A/N: You know...I wanna find out what National Day it is today. Hold on...Imma Google it. Umm...what the hell? Today is the National Visitation of Mary Day? Come on...that's great and all, but I wanted something more exiciting. Like...tomorrow is National Compliment Your Mirror Day. And the day after that is National Tom Sawyer Fence Painting Day. I'm not even kidding. That's actually what it says. Visitation of Mary Day? Yeah...no offense, but that's not really...exciting. LOL
Word of the Day (Which I Forgot to Do For the Last...Million Times): Homburg - A man's felt hat with a stiff curled brim and a high crown creased lengthwise.
I don't know...they seem like pretty beastly hats to me. Maybe I should make Kirk wear a homburg hat. LOL...wouldn't that just be golden.
Chatpter 7: A Tale of Two Crossdressers
Blair's POV
The next morning, I found that my eyes managed to drag themselves open before the alarm even went off. I peeled myself off of the bed and sat up, rubbing my puffy eyes. Glancing at the alarm clock down below me, I noticed that it was a whole hour before anyone had to be up and moving. I peeked down at Mikey and saw that he was curled up peacefully under his layers and layers of covers. And then I noticed what he clutched in his hands as he slept on.
"Most people sleep with teddy bears. Mikey...sleeps with his coffee can." I said quietly to myself, crawling down from my bunk and slipping the can from his arms before placing it on the bedside desk. He groaned a bit and rolled over, but stayed asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran my hands through my newly black and red hair. All of this still felt a little odd. I mean sure...I was having a pretty good time, but...there was this constant feeling that I was out of place. And I was. I mean...hello! I'm a girl in an all boys boarding school. I knew Maggie had strange ideas, but I never imagined it would come to this.
Looking at the clock once more, and realizing that only two minutes had passed, I resigned in going back to sleep, grabbed my cell phone from off the top of my dresser, and set off to the bathroom to change into my uniform which I clutched under my arms. I stumbled sleepily down the hallways, yawning and scratching my head in early morning itchiness. Maybe I should take a shower now while no one was up. I grinned at the thought of actual running water. I wasn't exactly living in the wilderness, but it was close enough with all these boys swarming around. I mean...the only guy I was used to hanging around with was gay and he had PRETTY good cleanliness.
As I turned into the tiled wonderland of the bathroom, I heard a strange noise. A gurgling sound and lots of groans. And then a sharp burst of laughter echoed through the room. I poked my head around the corner and saw two pairs of legs congregating in a stall, laughing and messing around. Curious, I inched closer and saw a third pair of legs crouched by a toilet. There was more splashing and suddenly a small voice squeaked out. "Please...really, I have bad asthma! This is really unsanitary!"
I suddenly got what was going on. The two assholes standing were giving some poor nerd a Whirley. I stomped forward with rage. "Hey! Excuse me, the two dicks standing in the stall! Can I have a word?" They both turned around in confusion, having not expected anyone to be up yet. They were two boys I didn't recognize. They were both relatively short, and both had dark hair. They cracked their knuckles when they saw me. I tried not to let their menacing expressions frighten me. "Ummm...it's kind of petty and cowardly for you two boys to go against one guy. I mean...two against one? That's hardly fair."
They started walking towards me, their features darkening with rage. I gulped and started to back up, finally bumping into the sinks. "Look, guys...I'm sure there's a perfectly logical way to work this out. Maybe we just need to talk about- Ahhh!" One of the boys grabbed me by the collar of my pajama shirt and pressed me against the wall. I don't know about you, but at the moment I felt I could probably get sexual assault charges. I winced as he grinned, blowing a stream of disgusting morning breath into my face. I choked on the bitter stench that filled my nostrils.
"My dear fellow...you've been mis-informed." I said, my eyes watering. "It's toothpaste you're supposed to brush your teeth with, not cow manure." His grin faded away and was replaced with a scowl.
"Listen, punk...I'm gonna give you two minutes to drag your little homosexual ass out of here, or you're next in the toilet. Got it buddy?" he said through barred teeth. I tried to push the arm that was holding my shirt away to no avail. He eventually released me, eyeing me like he was debating whether or not it was safe to let me leave. Not that I had any plans to. "Now...get out of here before I change my mind." Suddenly, there was a call from the stall where the other boy had returned to make sure the poor nerd didn't escape.
"Hey, Mike! Jesus Christ! I think he's passed out! I think I held him under too long!" The one that had been restraining me whipped around in shock.
"What the hell did you do that for? If he's dead, we're so screwed! Let's get out of here." And both boys raced out of the bathroom like the cowards they were, reminding me that I "hadn't seen anything". I nervously creeped towards the stall they had been horsing around in. Oh God! What if he really WAS dead? I took a deep breath and peeked in. There, slumped over the toilet was a small figure with dark brown hair. I pulled him backwards tentatively, revealing his face.
"T.J.?" I said incredulously. It was the boy I had met yesterday in Chemistry. His glasses hung off of his face at an odd angle, and he clutched an asthma inhaler limply in his hand. "Holy shit!" I said, starting to freak out. I can't handle dead people! "Okay, Blair...chill, chill. He needs CPR!" I shoved him down on the floor and brought my face close to his, taking a deep breath and preparing to breathe some life into this nerd whether he liked it or not!
But just as I was about to move in, his eyes snapped open, and he used his arms to push my face away. I yelped in surprise, thinking he had been...you know...dead. "Dude!" he shouted, sitting up. "Relax...I was just playing dead so they'd leave us alone." He wiped his sopping hair out of his eyes and took a puff from his inhaler. We were both still crouched on the flithy floor.
"You okay?" I offered him my hand as I stood up and he took it, bringing us both to our feet. He nodded, walking over to grab an endless stream of paper towels to dry himself off with.
"Yeah, I'm used to it. Those jerks always pick on me. But...I guess it's sort of my fault. I'm kind of a weakling around here." he laughed to himself lightly and scrubbed at his face, trying to rid it of traces of disgusting toiet water. I found myself frowning at what he had said, though. It wasn't right to shove people around because of their status. I'd spent enough of my school career being bullied and tormented because of my eccentric style. The beautiful multi-colored disaster that my hair was, and all my edgey clothes. A threat to the careful school society.
"Well...you shouldn't have to be used to it. When I see those guys again, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind." I said angrily. Okay, maybe more like...I would have Ray give them a piece of my mind for me, thinking of their grim faces and knuckle cracking technique. T.J. laughed a little bit.
"Yeah, okay...You'd better go ahead and write up a will, then." He tossed his wad of paper towels into the trashcan nearest him, and turned to walk out of the room. "I'll see you down at breakfast. Thanks for sticking up for me and all, but...Don't go and get yourself killed. Picking a fight with them is basically suicide." He gave a small wave and then exited into the hall. I grinned to myself. So...he didn't think I was trained in the art of revenge. He didn't know how wrong he was. After all, I grew up with a little brother that liked to steal my stuff. Trust me...I had had plenty of practice in the revenge department.
I checked the time on my phone. I still had fourty-five minutes left, but I planned on taking a long shower. I checked all the stalls to make sure they were completely empty, and then started to undress. It felt so good to take off those annoying sweaty bandages. I sighed and turned the water on full blast before hopping in and breaking out into a shameless chourus of Lady Gaga's Alejandro. Ahh...it's good to be a girl again. If only for half an hour.
"Hey, Mason! Over here! We saved you some deep fried mystery meat!" I had just walked into the bustling dining hall, fully dressed in my uniform and squeaky clean. Frankie was calling to me from across the hall, waving a fork in the air. I grinned and walked over. Everyone was already down except for Ray, and scavenging for edibles. As was the case, most everybody's plates were empty. I plopped down next to Frank and blushed a bit when Gerard grinned at me from where he sat diagonally across from me.
"So...any plans today, or are we just gonna go hide under the headmaster's desk again?" he said, taking a bite out of a sausage link. The rest of everyone looked at us, utterly confused.
"Umm...is 'hiding under the headmaster's desk' code for some bizzarre sex posistion?" Mikey asked, looking at his brother in concern. We all laughed.
"Nevermind that..." Gerard said, spitting out the sausage into a napkin. "We seriously need to make plans to run to the grocery store. I can't take this any longer."
"Too late for that, Way!" bellowed a voice from behind us. We all turned and saw Ray walking proudly towards the table, bags filling up his arms. He brushed bowls and plates out of the way and plopped them all down in the center of the table. "Ladies and gentleman..." I looked around nervously, before remembering it was just an expression. (Hehe). "Get ready to proclaim me as your new god. For I...have brought you all a feast fit for a king." And he dumped the bags upside down, revealing the wonder of REAL food.
A large box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a package of beef jerky, strawberry Poptarts, two bananas, a bag of potato chips, and a bottle of chocolate syrup. Oh...it certainly was a breakfast for a king. A...rather obese king, but...as none of us were exactly at risk of obesity, I figured it was okay. No one even bothered to thank Ray, though he had been expecting us to get down and bow, and we just started to grab whatever we could get our little hands on. I filled my plate with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, grabbed a banana and a handful of potato chips, and dumped a thick stream of chocolate syrup all over it. Eh...I was skinny enough. I needed some fat on me anyways.
"How'd you get out without anyone knowing? The store is miles away." Bob said in amazement...shoving a piece of beef jerky into his mouth. Ray shrugged, and I could tell his ego was starting to inflate. Jeese...what was it with these guys and their egos?
"Ehh...I called a friend of mine that owed me a favor and had him take me out at 6:00 a.m." I thought for a minute. That was the time I had gotten up. So...someone else had been up at the same time as me.
"So...about that costume ball thing. You all in to go down to the costume shop in town and pick out something cool?" Frank suggested, dipping a chip into a puddle of syrup on the table. We all nodded. Frank suddenly looked at me. "You ever been down to the costume shop in town, Mason?" I almost laughed.
"Yeah...I guess you could say that I have..." I said, thinking back to shopping around with Maggie and Devon for all our disguises. Then I thought of Maggie and her little pregnant belly, and Devon in his pedophile moustach. I felt a little bit of nostalgia well up inside me. I must have been looking distant, because Mikey started waving his hands in front of my face. Everyone laughed at my spacieness.
"Yeah, we should all go down at break. We can...er...how are we going to get into town?" I asked, thinking. None of us seemed to have cars. Gerard chuckled.
"We're going to call a cab, of course. What were you expecting? A spaceship manned by a team of well trained monkeys?" he said, flinging a piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch at me lightly. I opened my mouth and caught it, smirking.
"Of course not!" I said, picking up a sophisticated tone to my voice. "If nothing else, I was going to have you carry me all the way into town. Now if you'll excuse us...Bob and me have to run to class. I have no desire to get in trouble with that woman yet again." And with that, I grabbed a piece of beef jerkey from Gerard's plate, winked, and spun around on my heel before walking proudly out of the room. I peeked behind me as I was halfway across the hall, and saw all of them sitting there with stunned expressions at my behavior. Ah...boys will be boys...
Classes passed in a blur. I found a seat next to Bob for most of them, and we spent a majority of the lessons passing random notes to eachother and snickering at anything we found amusing. Since it was Thursday (Damn...I've been here for almost three days already!) we had sports outdoors down at the field. The coach, who was a burly man with his brunette hair shaved down into a buzz cut, his face thin with sharp features and piercing grey eyes, spent most of the hour and a half yelling at me and Bob and T.J. for not being able to do the amount of pushups required. I couldn't help it. I was tired, and my arms were like limp noodlums.
"Alright!" the coach, whose name I now know is Mr. Brekke, yelled. "Lesson's over. Now you ladies who couldn't do thirty-five measly pushups..." he glared at me, Bob, and T.J. "Will be staying behind to help pick up the materials." Everyone else had a good laugh and then hustled off, probably to go to the locker rooms. I gulped. Holy shit! The locker rooms! What was I supposed to do? It's like a plathora of naked men! I felt myself break out into a nervous sweat.
The other two boys groaned and we all set out to pick up the many bright orange cones and balls that were scattered all over the stretch of field. When we had finally collected everything, the coach ordered us straight down to the locker rooms, and told us he wouldn't call our next teacher and tell her why we were late for class unless we were out in five minutes tops. I felt my eyes grow wide. Oh great...and now I had a time limit, too. We soon emerged ourselves in the sweat haven that was the locker room.
Tiled floors and walls were thick with moisture, and it reeked strongly of damp socks and mildew. The rows of shitty lockers were interspersed between long metal benches that showed vigorous years of abuse. I gulped, never having changed in here before. Yesterday, we didn't even HAVE to wear uniforms because we just went over rules and guidelines and stuff. And I had changed into my uniform in the bathroom today. Bob casually walked over to the locker where he stored his uniform and wrenched it open, letting it all tumble down to the soggy floor. Then he started to remove his gym clothes. (The gym uniform was just a yellow St. James t-shirt paired with knee-length black shorts, and tennis shoes.)
T.J. did the same, both of them shamelessly exposing themselves to the open air and public eye. If you counted our eyes as the public eye, that is. I found myself simply standing there, trying not to stare and not even motioning to take my clothes off. "You gonna change or, what? I'm not worried about that time thing. Who cares if we're late for History. It's the most boring class. I don't care WHO blew up Napolean or why Columbus sailed the ocean blue. They were all just a bunch of assholes anyways..." Bob grumbled on and on about his dislike for history, neither me nor T.J. really listening.
"Um...yeah, but...I'm just gonna go to the bathroom first." I said, dodging into the area that was used for bathrooms. The long green stalls that sat in a formal line down the wall were thankfully all empty, as everyone else was probably already up at the main building for the next set of classes. I slipped into one and rushed to change into my uniform.
"What's the matter in there?" Bob called from outside of my stall. "You have too many burritos for lunch or something?" I heard T.J. snort with laughter. It was true...there had been Mexican food on the menu today. Unfortunately...it really just looked like an animal of some sort had taken a dump on some tortillas, but...you take what you can get. I pulled on my shirt and rushed out, flinging my tie and blazer on.
"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go!" And we all rushed out of the locker rooms at warp speed.
"Hey!" Mr. Brekke yelled as we flew past him and up towards the school, not bothering to stop. "You wimps took seven minutes in there!" We all turned around simultaneously and flipped him off, hoping we were now too far away for him to really see any details.
It was now 4:30. Break time, to be exact. I was exhausted, my brain was fried, and I couldn't wait to get out of this place for a little bit. It was just me and Bob, slumped by our meeting pillar, waiting for everyone else to get done with classes so that we could go down to the disguise shop in town and buy costumes for tonight. "So..." I said, bored with just sitting there in silence, "What's up with the girls from St. Bridget's? They hot, or are they all a bunch of weirdos with head gear?" I pictured girls in plaid skirts with frizzy hair in little braids and large, metal head gear wrapped around their skulls. And big glasses. Bob laughed...
"Naw, they're all right. Most of um are stuck up little princesses, though. But...a few are decent looking AND nice. They're all filthy stinking rich, but...then again...so are most of the people here." He flicked a ball of lint off the shoulder of his blazer and we both watched it fall to the floor.
"Hey, motherfuckers. I was worried I was gonna be the first one here, and then I'd have to pay for the cab. It's a good thing you two losers got here before me." Gerard was walking towards us from the West Wing, grinning wildly. I felt my more boredom dissappear and turn into immediate fascination and eagerness. I hopped up.
"Too bad we didn't think to call the cab. It's a good thing you're here now, though. Now you can call..." I grinned cheekily at him, making him roll his eyes. He eventually pulled out his phone, though and called the cab for us. Sigh...it's so easy making boys do things. Yeah...woman power! Even though...they all though I was a guy. Hmm...am I contradicting myself? I puzzled over this for the remainder of time until the rest of the guys showed up. We all complained about the boring classes for a couple of minutes, and then Mikey was sent to go check out with Clarette. He came back five minutes later, blushing and looking down at his shoes.
"She...complimented my tie..." he said, grinning. Gerard laughed outloud.
"Dude...we're all wearing the same ties!" he said, punching his brother in the arm. "You're such a loser. I can't believe I get to have YOU as my dorky little brother." We all laughed at Mikey's red face, and stumbled out to wait in the parking lot for the cab. We all sat down on the curb, and Gerard plopped down next to me, pulling out a package of Marblo Reds.
"You smoke?" I asked curiously, never having seen him do so. He nodded solemnly and jerked the package away when his brother reached for one.
"Uh-uh, not you too, Mikes..." he said, putting the package back in his pocket and lighting up. "It's a nasty habit, anyways...I'm not having you get hooked, too." Mikey looked a bit dissappointed at this claim, and sat down, pouting, on the other side of his brother. "I should probably quit sometime..." he said, looking distant, but not really sincere. A few minutes later, the cab pulled up. Gerard threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out, hopping into shotgun. He grinned and we all crawled into the back, muttering plots for his death.
As there was only three seats in the back, me and Mikey (being the lightest), were forced to sit on people's laps. Mikey plopped down ontop of Frank who groaned and attempted to shove him off. I crawled awkwardly in and sat gingerly on Ray's lap. "Okay...now that I feel like Mason and I are gay lovers...let's hit the road." he said, leaning his head back against the seat. Gerard nodded to the taxi driver and soon we sped out of the St. James parking lot and down towards town.
We arrived after about twenty minutes of complete insanity right in front of the familiar costume shop. And let me tell you...the ride down was far from uneventful. It had been filled with total chaos, and I was extremely surprised that the driver hadn't kicked us out. Not even five minutes into the drive, Mikey managed to elbow Frank in the balls by accident, and Frank yelped and attemted to shove him off, almost causing poor Mikey to fall out of the open window. Then Bob and Ray started beating eachother because of some Yo Mama joke Bob had apparently said. Unfortunately, I was caught in the middle of it and was punched particularily hard in the neck.
But...we managed to make it out alive, the driver looking more than happy to see us gone. We made Gerard pay and then pushed our way into the doors of the shop. It was more crowded than I remembered it last time, with people bustling all over the place. "Oh great..." Frankie groaned. "There's a big sale...Now the whole place is gonna be completely empty and we'll end up with some little girl's fairy costume." I laughed a little bit and pulled a tinkerbell dress off of a nearby rack.
"Oh, Frankie...I think I've found the costume you were talking about." I waved it in front of his face and he pretended to be excited. We wandered a little bit further into the back. I was crouched by a display of capes when someone VERY familiar popped out from behind a rack of sale items. "Mom?" I muttered under my breath. I quickly dove towards a rack of something random, unfortunately making a big clattering. She looked down at me. My eyes went as wide as saucers. How was I supposed to explain why I was in a costume shop dressed as a boy when I was supposed to be up at Maggie's cabin? But her face showed no sign of recognition.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God! She had no idea it was me. But then again...it's not like she was expecting to see me here.
"Er...no...I was just looking at some of these." I turned to see which rack I was crouched by and saw that it was filled with various costume bras and other lingerie. My mom raised her eye brows, but...being used to strange behavior from having me as a kid, just shrugged it off. Suddenly, her eyes turned critical. I felt myself shying away.
"You know..." she said slowly, leaning in to get a closer look at me. "You look an AWFUL lot like someone I know...Yeah...you look really familiar." I felt my palms getting sweaty.
"Er...well...I-" I stuttered, trying to think of what to say. But thankfully, Frankie came to my rescue.
"Hey Mason!" I heard his voice from somewhere in the store, "I've got a costume for you." And then I heard several chuckling voices.
"Um...well, that's my friends." I got up hurriedly and dashed away to find Frank. Holy shizzle! That was close! What was she doing here anyways? And then I remembered the sale. She was probably stocking up on Halloween wear for Chris. And, of course, she just HAD to go today of all days. Jeese...I have really rotten luck. I wheezed a little bit as I found them in the back by dressing rooms. Everyone was crowded around, laughing. Frankie held something up.
"Tadah! The perfect costume for you..." He was holding out a Madonna cone bra and a sliver skirt. I rolled my eyes.
"Haha...guys..." I said sarcastically, turning to walk away to go hunting for my costume.
"Wait...we've decided we're going to surprise everyone." Mikey said eagerly. "We're not going to reveal what costumes we have until tonight when we get ready for the ball." I laughed and told everone that it sounded like fun. I couldn't wait to see what everyone came up with, and ran off to go find myself something good to wear.
"Oh my God, Gerard...You are a total shopping WHORE." We had arrived back at St. James with minutes to spare before dinner was supposed to start, all sorts of bags clutched in our arms. But while most of us had just one or two, Gerard had a whole four bags of shit! He just laughed when Mikey pointed this out.
"Let's just say...you guys are sure to be surprised by my costume." he grinned and laughed evily. Me and Mikey looked at eachother.
"Umm...should I be scared?" I whispered to him as we hurried up the stairs.
"Very..." he said grimly. I laughed for a moment before I realized that he WASN'T joking. Then I fell silent. We were going to drop our shit off in our rooms before heading off to dinner. I don't think I could ever REALLY attend a boarding school. At least I got to go home at 3:30 at regular school. This was like being in it ALL DAY LONG. I set my stuff delicately on my bunk and Mikey did the same. But as he set it down, a piece of black material fluttered to the floor, unnoticed.
I picked up and examined it. "What is this? A mask?" I asked him, slipping my fingers into the two eye slits. He whipped around and grabbed it from me.
"Maybe..." he said suspiciously. "It's a surprise, though, so...C'mon." And he practically shoved me out of the room.
"Oh come on, Mikey. Tell me what you're gonna be. I'll tell you what my costume is if you tell me." I tried to persuade him, but he adamantly refused. "Please?" I tried to pout before realizing that it only worked if you were a girl. Doing it as a guy only made me look gay.
"No, now let's hurry up an get down to dinner. And... let's at least TRY not to get detention this time?" he said, looking at me in a jokingly sincere way.
"Yeah, sure, MOM. I promise to behave." I said sarcastically before running quickly towards the stairs. I spotted Frankie and Ray towards the bottom and dashed over to them. "Hey..." I said, squealing to a stop. I looked behind me and saw Mikey making his way down the stairs. He was huffing and wheezing, pulling out his inhaler to take a quick puff. We all shook our heads. Poor, nerdy Mikey...Whatever were we going to do with him?
"Bob went to go save us a table." Frankie said, scanning the entrance hall for something. "I have NO idea where Gerard is. The poor fucker's probably up there drowning in all his shopping bags."
"What poor fucker?" Came a voice from behind us. Gerard hurried down the stairs, grinning. I don't think that boy knows just how excessively he grins. It's kind of ridiculous. When he grins he looks like a little boy, not the angsty teenager that his exterior suggests.
"Where were you, and what have you been doing that has you looking so happy?" Mikey asked, eyeing his brother suspiciously. Obviously, he'd been living with him too long to overlook any uncharacteristic behavior. "How much Prozac have you taken?" Mikey stood on his tiptoes to check to see if Gerard's eyes were dialated. Gerard pushed his brother playfully away.
"Mikey, shut up. I'm not high. Am I not allowed to be in a good mood? And...I've taken the recommended dosage of Prozac." He covered all of Mikey's questions in a swift, ten second period. But Mikey continued to steal glances at him out of the corner of his eyes. Gerard just rolled his eyes.
"You're on Prozac?" I asked quietly. He nodded. It seemed I was learning an awful lot about Gerard today. First that he smoked, and then that he's on anti-depression meds. I fell silent. Gerard laughed.
"It's cool...I'm not, like...psycho or anything. It's just a little something to help me through my day." I looked back at him, but couldn't think of anything to say. We all started to walk towards the dining hall. "I know what you're thinking...I smoke, I drink, I'm on anti-depressants-"
"Hold on...you drink?" I interrupted, discovering yet another darker side to him. Was there really so much about him that was a mystery. And then I realized that I really hadn't known him very well at all. He paused.
"Used to drink...Not anymore. I'm...a recovering alchoholic." he said, looking at the floor. My eyes went wide.
"You were an alcoholic? But you're so young!" I thought immediatly of Mrs. Wilde, Devon's mom. She was an alcoholic, too. It was so hard on her family. Her parents...her sister...but especially Devon.
"Yeah...I know...It was a stupid thing to do. Put my Mom and Mikey through hell. It was pretty selfish of me. But...my family loves me, and thankfully...for some reason I will NEVER understand...they still trust me." he smiled distantly, before looking back at me. "I don't want you to think any differently of me for that...I didn't mean to freak you out." I shook my head.
"It's okay...you're a...friend. I don't think I'd be ABLE to think of you differently." We both smiled at eachother, my smile probably filled with something MUCH different than his.
"Hey! The two gay lovers in the aisle! Mind sitting down?" We looked around. We were the only two standing in the whole hall, and one boy was yelling at us from where he was seated.
"Oh burn in hell!" Gerard and I said in unison, going to take a seat next to everyone else. The girl's school had obviously not arrived yet. There were two empty tables reserved for them. Tonight's dinner looked reasonable, actually. Some sort of soup with bread that wasn't hard as rocks, a fruit salad, and chocolate mousse for dessert. There was no way the school had made edible food. It had to have been the work of someone else.
All of the teachers were sitting stiffly and in an orderly fashion at the head table, their eyes on the doors of the dining hall. Suddenly, Clarette came running in through the doors and clicked up to where Headmaster Kirk was sitting in that proud way of his with his cheesy little smile. She whispered something in his ear and then dashed back out of the room. Moments later, the headmaster stood up out of his chair and looked around at all of us. "Alright!" he yelled so the whole room could hear him. "Our guests have finally arrived. We welcome now...St. Bridget's School for Girls." And he gestured to the door. What was this? A game show?
And surely, through the giant doors first entered a tall woman in a nun's habit. She had an old, aged face with puckered lips and sharp eyes. Behind her, a trail of girls in uniforms followed, talking quietly amongst themselves and giggling. Someone somewhere in the hall let out a loud wolf-whistle and the girls burst into fits of giggles. But one sharp look from the nun and they all fell silent immediately, including the boy. Their uniforms were fairly simply. Classically modest. A white collared blouse underneath a black blazer with the school's crest in the upper right corner. It was paired with a navy blue and gray fringed skirt, and simple, black Mary-Janes.
As it turned out, none of them were REALLY bad looking. Just not my taste. (I mean...not that I have a taste, since I'm a girl.) I noticed that a majority of them were blonde, with a small fraction of brunettes and only one or two girls with black or red hair. They shuffled in until they reached their tables and then the nun left them with a final warning glance before going up to sit at the teacher's table. The girls took their seats, looking expectantly at the food in front of them. "Yes..." continued Kirk once everyone was seated. "And we thank Sister Leona for volunteering to be a chaperone." He waited for someone to clap. The sound did not come.
He cleared his throat and went on awkwardly. "And...furthermore...we thank our lovely secretary, Clarette...For making this wonderful french dish for us. Hooyahass, I believe she said it was." Clarette, who had rushed in after the girls had taken their seats, leaned over and whispered something in his ear again. "Er...bouillabaisse, I guess." I snorted. Hooyahass...what a douche bag. We said a quick prayer and then dug in. Knowing personally just how good Clarette's cooking was, we poured ladle upon ladle of the soup into our bowls so that we would have enough to keep us full. I saw other people poking it tentatively.
But it tasted wonderful. A bit fishy, but good all the same. Frankie dipped a spoon in and took a bite. He swallowed as though a bitter taste had entered his mouth. "Shit..." he muttered. I looked at him questioningly. He thought it tasted bad? It was a million times better than the shit they normally fed us. "This must have fish in it. I'm a vegetarian. Don't eat fish, remember?" he said, pushing his bowl away. Bob and Ray grabbed it greatfully and spooned his un-eaten soup into their bowls. Mikey was dipping large hunks of bread into his and eating greedily. Jeese...for a skinny dude, he sure can pack it away. I was like that, too! Yay for skinny people that should be obese!
Frank filled up the rest of the time on bread, fruit and the mousse. Either way, he was satisfied and grinning, joking with everyone. Finally, after we had all stuffed ourselves full, the hall quieted down. Kirk stood to his feet again and grinned, a bit of fruit stuck in his wig. "Alright, well, thankyou ladies for joining us for dinner." He gestured to the girls sitting at their tables. They all giggled at the piece of fruit, but Kirk took it as flirting and I saw him give a wink. "And, now...you can all run off and get into your costumes for the ball which will start in approximately half an hour. Please leave in an orderly-"
But no one bothered to listen. We all stood up restlessly and started exiting the hall as fast as possible. Headmaster Kirk looked stunned that we weren't obeying him like dogs. I got lost in the crowd a little bit, and couldn't see anyone that I knew. I was shoved around by some people until I caught sight of someone I knew...though not pleasantly. Eric was surrounded by his friend Max and those two boys from this morning in the bathroom. I was unfortunately shoved right into Eric. "Ack! Piss off!" he yelled before registering who it was. "Oh it's you..." he grinned in a not so friendly way that said "i would very much like to bash your guts in right now, asshole". "So...what're you gonna go as tonight? Though...with a face like that, you don't really need a mask." All of his friends chortled at his little joke.
It was right then that I remembered that I was supposed to have been plotting a little revenge on them. A small satisfied smile lit up my face at the thought of it. Suddenly, a girl pushed her way past me and straight to Eric. "Oh, Eric!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him and pecking him on the cheek. "I feel like it's been forever." He smiled warmly and kissed her smartly on the lips.
"And it has, love...It has..." Oh my god...this was the cheesiest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. I thought I was going to be sick. Suddenly, she turned to me. She was slightly curvy, with pale brown eyes, tan skin, and chestnut hair that fell down past her shoulders. Her teeth were impossibly white. I'm talking like...Mr. Clean white teeth here, people.
"Who is this?" she said, her voice with that certain, annoying snotty ring to it. I sighed, waiting for the insult I only KNEW Eric was about to dish out.
"Oh, he's just some poor gay boy I found wandering around." Eric said, attempting to steer her away. She laughed harshly at me.
"He's quite the runt. Too bad...he would've been cute. Anywho...let's get away from here. I can't be seen socializing with people like him." she said, spinning around to see what was going on in the hall. It was quickly emptying.
"You know..." I piped up, slighted by her insult. (I was a sexy guy! Even Devon had said so!) "You and your girlfriend should go as beauty and the beast tonight." The girl looked almost surprised, thinking I was giving her a compliment. But I wasn't quite finished...oh no... "You can go as the head part of the beast, Eric, and she'll be the tail end. The only thing left to do is find a pretty girl for the beauty." And they both looked stunned. As I had nothing left to say, and no desire to stick around, I commenced to wander off to go rejoin with my friends while also trying to cook up some good revenge.
"There you are!" Gerard said when he spotted me in amongst the crowd exiting the hall. They were standing by the pillar, as I had expected them to be. Gerard walked slightly ahead of everyone else to meet me. "Come on...Let's go get ready!" He looked rather excited, his little boy interior shining through again. I laughed a bit at his behavior and joined everyone. I was walking by Mikey as we trotted up the stairs, following Gerard's hurried lead.
"Is he always as happy as he seems today?" I asked Mikey in hushed tones, not that the hallway we were going down wasn't noisy enough to cover up any talk.
"Actually..." Mikey said, "I haven't seen him this happy since he found out they were building a new Starbucks down the road from our house. Personally, I think it's coffee that helped with his depression, not the Prozac." We both laughed at this, imagining Gerard in a Starbucks. He'd probably hide in the back until closing and then klypto all the coffee for later. Then I noticed where it was that Gerard was taking us. We were stopping at what I was pretty sure was his room.
"Alright..." he said... "Everyone go change in their costumes and meet me in the library Bob found the other day. We can reveal our costumes there." We all agreed on this, and everyone set off to their rooms. Me and Mikey darted into ours, and dug out the costumes we had aquired today. I grabbed my bags from off of my bunk and told Mikey I would go change in the bathroom so that it would be a surprise when we got to the library. He didn't think anything strange of my behavior and heartily agreed, looking excited.
The bathrooms weren't crowded except for a few guys fixing their hair, but no one bothered me for once. I jammed myself and all my stuff into a single stall and squirmed around, trying to climb into my costume. Finally, I had it all on, and I poked my head out of the stall to see who was all there. No one I had ever seen before occupied the bathroom, so I decided to take my chances and step out to assess myself in the full length mirror they had nailed to the wall. And I must say, I looked quite spiffy.
I had chosen a Phantom of the Opera costume, having recently re-watched the movie. I was sporting a simple pair of black skinny jeans that I had already owned, and flowy white man-blouse tucked into them. I also donned a beastly black cape that swished down around my ankles of the hightops I was wearing. And, of course, I had the signature white mask covering half my face. I don't know about you, but I thought it was pretty beastly.
"Whoa, sweet costume, dude." said one of the guys standing at the sinks, brushing his teeth. I grinned at him. One last look in the mirror, and I figured it was time to go meet the rest of them down at the library place. I flew down the hall, brushing past people who were starting to make their way downstairs, finally reaching our little hide-out. I slid the door open, and poked my head in. There, seated at the table was a Mafia gangster right next to The Joker.
Ray (our little gangster) was clad in a black, pinstriped suit with a black bowler hat perched ontop of his head. A cigar was sitting inbetween his lips, emitting a small stream of smoke. His companion (Bob) was wearing a pair of purple skinny jeans and a black longsleeved shirt with a green, button-up vest over the top. He had thrown on a purple trench coat he must have bought today, and had even used temporary color on his hair that colored it that shocking green color. His face was caked with white, Bloody-Mary makeup, and he also had sloppy red lipstick on. I grinned at the pair of them.
"A mafia gangster and the Joker. Never though I'd meet you two here." I said innocently, walking over and plopping into a dusty chair. I grinned.
"Nice costume, youself, Mason." Ray said in an Italian accent, taking a puff from his cigar. I cocked my head to the side.
"Where'd you get that huge ass cigar?" I questioned, knowing he was underage to buy them. Not that that stopped anyone from getting them. Both Maggie and Gerard had somehow obtained countless packs of cigarettes without much noticable trouble. He shrugged.
"Years of going to St. James has taught me that our old history teacher keeps a stash of them in his desk. Didn't take much trouble. The guy's practically blind anyways...He won't notice one missing...Or...three..." I rolled my eyes, never having gotten the appeal for smoking, myself. I was fine that other people did it, but Mag had let me try one once, and it had left a nasty taste in my mouth and made me hack like I had the freaking whooping cough.
The door soon cracked open and Mikey poked his head in. I drew back in confusion when his masked face poked around the corner. He had a thin, black tied mask that had eye holes, but covered a line around them across his face. He had a wide brimmed black hat perched on his head, and a thin Zorro moustach. He was dressed to the nines in beastly black boots with black skinny jeans, and just a plain black longsleeved shirt. Fashioned around his neck was a long, black cape much like mine, and clutched in his black gloved hands was a long, thin sword.
"It is I...Zorro! Come to rescue the damsel in distress!" he said proudly in a Spanish accent, swishing his sword in that signature Z pattern. I snorted.
"You seem to have gotten the wrong room, Zorro...there aren't any damsels in here." Ray said, laughing. I shifted nervously. Haha...of course there were no damsels in here. Where would he get that idea? Mikey looked a bit embarrassed and lowered his sword. "Oh cheer up!" Ray said, countering his previous comment. "I was joking. The costume looks great, man. Very macho." At this, Mikey's face brightened considerably. We chatted for a couple minutes while we waited for Frank and Gerard to show. And we soon got our wish as the door banged open. I felt my jaw hit the floor.
Standing in the door was a completely unrecognizeable person. If not for the stunning hazel eyes, I would never have guess who it was. He was wearing a flashy red dress that shimmered just slightly in the light. It laced up in the bust area with semi-thick red strings, and on the sides in little slits on the hips that showed skin. It went down just a bit above his knees. On his feet were black stiletto heels. He wore a shiny, black wig that fell to his shoulders in thick, luxourious curls. His eyes shimmered with shimmery eyeshadow, and huge fake lashes. Two little white sparkly gems sat in the outer corners of each eye. His lips were ruby red.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen...Whatever are you still doing sitting down? Lady Marmalade has arrived." He placed a delicate hand up to his hair and swished it back. I noticed that his nails sparkled silver over a darker red color. I was first to climb off of my chair.
"Gerard?" I said, stunned as I wobbled towards him.
"Uh-uh-uh..." he said scoldingly, placing a finger to my lips when I was close enough. "For tonight...I am Lady Marmalade." He winked at me, and I started to laugh hysterically. It was just so...just so...I don't even know what it was! Suddenly, I saw Frank pop in through the door Gerard had left open.
"Hey, whose the random chick?" he asked, stepping in. Gerard spun around and stuck out a hand in a fashion that suggested Frank should kiss it.
"Lady Marmalade at your service, dear." Gerard said, his back turned to me so that I couldn't see his facial expression. Frankie looked confused for a minute before catching on to who it was.
"Okay...apparently SOMEONE decided to be a drag queen this year." he said, laughing. He stepped out from behind Gerard and I could finally see his costume. He was evidently dressed as a stereotypical nerd. He had tan slacks that he wore halfway up his stomach. They were held in place by a pair of suspenders. A schnazzy striped tie hung down from the collar of his light blue dress shirt. He had slicked his hair back and now sported a pair of thick, black, nerdy glasses. "Well, hi there." he said in his best nerd voice sticking out a hand to shake mine.
"My god, I don't believe it!" Gerard exclaimed. "Why you've dressed up as Mikey. Who knew they made Mikey costumes?" Everyone started to laugh until Mikey jumped off of the table, his sword drawn. He placed it up to Gerard's glittered neck.
"I wouldn't mess with...Zorro, sweetheart." he said, adopting a Spanish accent for a moment. Everyone "ooooheed" at this joking threat.
"Gerard...er...Lady Marmalade..." I corrected myself, feeling odd now that there were TWO cross dressers in the room. "Shall we depart for the dance? The Phantom doesn't like to be late." I grinned.
"Why we shall, darling." And Gerard slung his arm through mine and we started our way down the hall. Many people stopped to stare as Gerard passed. A few let out wolf-whistles, perhaps not realizing it was a boy. He did look stunning as a woman, I have to admit. But still...now there were TWO cross dressers in the building. It made me feel like laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. The others followed closely behind us, laughing and joking about what a strange group we made. A drag-queen, a nerd, an Italian mafia gangster, the Joker, Zorro, and the Phantom of the Opera. Yup...we had quite a posse.
Down the stairs we descended, proud as we could be in our strange attire, and we came into the entrance hall grandly. Most of the girls from St. Bridget's traveled in packs and stood round in clusters, but a few brave souls had ventured forward to flirt with the boys. A pale girl with dark brown hair that fluttered to her shoulders smiled softly at me as she passed, the smile resonating in her sparkly green eyes. I was a bit taken aback at the rather flirtatious smile before remembering that she would've thought I was a boy. I was going to have to get used to that.
While some people had chosen the anti-costume route, I saw many dressed to nines in all sorts of strange costumes. Many boys had chosen simple masquerade masks and capes, while others went more elaborate with things like vampires and Frankenstein, and I think I even saw a monk running around somewhere. Almost all of the girls were decked out. It was like a giant mess of glitter, high heels, lipstick and hair. Most of them were dressed in girly, cliche costumes like angel's and fairies. As was the fashion for most girls to wear to costume parties, many of them had selected some form of lingerie and a pair of animal ears so that they didn't seem as slutty. They could say there were a mouse when really all that kept them from having a stripper costume was a small pair of plastic ears perched on their heads.
A group of giggling girls passed us, all wearing practically nothing but underwear and some cat or panda ears, maybe complimented by a tail. A couple boys grabbed one of their tails and tugged playfully as they walked by. The girls just laughed, whereas I would've told them to ask Santa for a new pair of balls next Christmas before proceeding to kick them repeatedly exactly there. I leaned over to Gerard and whispered: "You look about a thousand times better than any of these girls." He grinned.
I spotted Clarette standing in the middle of all the chaos next to a woman with red, curly hair. They started herding people out the doors and outside towards wherever it was they were holding this ball thing. I remembered that it was somewhere on the grounds. And then I spotted exactly where it was. A small clearing in the grass had been covered with a temporary dance floor it was surrounded by tall, erect wooden poles that had been strung with brightly lit paper lanterns. A band that consisted of orchaestra type instruments was waiting in a corner of the area. My god, how rich WERE these people, that they could afford stuff like this? Our highschool dances were just us in our dirty gym with an inexperienced DJ.
They even had a table of snacks laid out. Surprisingly, like dinner, these, too, looked edible. No doubt Clarette was behind all of this. She sure knew how to cook up quite some parties! We all stood motionless at the border between grass and dance floor while other students poured onto it and waited for the band to start playing. Then it struck me. What was I supposed to do this whole time? This dance was meant as a socilaizing event so that we could meet girls. And dance with girls, and flirt with girls. I had no real desire to do any of those things.
Then I spotted Eric and his girlfriend dancing in the middle of all of the rest of the spinning couples. The band had started up with some sort of waltz thingy. Now the very last thing I wanted to do was enter into the mayhem. But Frankie pushed me forward. "C'mon..." he said, looking eager to burn off some energy. "It's once a year. We can handle once a year. Find a cute girl to dance with. Flirt...have fun!" And he dissappeared into the crowd. I was left alone. Oh crap. I spotted Ray standing solemnly next to a pretty girl with blonde curls and decided not to bother him. Bob was bashfully asking a red-head to dance across from me, so I couldn't go over to him either. And Mikey and Gerard had wandered off somewhere.
The thought of Gerard dancing with another girl made a bit of jelousy pool in my stomach. I ignored and looked around as calmly as possibly, not quite sure what I was supposed to do now. "Ummm, excuse me?" said a quiet voice behind me. I turned and saw that it was the brunette girl that had smiled at me in the entrance hall before. I looked behind me to see if she was trying to talk to somebody else. But no one else was in the vicinity. I all but groaned. "I just...I couldn't help but notice you earlier in the hall. And I was...wondering...if maybe...you'd like to dance? With me?" I felt my eyes go wide. What was I supposed to say? Maybe I should tell her I was gay. Yeah...she'd believe that. Unfortunately...anyone would believe that. Sigh...
"Of course he'll dance with you!" I heard a familiar voice say. Gerard walked over to us and practically shoved us together. Obviously, his Lady Marmalade personality was a match-maker. Yippie... As I couldn't back out now, I nodded and took her outstretched hand. Okay, Blair...hands on waist. Got it. And we were off, dancing in the crowd. I guess this wasn't so bad. It was just like being drunk or something. Hehe...he...he...
"So, who was that?" the girl asked, obviously referring to the strange drag queen that had just smushed us together.
"Oh, that was just a friend of mine. He's not really a drag queen. I mean...as far as I know." She giggled at my comment. Oh great...and here came the girly side. I seriously hoped I didn't come across like this to guys when I flirted.
"My name's Jenna, by the way." she said, sweetly, smiling at me good-naturedly. I smiled tentatively back.
"Mason..." was I all I said in response. Oh god...now she was expecting me to talk? We spun past Frankie, who was dancing with a small brunette girl. He winked at me. We danced for a few more minutes in awkward silence before Jenna's eyes grew wide and she pointed at something in the direction of the band.
"Hey...isn't that your crossdresser friend?" she asked, looking forwards. I released her and turned around. Sure enough Gerard was up at the front. Alot of people had actually stopped dancing now. Partially because the band kind of sucked, and also because there was a drag queen up front.
"Mmm-mmm...honey." I heard Gerard say, his face close to the microphone as he talked to the head of the band, a friendly looking black man holding a trumpet. "Your band doesn't know how to play worth a dime." The man looked back at his band and seemed to agree with Gerard. The band looked slightly put down by this agreement. "But, not to worry. Lady Marmalade is here to save you. Do I even need to tell you what song to play?" The man grinned, shaking his head and told someone something. They came back moments later wheeling this tiny piano. He raised his trumpet, and cued everyone. Immediately, a song rattled through the dance floor.
It had a familiar, classic ring to it, and I knew I had heard it somewhere before.
"Ooh!" squealed Jenna, clearly excited. "Patti LaBelle's Lady Marmalade. I love this song!" Man...Gerard sure was good at pretending to be a drag queen. It almost made me wonder whether he was really pretending. I laughed as Gerard started to sing.
"He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans. Strutting her stuff on the street! She said, 'Hello, hey, Joe...You wanna give it a go?" Wow...he was pretty good. "Gitchi, gitchi yaya, dada! Gitchi, gitchi yaya here! Mocha-chocolata, yaya! Creole, Lady Marmalade!" Nevermind that...he was awesome! Well...a good singer, but this was too crazy for me. Everything was loud and spinning. I suddenly felt dizzy. But Jenna was too excited to notice that I was slowing down a bit. And Gerard sung on, everyone laughing and dancing.
And the song soon ended. I let out a sigh of relief when everything quieted down a bit and the band prepared for the next song. Of course...with me, nothing can go un-interrupted for long. It was pretty much completely silent in the area until my cell phone picked an untimely time to ring. "I'm a barbie girl! In a barbie world! Laughing plastic! It's fantastic!" I looked at my pocket in complete confusion, and so did everybody else. It was up loud enough that everyone could here it. Thankfully, another song started up. I excused myself to Jenna and walked just to the edge of the floor to answer. It was my mom calling. Chris must have changed the ringtone as a joke, because I sure didn't set it to that.
"Hello?" I picked up, trying to shy a bit away from all the noise. I was at Maggie's cabin...nothing was supposed to be happening.
"Blair Christine Hunter!" My mother's voice said on the other end. Uhoh...she was using the middle name. She only used my middle name when she was mad. "Just what were you thinking, letting your poor mother worry about you for three whole days, not even bothering to call ONCE!" Shit...I had totally forgotten to call her. I had some explaining to do.
"Mom, I'm really sorry. I totally for-" She interrupted my apology in that annoyed tone of hers.
"Oh don't you 'I forgot' me, missy! I've been worried sick about you this whole time. You could have been murdered in your sleep for I all I knew, and I didn't even get a voice message from you? Just what have you been up to this whole time, Blair Hunter? And don't you say nothing." I gulped. This was hardly going the way I expected.
"Mom, I'm sorry. It's just...I forgot to pack my phone charger, and it died up here, so I had to borrow Maggie's and I just got it charged yesterday. I forgot to call, and I'm sorry. But I'm fine, you have nothing to worry about." I tried to calm her and reassure her. I knew she was just worried, but I think she was over-reacting just a TAD. She didn't say anything for a minute, but I heard her take a couple deep breaths.
"Well, I'm glad of that." she finally answered. "But...that's no excuse. I want you to call me tomorrow morning, first thing? And try to at least call me to say goodnight sometimes. I miss you, bug." I sighed. Here she went with her mushy mom routine. But...I would put up with it on account of everything I had put her through.
"Yeah, I love you too, Mom. And I promise to call tomorrow. I won't forget. I'll write it on my hand or stick a post-it to my forehead." She sighed. Thankfully, she was used to me and Mag blaring music everywhere, so she didn't think twice of the loud tunes that were currently echoing everywhere.
"Alright...I guess I'll see you tomorrow, honey. I love you. Ooh!" she suddenly exclaimed, as though afraid of forgetting something. "By the way, Blair, did you pack enough bras, I found on of your-" The rest of her question was cut off because of the very loud conclusion to the song that had been playing.
"What?" I yelled into the phone, trying to hear her over the music.
"I said...Do you have enough bras because-" Again, her voice faded to the music. I groaned.
"What, Mom? I'm having a hard time hearing you!" I was shouting as loud as possible now, the music currently too loud for anyone to hear me talking.
"Bras, Blair! Do you have enough bras?" she said impatiently.
"YES MOM! I PACKED PLENTY OF BRAS!" The music stopped abruptly just as I said this. Everyone turned and gaped at me. I stood stock-still, my eyes wide, and the phone clutched in my hands. They all continued to stare. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Umm...I'll talk to you in the morning, Mom. Pizza's here. Love you...bye." I flipped the phone shut pensively, still just standing there. Even the band was staring open mouthed. "Oh just play your instruments!" I yelled peevishly, turning as they started a song and everybody went back to dancing. I said a quick goodbye to a stunned Jenna, and started to trudge back up to the building. I needed to go be an embarrassed teenage girl for a little bit.
A little while later, I was sprawled out on my bunk. Nobody had come back to the room yet, thank God. Not only was shouting to the world that I had enough bras embarrassing, but it also wasn't exactly normal behavior for a guy. I'd have to think of an excuse. Maybe I could just say I was joking with one of my friends. I mean, sure...I would endure plenty of teasing tomorrow, but at least people like Mikey and Ray, and...Gerard wouldn't think I had been serious. Yeah...I'd say I'd been joking. That was sure to work.
I glanced at the clock. I had probably a good half an hour before anyone got back. Just enough time to get into my pajamas and maybe just fool around in peace for a bit. I jumped off of the bed and sprang to the floor. I grabbed my ipod from my suitcase and plugged it into Mikey's dock, wich I figured he wouldn't mind if I borrowed. What better than some nice Muse while getting changed? I flicked it to an album of their's and let it play while I grabbed my night clothes.
I untied the cape and let it sink to the floor while I pulled off my mask and chucked it on the bed. I tried to figure out how to take off the shirt as the music played on. It felt kind of nice to be alone for a little while. Not having to worry about keeping up with my act as a dude. I started to hum along with the lyrics, enjoying myself immensely. I finally figured the shirt out and pulled it over my head, flinging it off in a random direction, not being much of one to clean and organize. The room would probably be in ruins by the time I left this place.
I shifted uncomfortably, the roll of bandages having become a bit sweaty during the day. I would have to change them. I unclipped the safety-pin holding them in place, and spun the sticky repressants off. I breathed a sigh of relief when they were removed, not used to the free feeling of not suffocating. I relished in my comfortable state, not concerned in the least bit about anything imparticular. Suddenly, the door banged open, no warning and no time to allow me to register what was happening.
"Hey, Mason...where'd you run off-Ahhhhhhh! You have tits! Oh my god you have fucking tits!" Mikey was standing just at the edge of the corner that you turned to get to the beds from the door, wide eyed and gaping. My top half was completely naked, so of course...he could see everything. And something that defintely shouldn't be there under the circumstances he perceived. He flung a hand over his eyes and stumbled backwards, banging into walls and whatever else was in the vicinity, still yelling profanities in surprise and immense confusion.
I screamed too, and wrapped my arms around my torso in attempt to cover myself up.
Oh shit...It felt as though everything had just crumbled to pieces. And...as Mikey had just discovered that I wasn't actually who he thought I had been...It probably had.
A/N: Sorry for the dreadfully long wait for this update. I'm afraid I had just a touch of writers block this week. I took to writing this chapter in rather short bursts instead of being patient enough to just sit down and get it finished. I think it turned out pretty good, despite things, though. A very important chapter, if you couldn't tell (hehe), and one of my signature cliff-hanger endings that I know you all enjoy so much. (Sarcasm there...its funny...try it sometime). Tell me what you thought, please. I like to know where I can improve, and what I should do more of and include and such. On the bright side, this is the longest chapter I've probably EVER written in the history of my short (and most likely, not very valuable or important) career on fanfic. Hope you enjoyed it.
WILL UPDATE SOONER IF YOU REVIEW! Hehe...I have a diabolical mind...Bask in my glory, you slaves! :D