Backfire

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It was a lovely end-of-summer day. The Friday of the first week of my second year in High School. I was waiting for the school bus. The sun shone, the birds were singing, no classes in the afternoon due to try-out for the school teams. Then I turned around.

Sigh! I had implored him, begged him to be sensible but there I could see him coming dressed in a shortish denim skirt.

Eric was a compulsive prankster. Usually great fun to be with. Since both his parents worked he had more or less grown up in my house. Ever since my family had moved into the house next to his eleven years ago we had been inseparable. His quick mind had got us into uncountable scrapes, and out of nearly as many. The fact that he was a waif-like shrimp had never slowed him down. We played on the same little league team. He was a terrible player but did wonders for our morale. Everyone liked him. In Middle School the bullies tried to get to him but since he was a friend of the biggest and strongest kid in the grade, me, they soon stayed away.

He really was great fun to be with but his pranks sometimes got a little bit too far and/or wearisome. In particular some of the girls had grown tired of him. I think he targeted them a bit extra because they were so obviously dismissive of the little runt. However, everyone, absolutely everyone, expected him to turn up dressed in a skirt or dress that day. A new gender neutral dress code came into effect that day. The only question was whether he’d come as a boy-in-a-skirt or something over-the-top. Well, despite the length of the skirt it appeared he’d chosen the boy-in-a-skirt option.

In school it was obvious the teachers had been told to make nothing of him. The kids were mostly taking the same approach except some of the in-crowd girls that kept complementing him on his skirt. He kind of was disappointed by the lack attention.

At the beginning of second period one of the really popular senior girls came into our classroom with a note from the principal. It turned out that the girls in beauty class wanted Eric as guinea-pig for their class. With a little bit of fluttering eye-lashes the beautiful girl got the poor sucker to agree and they left.

Walking to the next class I couldn’t see him. Ten minutes into class he came crashing into the room. He closed and locked the door. He was not the same boy I had seen an hour ago. The denim skirt had been replaced by an equally short very nice black A-line skirt. His legs had been shaved and now sported thin black pantyhose. Instead of sneakers he now wore patent leather shoes with a small but noticeable heel. The soft white blouse was new as well. The girls had done wonders with the make-up and his shoulder-length hair. He really was very pretty. If he’d really been a girl I’d have said beautiful. The teacher pointedly ignored him and continued the class. Eric sat down next to me.

- The girls are crazy! Please protect me! They told me this is only the beginning. Don’t leave me for a second.

Leaving the class-room some of the nastier bullies were waiting for him. OK, so I’m big and strong and was trying out for the JV foot-ball team that afternoon but no way I could match those three seniors.

Luckily the varsity QB happened to pass just as things were beginning to get really unpleasant. Tom is the undisputed alpha male of the school. As a junior he took over as varsity QB in the spring when the old one got seriously hurt. He led the team to a series of wins. However, he’s not likely to go to university on a foot-ball scholarship. Not with his grades! On top of this he’s a genuinely nice guy that couldn’t stand bullying. He really was a kind of idol to me. The only thing was that he’s never dated any girl, or for that matter any boy. We all assumed he was too committed to his studies. No matter. After a short “conversation” with the bullies he took Eric to the cafeteria to make sure that he wouldn’t have any further problems. They sat at table in the corner and talked the whole lunch break.

As soon as Tom left the girls pounced on Eric. Since I really saw no harm in it and since he had been a kind of a pain in the ass lately I let them drag him away. They solemnly swore that he’d come to no harm and suggested that I should watch the cheerleading try-outs.

Fortunately the cheerleader tryouts was after the JV football tryouts so I was just in time to see the last half . Most of the girls were really pretty in their leotards jumping around and doing their moves. Some of them talented as well. Then the last applicant was pushed out into the gym: Eric. He really looked very, very cute in that shimmery high cut leotard that really set of a pair of legs that I hadn’t realized before were quite amazing. For a while he just stood there but then the prankster in him got the better of him and he started doing an exaggerated, extra-feminine version of what a boy would like a cheerleader to look like. As he got going he really got into it. I had to remind myself that he was Eric and not a girl to stop myself drooling. At the end we all applauded.

Well, he got accepted!

Sitting in the bus back Eric was kind of absent. Really pretty in the black skirt and white soft blouse, and those amazing legs in the black pantyhose, he clasped the consent form for cheerleading, and corresponding change of PE class.

I nudged him.

- So have you learned your lesson not to mess with the girls so much? And why have you kept those
consent forms? You aren’t going to be a cheerleader, are you?

and adding in a sarcastic tone

- Or are you thinking about your gay boyfriend?

Coming back to reality Eric responded

- Oh, Tom isn’t gay. He’s bisexual. It’s just that he can stand the way the girls are pushing themselves on him. Besides he hasn’t found anyone that shares his love of ballet. In fact he had a spare ticket for the Nutcracker tonight so he asked me to come. That reminds me. Do you think your mother could take us to the mall? Tom is taking me to this really fancy restaurant first and I have absolutely nothing to wear!

For some strange reason all of a sudden I no longer liked Tom.

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Comments

surprise!

I expected a pun and got left trying to figure out exactly what was going on- darn you Bru! Just when I thought I had you figured out you throw us a story that breaks with your trend! How dare you make us think and figure out if Eric was being a smartass and trying to pull one over on the girls or if he was serious and whether there was actual feelings of jealousy or concern from our unnamed and ungenderered narrator!

Outstanding as usual Bru, always testing our limits and keeping us on our toes!

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

Well, I did worry ...

... that I was getting too predictable :)
Thank you efindumb. I always appreciate your comments.

Ungenderered Narrator?

Daphne Xu's picture

I suppose technically, it's possible that the narrator could be female, but everything I caught was consistent with male and he sounds male.

I liked the story. It was a nice, friendly, simple story. I was looking for the pun or the twist at the end, but it seems to have gone over my head. Maybe the insult backfire, or rhetorical-question backfire right near the end? Narrator called Tom Eric's boyfriend, and Eric fully confirmed that? Maybe Tom's passion for ballet, which struck me only as unusual, not as a twist.

Narrator didn't like Tom any more? Maybe because Narrator wanted Eric for himself, once Eric showed himself as a very plausible cute girl?

This passage did confuse me, about Tom's not going to University on a football scholarship: "Not with his grades! On top of this he’s a genuinely nice guy that couldn’t stand bullying. He really was a kind of idol to me. The only thing was that he’s never dated any girl, or for that matter any boy. We all assumed he was too committed to his studies." Presumably his grades were too good for a football scholarship?

A well, maybe it will hit me at some point.

Thanks for the story!

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Not ALL my stories have a very pronounced twist or pun.

Of course I only do that to keep you on your toes. Once or twice I have also thrown into a story something I haven't really figured out myself just to see what the reader make out of it (and if you belive that I have this really great bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn that I can sell to you).

Another of the many vices I have is not always stating everything clearly and instead implying it. I foresee an academic career for Tom rather than as a professional football player (whether that is wise or not is another matter).

The person finding himself most confused by the day and his feelings most likely wasn't Eric or Tom but the Narrator.

Nice Story!

I love it. You had me laughing through that one. And I love the twist at the end. :)

Hugs,
Erin of Wis <3

I promised I WOULD NOT read his stories

BarbieLee's picture

I can't help it, I'm weak. I was going to sneak a peek and never tail..., tell. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. True to Bru form this story bounces around inside the head as one tries to make heads and tails out of it. Where in the world is Bru leading us? Devious as his mind works or does it work? We are caught up in his-her web of deception and false leads. I give up. Let me out of this story. And then typical Bru the end jumps up and smacks us like a dead end tunnel. Arrrrrg! I am NEVER EVER going to read another Bru story. I'm strong, I can do this..., maybe....
always
Barb

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Sounds Familiar

Daphne Xu's picture

The sentiment -- and the trap -- sound quite familiar.

There's this interview with FIM-Fiction author Horse Voice: http://ponyfictionvault.blogspot.com/2013/07/horse-voices-wr.... In particular, consider his answer to the question, "How did you discover My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? When did you realize you were a fan of the show?"

It begins with, "I promised myself I wouldn't start watching, since everyone who tried it seemed to get addicted." But then he found a crossover fanfiction with a franchise that he liked, and so he read the story. "I had to start watching [`My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'] to understand it. At first, I was only modestly amused when I wasn't annoyed, and intended to only watch enough to understand `Thessalonica'." But then his mind began thinking about what he'd watched, and wondering what would happen next.

He concludes: "They get under your skin, man, and then they've got you."

BTW, his FIM-Fiction story, "The Writing on the Wall" is quite interesting. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/42409/the-writing-on-the-wall

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Nothing to wear

Jamie Lee's picture

I was smirking throughout the entire story. It was great.

When the senior girl got Eric out of class, and then he comes running back into class, shuts and locks the door, and he was dressed by those girls, I thought they were paying him back for being such a pill.

But no, not pay back, nudging him in the direction they saw in him. And the last of the story confirmed it.

Great story.

Others have feelings too.

I wrote a story called Backfire

Angharad's picture

It was in 2013 it is a very different story and in two parts.

Angharad

Sorry for using the same name but

the problems with naming stories is that there are so many stories and the best titles are already taken. That's the reason I don't do a thourough search to see if a title is already used or not. Given the distance in time and the fact that two writers with very different styles are involved there shouldn't be that high a risk of confusion.

FYI I own five different books titled "Edge of Empire" and another seven with minor variations such as At the Edge of Empire (two different), On the Edge of Empire, The Edge of Empires ...

Fortunately

Daphne Xu's picture

Titles aren't copyrighted, and usually aren't trademarked. At least one of my stories shares a name with another story, "The Bridge".

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.