Part 5

At another shop, my denim skirt was replaced by a lovely, pleated skirt in a colour that Sandra told me was light tan. When I stood still, it looked straight, but flared out as I walked. I added another couple as we dived in and out of the shops. We had lunch at Macca’s and then went back to the bus on the other side of the road.

I told Claire that I wanted to go into a jewellers and she kept the group busy, a couple of shops further on, while I bought a couple of earrings for myself and a friendship ring for Sandra. When we re-joined the group, I was finding that the weight of the hoops in my ears knocked against my neck in a most intoxicating way, while the feel of the new skirt and top were totally girl.

It didn’t strike me, at first, but as we got to the bus, I saw Jan wearing a new top and skirt, both items something I had looked at and passed over. On the way back to Honiton, the three of us were kept busy signing the picture in the magazine. I noticed that Angelica was signing over her picture as Angel, while the two of us were Jan and Luce. The girls who had only found out about our weekend escapade today had a lot of questions about the rest of the band, and we all just told them that they were all lovely people.

Any reservations I had about being in a bunch of teenage girls were blown away by the time we got back to Honiton. There was a line of vehicles waiting for us as we got off the bus. Everyone hugged everyone else, even Sandra was included. When we hugged, she kissed my cheek and whispered that she would ring me, at home, in the morning. When Mum saw us, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“You two are amazing. I expected Angelica to come back looking like a princess, but the two of you have gone to the next level. Lucinda, that outfit is funky, yet elegant. Janet, that looks so good on you, as well as being totally girly. Angelica, what can I say, that new dress is stunning, but don’t you think it’s a bit short?”

We got in the Cruiser and Angelica talked about her time in Exeter, then dropped the bombshell.

“Lucinda has a girlfriend, Mum; that Sandra that went to the school dance with her. I’ve always been told that she was a bit odd, lately. Something to do with not liking boys. I expect that she went to the dance with Tom because he’s a good dancer and totally neutral in the gorilla department.”

“Just hold it, Sister. She went to the dance because we sat near each other in some classes and worked together in science. She told me, today, that she had been put off by those gorillas that you mentioned, while I had always been friendly. Anyway, she’s going to ring me tomorrow, and if she wants me to go out with her, then I will, if Mum says it’s all right.”

“I think I know her. Isn’t her sister in your year, Angelica?”

“Yes, she is. And I think that she’s the source of the rumours, she can get a bit catty if she doesn’t get her way, and Sandra is growing to be the prettier of the two of them.”

At home, after tea, we all had to model our purchases. Angelica had bought well, with a couple of outfits that accentuated her hair colour and youthful prettiness. Jan had bought a few items that I had looked at but had walked away from, as being little girly. My items were plainer than the other two, but in styles and colours that I thought suited me, for both my looks as well as my outlook on life. I was the only one who had bought jewellery, and Mum commented on my new earrings.

We took our things through to the hut and hung them away. We were starting to run out of hanging space. When we had cleaned our faces and were in our nighties and dressing gowns, Jan put her hand on my shoulder.

“Now, sister of mine. What’s up between you and Sandra. One of the other girls told me that she’s becoming a lesbian, so why would she be pashing you in the change room. I noticed that you’d both redone your lipstick when you came out, and she went home wearing your tour shirt.”

“I don’t know, Jan. She does like me, even as Tom, and we have been friends for most of the last school year. We talk as we work together, and she told me that she enjoyed dancing with me. Today, if she likes girls, then I must have fitted the bill, I’ve had a couple of kisses that you could only dream about. You didn’t seem to mix with any one girl, weren’t there any that you particularly liked?”

“Lucinda, the only problem I have with them is that they’re all girls. I was looking at some of the guys we saw on the High Street. There were a couple I fancied. I think I’m going over to the other side more than you. Anyway, let’s get some sleep, another day tomorrow. I wonder what Cleo thought of that picture in the magazine. I suppose any news is good news.”

I went to sleep thinking about the day, especially the kisses Sandra had given me. I had a strange dream and woke up, in the morning, with a stiff willie, my first woodie! I sat on the toilet and waited for it to wilt, so that I could pee. It shook me to my core. After just a couple of weeks in dresses, was I finally getting puberty? Will my voice break so that I can’t sing?

Mum commented on how quiet I was at breakfast, and I just told her that I was thinking about what we may do for the show, next year. It wasn’t far from the truth, but I was thinking about it as a duet with me looking on. When the phone rang, it was a welcome distraction. Sandra told me that she really enjoyed her day out and thanked me for the tour shirt. She then asked me if I could go over to her home and help out with the bees, seeing that I always asked about them. Her sister would be going down the coast with a few of her friends and her mother wanted to have a talk, over lunch. I asked Mum and she said that she would drive me over, but I told her that I could use my cycle, as Sandra lived on the other side of Higher Wambrook, just up the road. She told me that I had better take Angelica’s, as she was one of the crowd going to the coast.

That allowed me to wear a skirt, which I was happier about, seeing that I was having lunch with Sandra’s mother. I made sure I had everything I needed and slung the shoulder bag over my head and cycled off to see my girlfriend. Now that was a bit different. What was more different was that I was leaving Jan behind, to help Mum around the house. She had told me that it was something she felt that she had to do, to totally embrace her new personality.

I knew where Sandra lived, because she got off the school bus there, with Brenda. I rode in through the gate and saw an older style of farmhouse, with a conservatory off to one side. There was a picket fence which I leaned the cycle against, and I went to the front door and knocked. After a few moments, a lady opened it and welcomed me in. It took me a couple of moments to remember where I had seen her, and then it hit me. She was Miss Harris, who taught the girls physical exercise at the school.

“Hello, Miss Harris, I’m Lucinda Gaynor, and I’ve come to help Sandra with the bees.”

“Welcome, Lucinda. Sandra will be just a minute. I must say that you look lovely, that photo in the magazine was hard to pick you out from that mass of colour. You’re going to have to tell me how Tom, the boy my daughter went to a dance with, is now standing in front of me as a teenage girl. Sandra did try to explain it, but it sounded like a fantastic dream sequence.

“It felt like it, to me, at the time, but it all seemed to just happen. Lucy and Janine were supposed to be on stage with Angelica, but everything just blew up. I did have a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work.”

“How long were you on stage, and how did you feel, afterwards?”

“Our first show was about forty-five minutes, and we moved around a bit, so we were all tired after that. Being out in front of a crowd was draining. The second show was the same, but we did feel a bit better after that one. The show we did on Saturday was close to ninety minutes, and we had gone through the whole thing twice on Saturday afternoon. We needed hydration after that one.”

Sandra came into the hallway and came up to me to give me a hug.

“Come on, Luce, the bees are getting restless.”

Her mother smiled and watched us as I was led through the house. We went to a change room where I had to take off my skirt to put on a beekeeper overall, adding the netted helmet. Then Sandra took me out the back of the house. The hives were along a fence, some distance off, and my job, when we got there, was to wave a smoke pot over the hives as Sandra lifted the racks out. We worked along the row of hives, harvesting honey, and I found it to be educational, if a little scary with bees sitting on my arms.

When she had enough honey, we took it back inside, where we removed the helmets and coveralls. Before I could put my skirt back on, Sandra gave me one of those wonderful kisses.

“That’s for being such a good friend, Luce. None of the other girls have been brave enough to work with the bees. It provides our pocket money, but Brenda won’t spend a minute out there. Now, get dressed and we’ll have something to eat.”

I put my skirt on and made sure that I was properly dressed, then we went into the house and through to the kitchen, where the conservatory had extended the room to be a beautiful place. Her mother was already setting out some sandwiches and crockery. She smiled at us.

“So, Sandy, you’ve found someone who isn’t afraid of bees, then?”

“Yes, Mum, I think that Luce is a superwoman, able to do anything she wants.”

We sat at the table, and, between bites, I was able to relate the story in a manner that Miss Harris was able to follow.

“That was quite an experience, there. I know why you felt so drained. Entertaining is hard, but dancing makes it harder. As you know, I teach gym to the girls. We always have a stretch session before we do anything hard, and we always have a cool-down session after. I doubt that you did either of these. What you need, if you want to keep singing, is to get a fitness regime that doesn’t take long, but keeps you supple. I used to dance, a long time ago, and I teach dance now, as a side-line. Will you come with me and spend a little while for me to gauge what your body can do?”

“Of course, anything that helps is good. We never thought that we would do more than one show on the weekend, and I don’t know if we’ll ever do another, but I’m interested in what you have to say.”

We went back through the house and went through a door into what had to be an extension. It was set up like a sunroom, but with bars along the rear and side walls, with mirrors behind them.

“Take off your shoes. You too, Sandy. What we do is to take you through some stretching exercises first.”

We squatted, lunged stretched against the bar and then stretched our arms high above our heads. Sandra, of course, had done it all before. Then, she took me through a series that I knew ballet dancers did. With one hand on the bar, I had to extend one leg in front of me, then out to the side. Turning around I did it again with the other leg.

“Now, Lucinda, we are going to see how much separation you have. You shouldn’t be able to do the splits, as your pelvis isn’t made for it. One hand on the bar, lift your leg as high as you can go.”

Sandra did it in front of me, being able to lift her leg so that it was vertical, and she could touch her shin with her nose. I got nowhere near that but fell short by about thirty degrees. My right leg was a shade better than my left. I was so taken up with the procedure, I didn’t think about showing my panties until Sandra giggled and said, “Nice colour!”

We were back in the kitchen with a drink when I remembered that I had some goodies for Sandra in my bag. I had brought a few things with me; a Cleopatra CD, a couple of tour pens, and a couple of the smaller posters. Her mother put the CD in the player, chose a track and asked me to sing along, there in the kitchen, making the moves that I had done on stage. After two songs she declared that I was a good singer and a smooth mover.

“Lucinda, I can see what my daughter sees in you. You’re talented but humble, you’re kind and generous. They’re all good attributes for a girl, but hardly ever found in a boy. I’m prepared to teach you dance movements that will help you in the future. They will be easy enough for the other two to do. Now, do you play an instrument?”

“No, I’ve never had the time. In the past I’ve done everything with my twin, and it’s not something we’ve talked about. Seeing the guitarists in the band made me wish I could play music. It would be a help if we wanted to start singing our own songs.”

“There’s a good guitar school in Chard, I think that you should try it out, at least. You’re a bit old to start but you have the right kind of fingers for it. Are you writing anything, yet?”

“No, I’ve never thought about it. I do pick up lyric quickly, though. There were four new songs that we did with Cleo that only took us a little while to master. It’s funny about them. When we were going through the set in the rehearsal room, I saw some microphones hanging from the ceiling and the sound engineer was nowhere to be seen. I wonder if he was recording it.”

“That’s interesting, I think that you’ll just have to wait and see. Now, Sandy, do you want to take Luce to your room so you can put those posters up? Then we can let her go back to her home, in time for tea.”

I made sure that I took my bag with me, so that I could refresh my lipstick, and it was a good job I did, as Sandra wore it all away inside the first few minutes in her room. We did get the posters up, with a bit of blue-tack, and she held me close before I had to leave.

“Thank you for coming, Luce. It’s been wonderful. I hope that we have a lot more times like this. It will be good to have Mum on your side if you go to school as a girl, with her running the sports you’ll have a lot of help fitting in.”

Riding home, I thought over what Miss Harris had said, and what I thought about learning advanced dance movements. It would be interesting, and I could see where it would help with my career. The idea of learning guitar was also interesting.

At home, I went into the kitchen and helped prepare the vegetables. When Angelica arrived, she had Archie with her. I expect that the day down south, with the girls, was actually a day with the boyfriends. It did allow me to question Archie about his time in London.

“Archie, when we were going through the set, on Saturday, there were microphones hanging from the ceiling, and you were nowhere in sight. What was going on?”

“Ah, that was supposed to be a secret. Albert told me that they always recorded the run-through as a live concert, just in case there were tracks that came across really well, good enough to add to a live album, should they want one. You were taped on a sixteen-track machine, and I was allowed to set some of the levels. I learned so much that weekend, it’s not funny. It sounded really good. Albert did hint that they might put a special CD together, just for us, to remember it by.”

“Cleo did say that we may have a surprise, in the post, in a few weeks. That could be what she was talking about. I don’t think that I’ll ever forget it.”

Friday was laundry and hut cleaning day. We stripped our beds, and everything went through the big washer. It was a nice day, if cooling a little with the approaching autumn. In the early afternoon, Miss Harris called and asked us if we wanted to go for a session in the studio. I hadn’t got around to telling my sisters about this, but, after a quick explanation, they agreed to come. Miss Harris said that she had some dance outfits, in stock, that she kept for first timers, and that we could use them. If we wanted to continue, there was a shop in Chard where we could buy our own.

Jan and I were in jeans, so we could use our own bikes, and Angelica rode hers. I led them in the driveway, and we left our bikes against the fence. Sandra was outside, waiting for us, and welcomed us into the house and through to the studio. Her mother was waiting, with outfits that we went into a side room to change into. When we matched Sandra, in ballet flats and leotards, she took the four of us through a warm-up session, a bit harder than the one I had done, before.

Sandra showed me some advanced steps, while her mother went through the process of finding out where the other two stood with their range of movement. I could see Angelica able to get almost as high as Sandra, but Jan was getting frustrated that she couldn’t match her. Miss Harris assured her that her body wasn’t built to do the same, even though her brain told her that she should.

We all went through a period of taking a couple of steps and leaping, with one leg out forward and the other stretched back. It was tiring, but, as I saw us in the mirror, Jan and I were quite convincing. Then we tried to spin in one place. We were shown how to use our arms to create a gyroscopic effect, without flailing. We did fall over, a few times.

After we had cooled down, and changed back into our clothes, we sat in the kitchen and Miss Harris told us what was on her mind.

“As you know, I am the games mistress at the school. I have had my eye on you, Angelica, for a while, as you looked like you could do the moves you have done, today, but you always look as if gym is a chore. If Lucinda and Janet go to the school as girls, I’ll have you all in my gym classes. One of the things I’ve always wanted to introduce was gymnastic dancing. We do have all the usual equipment for normal gymnastics, but we have never had the girls with dance ability as well. If I get the streamers and balls, will you three have a go at it?”

“That would be good, Miss Harris. I’ve never felt that the normal stuff was for me. I’m not a fitness freak, but the idea of learning dance moves would be good. Do you think that these two are good enough?”

“I’m sure that they’ll come up to standard, quickly. After all, you’ve all spent a couple of hours on stage, and that style of dancing isn’t that far away from the easy parts of what we’ll work on. Do you think that Lucy and Janine would join in, seeing that they were supposed to be on stage with you?’

“I think they might. After all, we will be moving into fifth year and that’s the sort of thing that may be good to have under our belts.”

“Right, I’ll move ahead with it and talk to the headmaster. We should be able to use the gym after normal hours, and I’ll be able to bring you home. Now, on a different tack, I know that the school doesn’t have the best of reputations in regard to bullying. If the two of you come to school as girls, we should also talk to the headmaster about putting you through classes where you can stay safe. Sandra will be able to help you in the breaks.”

“Thank you for that,” I smiled. “That’s one of the things that has worried me ever since it became likely that I would be attending as Lucinda. We have an appointment with our doctor, next week, to see what side of the line we fall. It may be a week or more before we get the results, and that will be just before the start of term. I’m thinking that we should work as if we will be there as girls. That means that we’ll need to get the uniforms, I know what the girls have to wear, and we should be able to make it work.”

“You will be able to use some of Angelicas outfits, seeing that you’re the same size. Fifth year is a bit easier going as far as the uniform goes. We do realise that you are all young adults. Now, I think that the bees need harvesting, who’s going to help?”

Of course, it ended up with me helping Sandra, while the others cycled home. I didn’t mind, seeing that I was now alone with her, able to talk about all sorts of things. The time passed quickly, and we had a kissing session in her room before I put my face right to go home. I’m sure her mother knew what we were up to, but she stayed out of our way until I was ready to leave.

On Saturday, Mum took us into Chard, and we bought two sets of leotards and ballet flats to use while we learned how to dance. She was quite excited about this, something she thought that none of us would ever do. I asked her if we could go by the guitar school. They were open, and we went in. I asked about lessons and the costs involved. They weren’t happy that I wanted to take it up at thirteen but sat me down with an instrument and showed me a couple of simple chords. I was deemed dextrous enough to give it a try and said that there would be an instrument for me to use for a few weeks. By that time, we should know if I was good enough to buy my own. The others sat in the car and waited for us to come out.

Marianne Gregory © 2024