Chapter 3: Cross-Dressers Ball
As Kallen walked through the halls of Ashford Academy, she overheard whispers of the upcoming cross-dressers ball, some students, mostly the boys, were planning on avoiding the ball all together, stating it was, "Unbecoming of Britannian royalty", while the girls weren't as shameful, after all, Milly Ashford promised them that Lelouch would be there. Obviously, this information got to the boys as well, but it only changed some of their minds, with their reasoning being, "Oh, well, if there's another guy there, I'll feel less embarrassed."
Of course, Kallen knew that wasn't the only reason, after all, he was the boy practically every girl in the school was fawning over, so how could they resist the opportunity to see him in such a humiliating position? "God, I forgot how opportunistic Britannians could be. And to think about what they'd do for more power. It's a good thing that Lelouch abolished the Aristocracy once he became Emperor." she thought while walking down the halls.
Once the red head reached her class, she noticed the absence of a certain raven-haired individual, "looks like the information got to him too…" she remarked before taking a seat
"Hey Kallen," a voice called from behind
It was Shirley, and she was looking worse for ware; it was obvious she hadn't slept last night, since there were prominent dark bags under her eyes, "What happened to you?" the red head asked.
"Nothing much," she responded while stifling a yawn, "Milly just kept me up last night is all"
Kallen continued to watch as Shirley swayed back and forth, using a desk to keep her upright, "Hey, are you gonna be okay?" she asked with concern
"Yeah, it'll be fine, I just have to…" she yawned, "Make it to the Student Council room, then I'll be able to take a quick nap…"
Before the red head could question any further, the bell rang, signalling for everyone to get in their seats.
The day practically flew by, with nothing notable really happening, unless you count Rivalz suddenly rushing out of class after taking a phone call, then everything seemed normal.
Once the final bell rang, students began to back up, hoping to go home and prepare for tomorrow, however, her day was hardly over as evident with Milly barging into the classroom, and dragging the red head into the Student Council Room, where Shirley, who had taken the rest of the day after the first period to rest, was waiting, fully rested with a beaming smile.
"Okay, Kallen, I've picked out a few suits that I think would look great on you!" Milly explained while rolling out a rack of suits, "Just take your pick, then we'll get ready in an hour!"
Something was wrong.
"Aren't you worried?" the red head asked, "I mean, Lelouch didn't show up today, and…"
The blonde suddenly let out a boisterous laugh, "Oh, don't worry about that, I've got everything covered! With my plan, Lelouch is practically already captured!"
"Captured?" Kallen thought, "I highly doubt Lelouch would get captured so easily… then again, this is Milly after all…" she then remembered back to the time when the President offered up a kiss from a Student Council Member as a reward for capturing Arthur.
"Now, as I was saying," Milly continued, "These suits all look terrific, but I really think this one suits you best, no?" she pulled out a red suit, and put it against Kallen's body, "What do you think, Shirley?"
The orange haired girl simply nodded in response, prompting a devious grin to creep onto the President's face, "Aw… don't tell me you're worried about Lulu."
"Why would she be worried about Lelouch?" Kallen asked while Milly shoved the suit into her hands.
"Well, that's because we have another reason for calling you here," Shirley said while twiddling her thumbs, "It… has something to do with Lelouch." her smile was almost gone as she turned to Milly, "I think it's better if Madam President actually explains it…"
"Listen, we need you to ask Lelouch to a waltz," the blonde explained calmly while sifting through suits
"What!?" Kallen exclaimed with a blush, "Why me?"
"That's easy," Milly responded while picking out an orange suit, "Shirley's too shy to ask Lelouch to one, and Nina doesn't know how to waltz; I also can't ask Rivalz because I've already got him doing something else."
"What about you?"
Milly chuckled while pulling out a tuxedo from the rack, "I'd rather watch the show, than be a part of it, y'know?"
"What does that even mean?"
The blonde put a hand on her chin, "It's like…" then responded after a minute, "I'd rather watch someone do parkour, than actually do it myself. Or, maybe, it's like I'd rather read a book, than actually write it myself."
"Oh… I get it…" Kallen muttered, before asking, "Wait, how am I supposed to get him to agree to a waltz?"
"I don't know, figure it out!" Milly responded, "Strike a deal or something, but be careful, the guy's a cut-throat negotiator. If he realizes he's not getting something out of a deal, he'll pull out immediately. So make it one he can't refuse!"
The plan sounded simple, but this was Lelouch we're talking about, there's no way he would fall for something so… "Wait! What do I get out of this!?" the red head shouted
"A waltz with Lelouch, duh."
"That's not a prize!"
"Oh my, how bold… most girls would jump at the opportunity."
"No, I mean-you can't offer up the requirements for a deal as a prize!"
Milly sighed, "Fine, I'll think of something later, just… get Lelouch to waltz."
Just before the red head could respond, the President's phone rang, prompting her to immediately answer it, "Hello? Really!? Then we'll be there in 30, just keep him still!"
"Get changed, girls, it's showtime! You've got 30 minutes" the blonde shouted while grabbing a tuxedo off the rack.
"No, Milly, I'm not going to ask Lelouch to a waltz for nothing!" Kallen said, trying to bring the conversation back while the aforementioned began changing.
"You know… you say it's not a prize, yet you're still blushing at the thought of asking Lelouch to a waltz," Milly teased, trying to divert the conversation's topic.
Unfortunately for Kallen's flustered state, she couldn't see the attempt, and fell right for it, "I'm not-that's not the reason for-"
"If that's not the reason for your blush, then just ask him. Prove that it's not a prize." the blonde said, finalizing the challenge.
And just like a bull seeing red, Kallen fell for the provocation once again, "Fine then, I'll do it!"
After 30 minutes, the three girls arrived at the clubhouse, each donning different colored outfits that matched their hair. Kallen wore a deep red suit with matching pants and black dress shoes, and completed it with a white dress shirt underneath.
Meanwhile, Shirley wore a bright orange suit with matching pants and followed her friend's example by wearing black dress shoes, alongside a white dress shirt.
Milly, on the other hand, wasn't wearing a suit, instead, she opted for a black tuxedo with prominent dark yellow accents in the center; her pants also shared the same design, except the yellow was only on the side of her legs. She also wore black dress shoes, with a white undershirt.
None of the girls chose to wear ties, as they didn't actually know how to tie them properly.
Upon entering the clubhouse, it was immediately apparent that there weren't half as many boys as there were girls, however, the boys that did show up did dress up properly, donning various styles of feminine attire, but it was clear that most of them were uncomfortable showing off such skin in public. Of course, the girls weren't as shameful, as their suits nearly left their entire body covered in cloth, while looking stylish at the same time, "Wow, everyone looks great!" Milly announced, "And boys, those dresses don't look half bad on you either!"
Her teasing caused every boy to look down with deep blushes on their faces, "Oh hey, Nina's here!" Shirley said as he green-haired friend approached, "You look so good!"
Nina was currently wearing a suit that was almost identical to Shirley's, however, hers was a deep green, "Th-thank you…" she responded bashfully
"Well… there aren't as many people as I hoped would show up," Milly muttered while looking at a desolate part of the room.
"I'd say that it's better this way," Kallen added, "After all, we don't want to flood the room."
The blonde shrugged, "I guess you're right. That just means more food for us then!" then she lowered her voice for the last bit, "And better yet, we still have the main attraction…"
Kallen barely caught onto the last bit, before an abhorrent sound came from the main stairwell of the hall; it was Rivalz, who was dressed in a fifties-style blue dress, blowing into a trumpet. To say his performance brought everyone's attention would be an understatement, as almost everyone immediately shot him a death glare for disturbing their fun with such an ear wrenching sound, but those looks quickly dissipated as Milly rushed up the stairs and Rivalz retreated into one of the second floors rooms.
"Attention everyone! I would like to thank you all for coming to the Ashford Academy Cross-Dressers Ball; now don't be fooled, as this Ball is to celebrate our guest of honor, Kallen Stadtfeld, being inducted into the Student Council," Milly said before clapping, causing the rest of the room to follow suit, "Finally, we have one more event, and that's a fashion contest! And our judge will be none other than our guest of honor!"
Kallen sighed in disappointment as the President explained the prize, "Even though I knew she was going to do this, it's still such a pain…"
"But that's not all, as our very own Vice-President has volunteered to participate!"
"Highly doubt he said that…" the red head thought while walking over to a long table that was covered in white cloth and various concessions.
"Okay, Rivalz, bring him out!" the blonde shouted
Just then, the door to one of the rooms opened, and the sounds of a struggle could be heard from below, "Sorry Lelouch, President's orders," Rivalz said while dragging the raven-haired boy down the stairs
Those words caused the guest of honor to jerk her head back to Milly, "Wait, they caught him!?"
"Hey-Let me go! You traitor-" the voice of Lelouch bellowed as he was brought to the first floor, where his dress was on full display for everyone to see.
The exiled Prince wore a deep blue dress, with white puffy shoulders, and dark green accents at the bottom. Surprisingly, Lelouch also had a wig on, this wig was black, and easily passed his shoulders, flowing down his back, and stopping just before it reached his hips. As for his shoes, he wore white stockings with black high heels, which he struggled to stand in.
Milly and Rivalz sat the boy in a chair and left him to mingle with the rest of the party goers; of course, this humiliation didn't go unnoticed by the boys, as some pulled out their phones, and began taking pictures of the embarrassed Prince.
"Damn… this is really a problem…" the Prince thought, "I can take care of everyone else's photos… but if I win this fashion contest, there's no way Milly's gonna let me get rid of those… I need a plan."
Meanwhile, after a few minutes of snickering, Kallen was finally able to compose herself, and approach the maiden in peril, "Hello there, what brings you to this event, fair lady?" the red head jest
"Very funny…" Lelouch muttered sarcastically
"If you don't mind me asking; do you mind telling me how they caught you?"
"Well, this morning I tried to sneak out through the service tunnels, but to my surprise, the entire football team was waiting for me down there, thus a chase ensued with me being eventually captured, and taken back to Ashford."
"Is that why Rivalz ran out this morning?" Kallen asked, directing her attention to the blue haired boy.
"Yeah, my buddy sold me out. And it was even after I made him promise not to tell anyone."
"It sounds like you need a new buddy. What were you doing down there anyway?"
"I was planning on leaving Ashford to hide in the settlement until this all blows over," Lelouch lied
The red head scanned the party goers until her eyes landed on Milly, who gave her a wink, causing her to sigh, "Hopefully, he'll just reject me, so I can go on my way."
"Hey, Lelouch. Would you like to… to…" she struggled to get the words out, but eventually asked, "to waltz with me?"
The raven-haired boy was of course amused by this question, "Oh yeah? What brought this along?"
"You can say no, you know!" Kallen shouted in embarrassment
"No…" Lelouch thought, "This is actually perfect…"
"What do I get out of it?" he asked
The red head frowned, any hope of him just outright denying her had just been thrown out the window, "Great. Now I have to think of something here…" she thought while scratched her head, "This really isn't the way I wanted this to go, but if I get it this way, then I suppose it'll all be good."
"How about this, I won't choose you as the winner for the Ball," a smile quickly made its way onto the boy's face, but faded away after the next sentence, "however, you'll also have to owe me a favor"
"Owing favors isn't something I want right now…" Lelouch thought, before saying, "Tempting offer, but I'll have you know, me agreeing to this waltz, is merely a formality. Because if I get chosen as the winner, I already have a plan in the works that'll allow me to delete the President's photos. So tell me, what do I get out of this?"
It was a blatant lie, a terrible one that could easily be disproven if anyone knew Milly's tendencies, and luckily for Kallen, she already spent plenty of time with the blonde in her past life to know this was a lie, "Bullshit." she claimed boldly, "I know very well that Milly won't just let those pictures go so easily. By the time you get to deleting them, she'll have already made hundreds of copies."
"Crap, she's not as dumb as everyone else," Lelouch mused, "I'll have to come up with something else…"
Just as he finished that thought, the red head followed up, "Besides, you have this the wrong way around. Me asking you to this dance is a formality, because no matter what, Milly will get her pictures; but that's not all. You see, the President offered me a deal," she was currently lying, Milly made no such promise, but Lelouch didn't need to know this, "If I choose you as the winner of the ball, then I'll get a favor from her. I'm only trying to save you the embarrassment of being plastered in the yearbook here."
"She's trying to psych me out by showing what the other parties offering," the Prince thought, "it's a classic strategy, trying to get me to rush headlong into a deal I'm not happy with, just because of urgency." then, he smiled internally, "However… there is one downside to this…"
"Well, Ms. Stadtfeld," he started, "Let me ask you this: Why are you trying to make a weaker deal with me, if you've already got a better offer? After all, what can I, the lowly Vice-President, do for you that the President herself can't?"
This was Lelouch's last ditch effort to go on the offense, as after having her purpose questioned, it would leave Kallen vulnerable to a counteroffer produced by the Prince. This strategy was high risk, and Lelouch knew it; he was banking on the red head's competitive nature to keep her from backing out. Fortunately, the strategy did work, but only for a second, as those words reminded Kallen of what Milly said earlier, "But be careful. The guy's a cutthroat negotiator. If he realizes he's not getting something out of the deal, he'll back out."
"Calm down, Kallen," the girl told herself, "I'm still in control here…"
She then faced the Prince, with a look of determination, making him shudder slightly, "You're right. I have no idea why I'm trying to strike a deal with you in the first place. Have a good day, Mr. Lamprouge." she said before turning heel, slowly walking away, making sure the soles of her shoes echoed loud enough for her opponent to hear.
"Wait… she's not really leaving, right?" Lelouch thought as the sound grew louder, "No way, she's actually leaving!? How could my plan backfire so much?" another step rung out, "She's bluffing, there's no way," then another, "She'll turn around, I know it." and another.
The pressure finally got to Lelouch, causing him to call out, "Wait!"
Luckily for him, his voice was drowned out by the conversations of others, however, it was just loud enough to reach the red head's ears, causing her to stop in her tracks, "Good." she said while turning around, with her hand outstretched, "Then may we waltz?"
"You better keep your end of the bargain," the boy muttered while shakily getting up, and walking over to the girl, stumbling slightly.
"Don't worry, I keep my promises, unlike a certain buddy"
"Aren't you concerned about the rumors that would spread about us?"
It was a pitiful last ditch attempt to sway Kallen's resolve, but it fell short regardless, as she had already convinced herself she was in control of the situation, "I don't care. They don't know what I'm getting out of this."
Lelouch looked down in defeat, before taking the girl's hand, and carefully walking to the center of the room, making sure his feet were planted firmly with each step, as the heels continued to constrict his movement. Once they reached the center, Kallen assumed the position a man would normally have in a waltz, forcing Lelouch to take the female position, "Damn it, this is still embarrassing," the boy thought as they began a slow waltz, attracting the attention of everyone in the hall.
"Think of this as payback for what you've done to me in the past," Kallen thought after seeing the embarrassment on her dance partners face.
The waltz continued without music, background chatter began to slowly faded away, replaced by the sound of their shoes on the freshly waxed floor, making satisfying taping sounds with each step.
While Kallen was surprisingly enjoying the intimacy, Lelouch was sweating bullets, desperately praying for the dance to end, however, even he knew what had to be done for this hell to end. The red head smiled, as she sensed it too; after raising the boy's left hand over his head, Kallen spun him around once, then swiftly brought him back into her arms, and leaned forward, causing Lelouch to lean backwards in turn.
As the boy leaned back, he could feel the bones in his back cracking the lower he went, they only stopped once Lelouch was far back enough to see both Milly and Rivalz, who were barely holding in their laughter; however, there was another brown-haired girl standing… or rather, sitting next to the duo, the girl was wearing a black suit while sitting in a motorized wheelchair, and had her eyes closed with the biggest of grins as Milly explained what was going on to her.
A massive blush of embarrassment overcame Lelouch's face as he prayed even harder for the dance to end. And as if God was listening, Kallen finally brought her partner back up, and separated, ending their waltz.
"How humiliating…" Lelouch thought while shakily walking back to his chair, hearing the boys whistling at him like he was some girl in the 1980s. But, just as he was about to reach his chair, the boy took one wrong step, and fell head first toward the ground, however, in the knick of time, Kallen firmly grabbed his arm, saving him from impending doom, "Thank you…" he whispered as his new 'friend' helped him to his chair.
"What was that?" Shirley thought as she watched Kallen held back her laughter while setting Lelouch down, "How did she get Lulu to dance with her?"
"You better keep up your end of the deal…" Lelouch reiterated as Milly wheeled over the brown-haired girl.
"Don't worry, I keep my promises~" Kallen sung with a teasing smile while her back was turned to the approaching group
"Lelouch~" the President's voice rang, "You had some moves despite being in six-inch heels, or is Kallen just that good of a dancer?"
"Hi Nunally," the boy responded, ignoring Milly and turning his attention to the girl in the wheelchair, "I didn't know you were participating in the ball. You look good in that suit, by the way."
His innocent little sister smiled and said, "Thank you. I had Sayoko help me pick it out."
"Oh, sorry Kallen, you must be confused." Milly interjected, then teased, "This is Nunally, Lelouch's little sister; and don't worry, she's not going to steal him away from you."
This statement caused both Lelouch and Kallen to develop a deep blush, matching the red head's hair, "It's not like that at all!" they shouted simultaneously, but only one thought, "Not yet at least…"
It was only a faint thought, but deep in Kallen's heart, she still wanted their relationship to work out, even if she has to start from the beginning. So while her main priority is keeping Lelouch from going down the same path as before, she's still holding out hope for something more.
That's when Milly let out a loud cackle, and followed up by saying, "Oh look at you two, you're already in sync!"
"Madam President!" Rivalz shouted, "I've got the photos you wanted."
The blue haired boy now held out a canon camera that had a giant lens, bringing a devious smile onto Milly's face, "Oh good! Let's see here…" she said while taking the camera, and cycling through each photo, "Ah, that's a good one! Oh, and this one too!"
Kallen looked over the blonde's shoulder and caught a glimpse of pictures, one was of Lelouch when he was dipping during their waltz, the next was of Lelouch being escorted down the stairs in his dress, and another was of Lelouch… wait a minute. "Are you only taking pictures of Lelouch!?" the red head exclaimed, confronting the blonde as she desperately hid the camera
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. You won't know until the yearbook rolls out!" suddenly, Lelouch lunged for the camera, only to fall flat on his face as Milly dodged his poor attempt, "Oh good, another picture!" she said while snapping another photo of the raven-haired boy.
"Speaking of the yearbook…" the blonde continued before running up the stairs while Kallen helped Lelouch up once again, "Can I please have your attention everyone!? Thank you. It's now time to decide the winner of the Cross-Dresser Ball; Kallen, will you please join me to announce the winner?"
The red head nodded, and after setting Lelouch down in a chair, she joined Milly at the top of the stairs, "Obviously, I can't choose Lelouch if I want to complete our deal, and gain a bit of trust from him, but who do I choose? It'd make sense if I chose Milly, however, I feel like if I choose her, she'll just embrace the roll instead of being embarrassed by it. Perhaps the best way to get at her, is to strike her allies," Kallen thought before coming to a stop next to the blonde, "Not only that, but by choosing this person, I'll also get revenge for Lelouch."
"The winner of the Cross-Dressers Ball is… Rivalz Cardemonde!" she announced in her innocent, and weak Stadtfeld tone.