"You are serious aren’t you”
“Of course we are”
Drew turned a funny shade of pink
“Look guys, it will be fun, once you are dressed up no one will know”
“Like you can make us disappear! Everyone will know who we are straight off”
“No they wont!”
“I’m not saying I’m in” I said, “but what’s in it for us?”
The girls looked at each other.
“Fun, and our gratitude”
Perhaps I should start a bit further back. My bud Drew and I had been summoned to Maddy’s mansion as we called it; the girls had another harebrained scheme up their sleeves. I arrived at the same time as Drew and after Mrs Peters had got us drinks and hot cross buns she left us alone.
“What’s the secret?” Drew asked
“Well we’ve got an idea, shut the door Ally”
“And”
“And you probably won’t like it, but we think it would be a real buzz”
“Spill it”
“Ok, you know the Easter disco”
“Yeah”
“Well we want you two to go with us”
“That’s no big deal, I was going anyway” I told them
“And I guess I can fit it into my social calendar too” Drew added
“There’s a catch” Maddie was showing a bit of nervousness.
Bernie took up the reins, “We want to go in costume, there’s prizes and stuff”
“Still with you so far” Drew noted
“Well the point is we want to go as Manga girls, you know like Sailor Blue and that”
“What will us guys go as?
“Erm that’s just it, you’ll be Manga girls too”
“What, no way!”
“Come on guys, your kidding right”
“No we’re deadly serious, we’ve even sort of sorted some costumes”
Now you get the full picture?
You might have read Drew’s account of all this but I thought I would put in my two bob’s worth (my dads saying, I don’t know what a ‘bob’ is).
I was intrigued.
“One condition” Drew started
“You’ll do it?”
“Hang on, I didn’t say yes yet”
“What condition?”
“If you can’t make us pass as girls by next weekend were out”
“Agreed!”
This was running ahead a bit but I nodded my ascent.
“Ok, we’ll go to Meadowhall on Saturday, if anyone guesses you are boys we’ll call it off for the dance”
“What now?”
“Us girls will get everything together and we’ll start tomorrow”
“We need to choose costumes now though, I’ve brought my Manga”
We looked through the Japanese comics for a couple of hours after that the girls had picked out costumes for everyone. Ally would be Pink, Maddie Prince, Bernie was to be Sailor Blue, I got Yellow, and Drew got Sakur! If anyone saw through these costumes we were in trouble!
After tea we had a PS2 session then headed home, we were all meeting at Ally’s next morning.
Drew looked a bit concerned but I knew the girls would fail and we would be off the hook. After Drew arrived at Ally’s her mum popped her head in.
“I’m going out in a few minutes, so behave. If there’s any trouble I’m holding you responsible Alison. You have been warned. I’ll bring lunch back, Maccy D’s ok?”
“Great”
“Brill”
“No gherkins for me”
“Remember Rhod’s a veggie”
“Ok guys, see you about one o’clock”
“Bye mum”
“Bye Mrs Lacey”
“Right fellas time to get started”
Both of us guys blushed when Bernie emptied her bags on the bed.
“Ok guys, strip!”
“Come on we’ve seen you in your Speedo’s so don’t be bashful”
“I guess” Drew agreed while I kept quiet.
The girls giggled and checked us out as we both stripped down to our pants and left us squirming for a while.
“Bernie you take Rhod and we’ll do Drew, you can use my parents room”
“Ok”
Bernie grabbed an armful of stuff and half dragged me into Ally’s parent’s room.
“Come on Rhod, don’t be bashful”
“I’m not, can we just get on with it please?”
“Ok, put these on” she handed me a bra, pink cropped t-shirt and a knee length denim skirt, a pair of pale knee highs and Bernie’s blue trainers completed my outfit. By the time she was done I was wearing mini bunches and enough makeup to make even Rhodrii Morgan look like a girl.
“Hey are you guys ready yet?”
“Just coming”
When I saw Drew he was looking at me with the same sort of look I was giving him.
“Well I reckon we’re going to win this one girls,” Ally grinned
“Yeah, come on lets get some pictures”
“Noo” we both cried
“Yes, you don’t think we did this to let the moment just go do you”
“I guess” Drew allowed
Ally took some pictures and even managed to get some with the self-timer.
“I still think there’s something wrong” Maddie stated
“Panties!” Bernie opined
“You’re right, their y fronts really show under those clothes”
Ally dived into a draw and reappeared with a couple of pairs of lacy panties.
“Put these on, you can slip yours off without anyone seeing”
“Do we have to?” I asked
“Yes, otherwise we can’t see how you look”
So we changed our underwear and waited for the final appraisal.
“Excellent, you two look really cute, I think this might work”
“We can’t call them Drew and Rhod dressed like this”
“Well girls what shall we call you?” Maddy addressed us
Drew got in first,
“How about Gaby, like from Xena? She’s blonde and I think pretty cute, I can't be Xena can I, I mean that would be too obvious”
“Well I reckon Drew's right, he even looks a bit like Gaby so that’s settled, but it should really be Gabrielle”
“How about Phillipa, my middle names Phillip” I suggested
“Yay! Girls meet Pippa and Gaby”
“Oh heck, mums due back at one”
We all looked at the clock.
“Quick lets get you two changed, Pippa go get dressed while we clean up Gaby then we can swap”
There was a flurry of activity over the next ten minutes as Rhod and Drew once more replaced Pippa and Gaby.
“Hi kids, hope you didn’t get into mischief”
“No Mrs Lacey”
“No mum”
“Ok, come and get your lunch”
We descended to the kitchen for our Ronald specials, all through the food Maddie kept calling Drew Gaby, which was winding him up.
“What’s with calling Drew Gaby?”
“Oh nothing Mrs Lacey, we were talking about Xena and Drew said that he’d prefer to be Gabrielle than Xena”
“I see, what are you all doing this afternoon”
“Going for a walk mum”
“Ok, make sure one of you has a phone and take care”
“We will” we all echoed
We were out in the woods before our forthcoming humiliation was brought up again.
“Gaby, Pippa we need to do some practice before Saturday”
“Drop the names huh?”
“No, if we are in the mall and someone speaks to you it will look odd if you don’t reply, so whenever we’re alone we will call you by your girlie names”
“Yes Herr Fuhrer!” I snapped off a salute.
“That’s just what we don’t want. If you act like boys, even if you look like girls people will look twice and you could be found out”
“I never thought of that” Drew put in
“Well do. So between now and Saturday you are both taking girl lessons.”
So as Drew told you before, each day we met and Gaby and Pippa received lessons in girlhood from the real thing. By Friday they were happy enough that we would pass and we were set for the five of us to go to Sheffield on Saturday morning. We were meeting at Bernie’s house to get ready then catch the bus first to Worksop then on to Meadowhall. Time would be short, Bernie’s parents were taking her brother to Nottingham and were leaving just after eight, our bus left at five past nine. To speed things along the girls presented each of us with our undergarments and informed us that we would shower, hair wash at home and be wearing our girls undies when we got to Bernie’s.
I was getting changed into today’s choice, knee length pink t-shirt dress, sandals and Bernie’s pink denim jacket when Drew arrived. We got to the bus stop just in time and our transformation continued as the girls painted our fingernails.
I know Drew is not a shopping person and I can take it or leave, but no one took any notice as we went up and down the Mall. We finally got to the Oasis, which is Meadowhall's food hall and while the others grabbed a table, Bernie and I were delegated to fetch pizza and drinks. We were just getting back to the table when Ally started squealing.
“Look guys, it’s us”
“Cool”
I joined everyone else to look where Ally pointed to see our little group up on the huge TV screen; the mall TV station slowly scanned the seating area in between adverts and videos. We all gave a wave before the camera panned away.
“Let’s see a film”
“Ok, what’s on”
“Don’t know, let’s look”
So we went upstairs to find out what was on in the multiplex and ended up buying tickets for Lord of the Rings. We headed down to the arcade as we had a bit of time to kill so we started to look in the little shops adjacent to the food hall.
“I thought it was you guys”
Drew jumped and we all turned to find Drew’s mate Paul and right there with him was Clive and Drew’s sister Juliette!
“Clive reckoned I was wrong and Juliette thought Drew and Rhod would have been with you”
Maddie quickly replied,
“No they came on the bus with us but decided to go on the tram into the centre to look at some book shop”
“Oh yeah, we thought of doing that but the lure of the big screen caught us, we just met Juliette when I saw you”
“Oh right you don’ know my cousin Gaby and her friend Pippa, they live in Worksop. Gaby, Pippa these are Clive and Paul, Drew's friends and his sister Juliette.” Maddy introduced us.
Drew managed a “Hi” but I was too scared to open my mouth. Juliette spoke next.
“You guys all going to the same film?”
“LOTR for us”
“Snap”
“Mind if I join you, we can all go back home together afterwards”
“Sure, Julie”
“Ok I’ll go get a ticket, meet you in the foyer in ten”
“We’ll come too,” Paul said.
Bugger!
Maddy dragged Drew off to the loos and when they returned he was wearing earrings, I guessed they thought it would put Juliette off the trail. We saw the film and then spent most of the journey back talking, or in my case listening to everyone else talking about the epic we had just sat through.
“You guys still coming back home with me Gaby?”
“Sure” Drew replied, “mum said she’d pick us up about nine if that’s ok?”
“Great” Maddy replied
I sighed deeply and by the look on Drew’s face he would have burst if the reply had been different
It was just before six when we got off the bus, Paul and Clive said they would walk Juliette home and the rest of us headed towards Maddie's, before doubling back to get to Bernie’s and our normal clothes. As Bernie’s parents were still out, we were able to have a quick shower and then change.
“Whoops Drew, unless you want to keep them, we better take those studs out”
I had forgotten about them but as soon as Ally mentioned them everyone looked at Drew.
“Yeah, I still don’t know why you did that Maddie?”
“It worked didn’t it?”
“Yeah, but still” Maddie retrieved the earrings and Bernie cleaned his ears off with an antiseptic wipe.
“Ok guys – you win, no one not even my own sister spotted us so we’ll do the dance thing with you” Drew offered
“Ok with you too Rhod?” Ally asked
“Yeah we agreed”
“What now?”
“We’ll meet Monday after school to start on our costumes. We have most of the stuff already but we need to make the actual dresses.”
God was I not looking forward to this; we were actually going to have to go to a school dance dressed as girls. Aargh! The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn’t enjoying this one little bit, at least with two of us there would be some moral support.
Maddy Bell 16.02.03
Well I can tell you, Sunday was not the best day I have ever had. All I could think of through lunch at Grandma’s was this stupid situation me and Drew had gotten into. I mean seriously, how were me and Drew gonna pass as girls in front of all our mates, one afternoon and some luck and suddenly our fates are sealed.
“Hey Rhod!”
“Oh hi Maddy”
“Thought I’d better let you know, Drew’s sister Juliette, well she knows it was you and him on Saturday.”
Well I thought I would die right there.
“So it’s off then?”
“Don’t be daft, course not. She’s not going to say anything is she?”
“I guess not”
“Well I’ll see you tonight then Rhod”
“Ok”
To have salvation so close only to have it snatched away!
I got to Maddy’s early, Ally and i were playing on Maddies PS2 when Drew and Bernie arrived.
“Hi guys”
“Hi”
“Cheer up Drew I might never happen”
“It already has”
I guess he was referring to his sister.
“Come on guys, get with it. Mum says it’s ok to go online for a bit and I want to show you some neat stuff”
“I thought we were doing costume stuff?”
“We are” Maddy was really up for this.
We went through to the dining room whereMaddie’s PC was, while she booted up we all found chairs so we could see the screen. As soon as the connection was made Maddie went into favourites and clicked a link.
“This is one of my favourite sites”
“What is it?”
“It’s a site devoted to cosplay”
The site opened up and greeted us with some Manga illustrations.
“Ok guys, there’s links to all kinds of stuff but they’ve got some great picture galleries from the various conventions”
She clicked on a link and another page came up, a directory of the galleries.
“I thought we could look through the galleries and get some ideas how to do our costumes”
“Cool” Ally suuggested
“Could we change costumes do you think?”
“Well I guess if anyone see’s one they really like. As long as it still meets our requirements”
“How about we vote on any changes?”
“Ok, but let’s start looking, mum said we could have until seven”
The first gallery popped up and we worked our way through pages and pages of convention pictures. If anyone got excited by a costume, Maddie saved the picture so we could look at them later. There must have been hundreds, thousands of pictures, not all very good .
The doorbell disturbed us just before seven.
“I’ll get it mum”
“That’ll be your sister Drew”
“I guess”
“What’s the problem Drew?” I asked
“She knows about Saturday”
“Oh?”
I didn’t want to admit I already knew this tidbit of info.
“Come on guys its not that bad”
Maddy then brought Juliette in.
“Hi girls”
I should have known there was something afoot at that.
“Hi Julie”
“Hi Jules”
“What you doing?”
“Maddie’s been showing us some costumes on the web”
“I thought you guys said you’d picked costumes already?”
“We did but there’s some well cool ones we’ve seen”
“I know,” Ally suggested, “Jules can look at the pictures and pick say ten out, then we can make a final choice”
“That’s a good idea”
“I know, to stop arguments from these two, we can then draw lots for the costumes”
“Sounds fair I ‘spose” I allowed.
“Ok, but only if big sis agrees to dress up too” Drew stated
“Yeah”
“Great”
“Say yes Jules”
Juliette didn’t look too thrilled at this turn of events.
“I was going with Charlie and Anna as Charlie’s Angels”
“Oh come on Julie, I’m sure they can find someone else”
“Hang on, I’ll ring Anna for you”
Maddie went off to the phone and we could hear a muffled conversation then “yes”. She came back into the dining room.
“Anna said you hadn’t decided yet” she accused Juliette
Drew looked smug and Juliette’s face was a picture.
“Ok I’ll do it, but we all have equal choice”
“Fair enough, lets show you the pictures”
Even Drew and myself had favourites and we were each trying to influence Juliette in her choice along with the others.
“Look guys, I can’t do this with you all here. Why don’t you go and watch TV or something so I can concentrate. Maddy have you got a pen and paper please?”
“Sure Jules, papers on the sides there, pen by the keyboard. You lot next door”
Maddy left the rest of us in the lounge while she procured drinks and biscuits while Juliette settled down to make her selections. Drew and I discussed our least favourite options from what for us was a complete set of bad options while the girls spent the time waiting discussing their favourites. To be fair, Juliette didn’t really take long to make her selections and called us back to the computer after about twenty minutes.
“Ok people quiet down,“ we did as bid, “I’m not going to show you my choices, we all pick blind. Can you get a dish please Maddy?”
We waited while Maddy fetched a mixing bowl.
“Right, I’ve got ten bits of paper,” she indicated a handful of paper balls, “they all go in the bowl and then we each pick one. There’s a number on each one which refers to a picture, I know which numbers refer to which but if Drew picks for me I can’t cheat at all”
“Sheesh you thought of everything there”
“Sounds good”
“You guys ok with this?”
“I guess so sis”
“Rhod?”
“Suppose so Julie” I consented
“Ok then, everyone reach in and take a ball”
We each in turn put a hand in and retrieved a paper ball until only Jules was left.
“Ok Drew pick me one out and give it to me”
He reached in again and took one of the remaining options and passed it to his sister.
“Right then, every one gets a chance to swap their choice now but this is your last chance. After this you are stuck with what you’ve drawn. Maddy stick or swap?”
“Stick”
“Bernie?”
“Stick”
“Rhod?”
“Er swap I think” well I just didn’t fancy wearing a wedding dress and I just had a feeling!
“Ok then pick another ball then drop the other one in the bowl.”
I picked a different bit of paper, then Juliette continued.
“Drew?
“Stick I guess”
“Ally?”
“I’ll stick too”
“Well I’m going to swap but I want Rhod to pick for me”
“Ok”
Finally everyone was happy selections were made.
“Lets see what everyone’s got, open your papers”
Juliette went back to the PC and got ready to open the pictures
“What are your numbers?”
Drew replied first, “Six”
“Three” was Bernie’s draw
“Four” that was Ally
“I got nine” I admitted
“Number one for me, what’s yours Jules?”
“Eight”
She clicked the mouse on each picture and our choices sprang up on the screen.
Maddy Bell 05.04.03
Copyright 2003