had, as forecast, turned showery and a hefty shower was underway when Sam had a thought. "Oh shit, my jeans!" he exclaimed.

A rescue party of teenagers formed quickly and dashed out into the garden to recover them from the flowerbed into which they had fallen. The jeans were soaked with rain and stained by mud.

"Oh god, I can't wear these," groaned Sam as he examined the rescued jeans in the sanctuary of the kitchen.

"Well it's that or your skirt," said Abigail.

"I'm not wearing a skirt," huffed Sam.

"Well it's that or your jeans," reasoned Mandy. "You're too big to get into any of my jeans."

"You could try and wash them," said Danni.

"They'll take ages to dry," said Amy. "That material is really thick."

There was a knock at the front door.

"Come on Danni," called Amy. "That'll be Kirsty."

Danni and Kirsty dashed to the front door and opened it. It was not Kirsty. Wearing a wig, make-up, a cap-sleeve T and mini skirt, Danni was horror-struck to see both his parents standing in front of her.

Jane had also responded to the knock on the door. "Hello Mr and Mrs Smith, please come in. This is Danni, isn't she adorable?" Jane ushered the Smith family into her living room.

By this time there were so many parents in the living room that the introductions to a while. Dierdre's appearance also took some explaining to the muscular builder, who eventually just shook his head and laughed quietly to himself.

Linda Smith just hugged her new found daughter. As was usual for her by late afternoon, she was quite drunk and she scarcely noticed Danni's ears. But she had become surprisingly emotional and started sobbing. Bill comforted his wife.

"I'll get the kettle on," said Dierdre, as any English house-wife would have done.

Bill, Linda and Danni sat together on the sofa.

"I'm sorry Linda's upset," began Bill, in his strong South London accent. "I'll tell you the reason. It's nothing that anyone here's done. The thing is, Dan is not our first child. Me and Linda got married young and we had a little girl soon after we was married. We was living in South London and our house was on a busy road. One day, when Linda was expecting Dan, Dannielle, our little girl, ran out in the road. She got hit by a van and that was it. Killed her dead. The van never even slowed down. She was ten. She was the prettiest little girl and she was such a sweet natured little thing. That's how come we moved down here. So when Dan was born, Linda and me was both hoping for a girl, another Dannielle, but we got Dan instead. And he's wonderful but he ain't a girl, well, not till today. But that's how come Linda hit the bottle. She couldn't cope when Dan was born, you know, post-natal depression, a new home away from all her family and that, and trying to deal with a child that died."

The room went quiet. Linda continued to sob and kept hugging Danni. Danni hugged her mother and Bill put his arms round both of them.

Amy had heard the story and she too was on the verge of tears. She held Mandy's hand and she put a comforting arm round Amy.

At length, Danni spoke, "If you need me to be a daughter, mum, I don't mind. I'll make a good girl for you."

"You be what you want to be son," said her dad. "It's OK with us."

Linda's sobbing went to a howl and back to sobbing again.

"It's all right, love," comforted Bill.

Dierdre arrived carrying a large tray and wearing a sky blue apron, which contrasted nicely with her yellow dress.

It took Dierdre some while to pour all the tea and pass the cups round. Linda gradually recovered her composure.

Jane tried to change the subject. "I think the best way to approach the issue of this Jess girl is to confront her. The crowd will be able to stand up to her."

"You know I went round her house yesterday evening after you rang me?" Bill responded. "Well, she said that Dan wanted to put the girl's clothes on and wear the dress and everything. I've got to say, seeing you here like this, I believe her more now than what I did last night. But I still don't believe you asked her to try and pierce your ears?" Danni shook her head. "No I didn't think you would have."

There was another knock on the door. Amy answered it and this time it was Kirsty. Amy took Kirsty into the kitchen and told her the story of Danni's sister.

After they had finished their tea, Abigail, Alison and the various parents departed, as well as Sam, who changed back into his still damp and muddy jeans and was delighted to have removed the girdle.

At last Kirsty met Danni, who had managed to escape from the close attention of her mother.

"Oh my poor baby, your poor ears." Kirsty kept her promise from the previous evening to kiss them better. Danni hugged her girlfriend. The story of her elder sister had been a shock; it had been the first time that Danni had heard it and now she understood better why her mother drank so much. Danni and Kirsty went quietly upstairs to Mandy's room, while Mandy and Amy helped Dierdre tidy up in the kitchen and Jane, Karen and Susie chatted in the living room. None of the others noticed that Danni and Kirsty had gone up to Mandy's room to spend some time alone together.

It was only half an hour later when Mandy and Amy went upstairs that they found Kirsty and Danni together in Mandy's bed.

 

To be continued

  

  

  

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