Chapter 7 - School Dazed

The first period bell rang, leaving only Lance and Olivia walking through the halls as the morning announcements echoed off the walls.

Lance had his hands full remembering how to walk and talk like a girl, but he managed to interact a little with Olivia as she showed him around the school.

When Lance wasn't looking, Olivia was carefully studying the new girl. She wasn’t very well put together. She gave off a very tomboyish vibe and was in desperate need of a makeover. She wondered if Simone would be receptive to some friendly help with her appearance.

“So, Simone, tell me about yourself,” Olivia said.

“Well I just moved here from California with my Dad,” Lance replied.

“With only eight weeks left of school? Wow, that must’ve sucked.”

“It did. I was… devastated. I left behind all my friends.”

“Are your parents divorced?”

“No, my mom is finishing up a big project at work, then her company is transferring her to a location near here,” Lance explained.

Olivia paused at a hallway intersection. “Can I see your schedule and your locker information?”

“Sure.” Lance handed Olivia the printouts.

“So your homeroom is in A corridor which is that way,” she said pointing to the left. “Your locker should be near your homeroom.”

Lance nodded.

“Oh, wow, we have the same Chemistry class! You’ll like Mrs. Bell. She’s a great teacher. She makes such a boring subject seem like fun.”

“Well, Chemistry is kinda fun for me. I always got good grades in it.”

“Well, now I know who my next lab partner is going to be,” Olivia said, nudging Lance’s shoulder with her own.

“Cool,” Lance said, unsure how to continue the small talk.

“Chem lab will be down D corridor.” Olivia pointed to the right.

“Come this way,” she said, and he followed her down two more corridors.

Lance occasionally looked at Olivia - how she held herself and how she walked. Her hips swayed naturally and she walked as if she was on clouds. He attempted to mimic her mannerisms, but almost tripped over his own feet. She turned to look at Lance just as he managed to recover and smile.  She smiled back and they kept walking.

She held a door open for Lance, and as soon as he walked inside he realized it was a locker room. He suddenly tensed up.

“This is the girls’ locker room. The gym is through those doors over there.” Olivia pointed at another set of doors.

A girl was frantically adjusting her t-shirt as she ran by them, late for class. 

Lance averted his eyes in embarrassment. “I, uh, just realized I forgot to bring gym clothes.” 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine since it's your first day. The gym classes have been going outside since the weather warmed up.”

Lance followed her out of the locker room and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Did you do any sports or activities at your old school?”

“Well, I was a cheerleader.”

“No way!” Olivia said, excitedly. “I’m the head cheerleader here. Sure, the school year is almost over, but boy’s baseball playoffs are just starting, and we can always use more girls.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know.”

“Well, I’ll let you settle in before I recruit you.” She gave Lance a genuine smile that almost convinced him to change his mind.

The tour continued with Olivia taking Lance to the cafeteria, and a few other places around the school, before finding Lance’s locker; and finally dropping him off at his homeroom.

“Well, here’s your homeroom,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you in Chemistry.”

“See you then,” Lance smiled and watched Olivia saunter away. He suddenly had an interest in watching how girls walk. He shook that thought out of his head, opened the door and walked into his homeroom.

The entire classroom turned as one to stare at the new girl.

The teacher was an old man, who looked like he should’ve retired years ago. He eyed Lance from head to toe, and said, “You must be…” then looked back at a clipboard and held it up to his face as he squinted in disbelief then looked back at Lance, “Simone?”

“Yes, sir, that’s me.” Lance forced a smile. “Simone Biggs.”

“There’s a seat back there,” the teacher said, as he gestured towards the back of the classroom.

As Lance walked by the teacher he could hear him mumble, “Kids these days.”

* * *

While Zoey was at her locker grabbing her things for the next few classes, Deanna came up to her.

“OMG, Zo,” she said. “I can’t believe you got that boy to dress up as a girl. That’s so hilarious.”

“Well, a bet is a bet.”

“What a freak! He must be wrapped around your little finger. Even if you don’t win this bet, this will be an epic prank.”

Zoey bristled at her friend calling Lance names.  This wasn’t a prank.  She didn’t mean Lance any harm. “He’s actually kinda cool, when you get to know him.”

Deanna laughed. “Really? I don't see how a boy in a dress is going to win prom queen.”

“I’m not even done with him yet,” Zoey retorted. “By the time prom comes around, he will make all of the girls envious, and all the boys…” she searched for the right word, “will wish they were gay.”

“You are so full of shit.”

“Maybe, but I don’t back out of bets. What about you, Dee? Ready to concede?”

“Not a chance. He… or she… is still a long way from prom queen material.”

“True, but this is only Day One. I’ve got more than enough time.”

“Fair enough,” Deanna agreed. “See you after school?”

“Not today. I’m going out with Simone.” Zoey shut her locker.

“That sounds like fun - not.”

Zoey smirked and the duo walked to their next classes.

* * *

The first few classes of the day helped calm Lance’s nerves. Apparently, after all of the initial “new girl” introductions, people started to ignore him, like usual, which brought a sense of familiarity and comfort. And a little sadness, as he hoped this strange situation he found himself in would bring him some positive interaction with the other students.

At first it was weird to sit at a desk wearing a dress. He learned pretty quickly to smooth out his dress when sitting down after it bunched up and nearly showed off his panties. A cold breeze blowing up inside the dress made him cross his legs to keep warm.

A few students did give him a lingering stare. Lance wondered if they saw through the disguise or just thought he was an ugly girl. Which made him wonder how Zoey ever thought he could ever be prom queen with this getup.

The anxiety and embarrassment eventually gave way to the same thrill as last night. It felt like he was undercover, and he actually started to look forward to any and all interactions where he could pretend to be his sister.

Next class was Chemistry and he felt some comfort in knowing that he already knew someone in class. When he and Olivia made eye contact she smiled and waved at him. Sadly, Olivia was already sitting next to someone. He scanned the class and was surprised to see Zoey seated at a table as well, but completely across the room from Olivia. 

Zoey was sitting with one of the girls he met earlier, Peggy. When Zoey saw Lance enter the classroom she quickly had Peggy move to another table, and then waved him over.

“Simone, how is your morning going?” Zoey asked.

“It’s been OK. No major problems. I’m still invisible.”

“Baby steps, girl. We’ll work on that.” She lowered her voice down to a whisper, “By the way, I’m sorry I had to leave you alone with that skank.”

“Skank?” Lance whispered back. “You mean Olivia? She seemed nice.”

“Well, she stole my jerk of a boyfriend. I mean ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh, that was her?”

The teacher closed the door with a thud and the class settled down.

As the teacher passed back previously graded assignments, she stopped in front of Lance. “You must be the new student, Simone Biggs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Welcome to North High. I’m Mrs. Bell. I read through your transcript. I think you’ll fit in nicely with this class.”

Lance wondered what the transcript said. Was it Simone’s transcript? Chemistry was one of Simone’s stronger subjects. Lance preferred Physics. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Mrs. Bell announced, “We’re going to shuffle the classroom and get into pairs to do today and tomorrow’s labs. I’m going to hand out numbers. Find the person with the matching number.”

As Mrs. Bell passed out the numbered slips of paper, Lance checked his. Number 11. When everyone had a number, Mrs. Bell had them go find their partner. Lance and Zoey compared numbers. Zoey had number 3, so he got up to find his match. Zoey, on the other hand, decided to let her new partner come to her.

As Lance was looking around, he saw Olivia and walked over to her. “Hello again,” he greeted her. 

“Oh hi, Simone,” Olivia smiled. “Long time no see.”

Olivia and Lance compared numbers. Olivia had a 7. She quickly found the other student with an 11 and swapped with them, so she could be partners with Lance. 

“I guess we’re going to be partners,” Lance said, having seen Olivia’s number swap. He wondered what her angle was. He’d never experienced a girl wanting to be his partner before. Last time someone wanted to be his partner, it was some jock who forced Lance to do all the work.

“I hope you’re good with a Bunsen burner, because I suck with it.” she smiled.

“Oh, yeah. I think I can manage to not burn up our assignment again,” Lance replied.

“Again?”

“Well, I left my homework at home once and it was a better excuse than ‘my dog ate it’.”

Olivia laughed.

* * *

When class was dismissed, Zoey caught up to Lance. “So, are you friends with Olivia now?” she asked with a little jealousy in her voice. She had been keeping an eye on them the whole time.

“Oh, I dunno,” Lance replied. “She seems friendly. She wants to hang out.” 

Another girl heading in the opposite direction said, “Hi, Zoey.”

“Oh hi,” Zoey replied, waving at the girl as they passed. She turned her attention back to Lance. 

“Did she mention either me or Tyler?” Zoey questioned, her voice a little terse.

“No, but she’s funny - and this was the first time I actually enjoyed Chemistry class.”

“Well, then, let's use this to our advantage. I need you to break up her and Tyler. Then he’ll have no choice but to crawl back to me.”

“Huh? Why? What does this have to do with our deal? You said forget about making your ex jealous. You said he was a jerk. Do you really want him back?”

“Yes- I mean no.” Zoey paused a moment, trying to push away the idea that Tyler would come crawling back to her. “I want them both to suffer.”

Lance was getting worried that he had allied himself with a vindictive and deceptive person. And that he was going to get caught in the middle of a war between the two girls. This was not what he signed up for.

“What class do you have next?” Zoey asked.

“Lunch.”

“I have History. Do you need anything before we part?” Zoey asked.

“Yes,” Lance whispered with a twinge of embarrassment, “I kinda have to… umm.. use the restroom. And I feel weird just walking into the girls’ room.”

“I’ve got your back,” she said. “This way.”

Lance followed Zoey to the nearest restrooms. 

“Wait right here.” She entered the girls’ restroom and came back out seconds later. “All clear. I’ll stand guard.”

Lance walked past Zoey and into the restroom. He looked around. It wasn’t much different from a typical boys’ restroom except for the lack of urinals. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting. Maybe a couch or luxurious sinks. Music softly playing. Disappointed that this was just a plain restroom, he went into the stall and did what he came to do. It took considerably longer due to the extra time required to hike up his dress and drop his pantyhose and panties. He did notice, as he sat, it smelled better than every men’s room he’d ever been in. And more importantly, there was no urine on the seat. He’d always hated trying to find a clean toilet seat in mens’ rooms. Boys were so disgusting.

He noticed the back of the stall door had graffiti.  “Debra (heart) Charlie,” “Brandon has a small dick,” “wlw” and a phone number.  He figured every restroom must have graffiti.

Zoey stood in front of the door with her arms crossed. A freshman girl was about to enter when Zoey stopped her. “Sorry, this restroom is closed. Someone flushed a tampon down the toilet and now it’s flooded. The janitors are on their way.”

The girl looked disgusted and walked away.

Lance came out of the bathroom. “Thanks, I was about to burst.”

“Girls don’t talk like that,” Zoey corrected him.

Lance rolled his eyes. “More girl rules,” he muttered.

“See you after school,” Zoey reminded him. As Lance walked away, she noticed the back of his dress was tucked into his pantyhose. She quickly ran up and pulled his dress free.

“Thanks,” an embarrassed Lance said as he turned around.

Lance continued walking to the cafeteria and got in line for lunch. He suddenly realized the money his dad gave him was in his boy clothes. And those were in the duffel bag he left with Zoey. Not that this dress had any pockets to keep money in. 

He left the lunch line, hungry and disappointed. 

As he was about to leave the cafeteria he heard someone shout, “Simone!”

He turned to find Mack waving at him and motioning for him to come over to her. Lance walked over to where Mack was sitting. Seated next to Mack was Francine, from last night.

“Hi, Mack, hi Francine, it’s so good to see you again.” Lance was getting better with his Simone voice and wanted to show Mack.

“Hey, how is your first day of school going?” Mack asked.

“Not too bad. I had a long tour of the school and a few classes. Some of the material I already knew from my old school.”

“I take it no one has figured out your little secret,” Mack whispered. 

Lance glanced at Francine. She was all smiles, like last night. Lance wondered what she thought of him. “Well, Zoey put makeup on me before school started. I’m trying not to touch my face and mess it up.” Lance bent down closer to Mack, whispering, “Does it still look OK?

“Not bad, we’ll work on makeup later and you will dazzle everyone.”

Lance blushed and sat down across from Mack.

“Where is your lunch, Simone?” Francine asked. 

“Don’t tell me Zoey already put you on some kind of starvation diet,” Mack added.

“Well, she did take away my Tastykakes last night. But in this case, I just left my lunch money in my… umm… because there’s no pockets in this dress.”

Mack giggled. “Welcome to the world of women’s fashion. Women’s clothing rarely has pockets that are functional. OK, first of all, I’m buying you lunch. We don’t want you going hungry all day. And second, I’m going to get you a purse after school. You need one to keep your stuff in.”

“Ooo,” Francine spoke up.  “I’ll talk to my cousin.  We can put together a trans femme starter pack!”

That statement confused Lance and he turned to Mack.“Do I really need to carry a purse? I’ve got my backpack in my locker.”

“Sure, but you don’t always have that with you, like right now,” Mack countered. “So here, take this and go get some food. You can buy me lunch next time.” Mack handed Lance a few bills from her own bag and he headed back to the food line.

Lance noticed the line was shorter now, since most of the students were already eating. “Well, this doesn’t look or smell any different from my old school,” Lance observed, as he sat down  with a tray of food. “In fact, I’m not even sure what some of this stuff is.”

“Um, don’t eat the green stuff unless you feel like sitting on a toilet for the next 24 hours,” Mack cautioned.

“Yeah, stick to pizza and sandwiches,” Francine added. “It’s hard to screw those up.”

Lance took a fork full of some yellow stuff. It tasted foul. It tasted like… soap.

“Oh, yeah,” Mack cautioned, “maybe you should stick with something prepackaged and avoid using the plates or silverware. This place doesn’t have a working dishwasher anymore.” 

“I wish you would’ve told me that,” Lance whined with the realization that nothing on his tray was edible.

“Here, you can have this.” Francine handed Lance a packaged cookie that she had been saving for later. 

Lance was just finishing his cookie when he noticed Mack and Francine’s eyes looking above and behind him. He turned around to see Zoey’s friends, Deanna and Peggy, approaching him.

“Simone, hi,” Deanna said with a bubbly smile.

“Hi - Deanna was it?” Lance returned her greeting.

“That’s me. I want to introduce you to some friends,” she said, coaxing him from the safety of Mack and Francine.

“Sure.” Lance got up from the table but didn’t catch the concerned look on Mack’s face.

Deanna led Lance to a group of girls. When he got there the group stopped talking and looked at Lance with disgusted expressions. He turned to get support from Deanna, but she wasn’t beside him anymore.

He decided to push through. That’s what Simone would do. “Hi,” he said, his voice cracking, “I’m Simone.”

The group of girls snickered and walked away, leaving Lance standing alone in the middle of the cafeteria.

He could hear their comments.

“Ew.”

“Did you see her shoes?”

“Was that a girl or a boy?”

He was about to break down right there until he felt a tugging on his dress. It was Mack. “Come back and sit down,” she whispered.

Mack led him back to the table. Deanna could be seen leaving the cafeteria, laughing. Lance sat down and buried his face in his hands, trying to hide his tears. He wanted to run out of the school and back to the safety of home.

“Do not trust Zoey’s friends,” Mack sternly warned. “They are betting against you. Especially Deanna.”

A moment later, Lance looked up to see Francine handing him a tissue. “Simone, you are a beautiful and brave woman,” Francine reassured him. “Don’t ever forget that.”

Lance’s humiliation - coupled with being called a woman - was too much for him and he returned his face back into his hands.

Mack glanced at her watch. “It’s ten minutes to next period. Let’s go to the girls’ room now to fix your makeup. Then you’ll have time to stop by your locker and get your stuff for your next class.”

“Good luck with the rest of your day, Simone,” Francine said with a sincere smile.

Mack and Lance picked up their trays and carried them to the return station. Then they headed to the nearest girls’ restroom.

Lance was in a daze and didn’t resist as Mack pulled him inside. She poked her head in each stall to verify they were alone before talking to him.

“Say something, Lance,” she said, pulling out a makeup bag and digging around in it.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” he nearly cried.

Mack grimaced, “If this is too much, tell Zoey you’re done with this game. She doesn’t realize she’s playing with real people and real feelings.”

He nodded with a sniffle.

Mack reapplied eyeliner to Lance’s face. “There, better.”

Before leaving the restroom Mack gave Lance some parting advice. “You can do this, Lance. I saw you last night during the game. Just focus on being Simone, and not on what other people are thinking.” She gave Lance her warmest smile and then a hug. Then they left the restroom and headed in separate directions.