BOY-GIRL IN BALLET CLOTHES

By Brennan Young
intime@centrum.dk

DISCLAIMER
 This story contains NO SEXUAL DETAILS. It is nonetheless a
work of EROTIC FICTION, i.e. it is intended to be read with
ONE HAND.
 In most countries, certain individuals are 
deemed 'minors', which usually means that the state and its
associated means of mass-communication, has decided
that these individuals should be protected from the likes
of EROTIC FICTION lest they become drooling sex criminals
in later life. (In reality they want to have a monopoly on all
forms and modes of expressing sexuality so that certain
activities are appropriate and others are clearly not.)

 If you are one of these 'minors' you are hereby warned
that you have strayed into a DANGEROUS AREA of the
net and your pliable mind is at risk of becoming warped
by SENSITIVE INFORMATION! As you read on (and I know 
that I would if I was your age) let it be in the knowledge
that your government and moral guardians/manipulators would not look too
kindly on you if you were found out.


Boy-Girl in Ballet Clothes

 I was brought up by my mother and sisters. My father died just after I
was born and I did not have any older male relatives. I had two sisters,
both older than me. One, Caroline, was two years older, the other,
Louise, four years. When we played together, they always chose the
games, which were usually things like mummies and daddies, in which I
had to be the baby, or Doctors and nurses, in which I was always the
patient. Very occasionally we played football, but my sisters used to
tease me because I was not as good at it as them, they being older, so I
would always be in goal. Then one day, when I was about 8 years old, my
mother announced that we were all to be enrolled for dancing lessons at
the local ballet school. My sisters were extremely excited, but I was
disgusted. 
"Why couldn't it have been football or athletics?" I complained, and
stamped my foot. "Ballet is for girls!"
 -"Don't be silly darling," said my mother, "Ballet is very good for
building up muscle tone; Male dancers have to be very strong to lift up
their ballerina partners."
 -"But you'll have to wear tights!" Said Caroline.
 -"And a little tutu!" Teased Louise and they both burst out laughing.
My mother chuckled also, but when she saw my angry face, on the verge of
tears she crouched down and kissed me on the cheek.
 -"Don't listen to her she's only teasing."
 -"But will I have to wear tights?" I mumbled, my chin quivering.
 -"Of course, silly. If you wore trousers, they would split." Said
Louise and laughed again. I began to cry.
 -"There there." Said my mother, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it when we get
there. There'll be other boys there too you know."
 -"He even cries like a girl. Wait 'til you have to wear your little
skirt!" said Caroline.
 -"That's enough!", said my mother. "I want him to get something out of
ballet and he never will if you put him off all the time. Go to your
rooms!"

 The following day was the weekend, and I was sitting in my room playing
with my toy cars when I heard my sisters giggling outside my door. I
couldn't make out what they were saying, but then I heard a knock. I got
up and pulled the door open. Suddenly, they both rushed in screaming,
and grabbed me. I started shouting for them to let me go. My mother was
in the garden and probably couldn't hear the noise over the lawnmower
she was using. They pulled me into Caroline's room. The wardrobe was
open and her clothes were strewn all over the place.
 -"Since you're such a sissy boy, crying about doing ballet, we're going
to turn you into a girl. Then you wont mind having to do ballet and wear
a tutu." and they began to remove my clothes. I started screaming and
struggled as much as I could, but they were both bigger than me and
pretty soon they had gagged me with a sock anyway, and I was completely
naked. Caroline produced some pink cotton knickers, with a little tiny
frill trim. They had flowers printed on them.
 -"We'll start with some frilly knickers, little sister," she said, and
Louise held my arms while she pulled them over my struggling legs
without too much difficulty. "And some white tights." Louise's grip
tightened as Caroline yanked and stretched the tights over my flailing
feet and up my legs. "There!" she said. "Now what kind of skirt should
you wear?"
 -"No! Put him in a dress, your frilly party one, you know, on the bed."
said Louise. The dress was already out, so they seemed to have been
planning this rather carefully. Louise fed each of my hands through the
sleeves and pulled the dress over my head. I was crying. It felt cold
against my skin. It was a light white nylon frilly party dress with
layers and layers of skirts which stuck out all around me as Caroline
zipped me into it.. The sleeves came to my elbows and had big flouncy
frills around the cuffs.

-"Now we have a new sister to play with!" she said, triumphantly. "You
can play with our dolls if you like, sissy." Now I have to admit that
there were times when I had felt left out when my sisters had played
with their dolls. I didn't have any dolls of course, being a boy, but
sometimes when I wanted to play with someone, they wouldn't let me
because they were playing with their dolls. To win some favour with my
sisters I had taken the keys to our rooms from a jar in the kitchen
without telling our mother. She had hidden them for safety because she
did not keep duplicates. Sometimes though, they even locked me out of
their rooms. I used to get so angry and bang on the door asking them to
let me in and play with their dolls. Right now, though that was the last
thing I wanted to do. I just wanted to run out of there and change out
of the dress.

 Caroline slipped out of the room with my clothes and then came back
with the key to my room in her hand which she threw out of the window.
 -"Now all your boys clothes are locked away, you'll have to wear
dresses like a girl."
-"Caroline!" said Louise, amazed at what she had done, and then a huge
guffaw burst out of her. Seizing the moment I rushed for the door,
pursued by my sisters. I wasn't used to wearing a dress, let alone
running in one, but somehow managed to evade capture until I got outside
onto the lawn. My mother took a few seconds to realise it was me wearing
the dress and not Caroline, who has the same colour hair as me and wears
it only a little longer. Caroline was right behind me and Louise had
stopped at the French windows. Then my mother stopped the lawnmower and
glared at me.
 -"What are you doing? Why are you wearing your sisters clothes?" I
pulled the sock out of my mouth and started crying. Loudly.
 -"He sneaked in and put them on so we locked him out of his room." Said
Caroline
 -"That's a lie." I wailed.
 -"No it's not!" Said Louise, approaching. We caught him at it, putting
on Caroline's dress.
 -"Now look!" Said my mother in a raised voice, "It seems like I can't
leave you three alone without you getting up to mischief."
 -"But I didn't..." I began
 -"Shut up and stop snivelling. Go inside and put your clothes on.
Louise and Caroline you can help me with the dandelions."
 -"But I can't. They threw my key out of the window."
 There was a pause, and then my mother turned on my sisters and really
shouted at them. When she had finished I had almost stopped crying. She
turned to me, "Well you'll have to wear your sister's clothes until we
can unlock the door. Where did you get the keys from anyway?" And to
this I stared guiltily downwards. "Was it you? Well you deserve all you
get. I'm not going to look for that key. You'll just have to find it
yourself!"

 Miserable beyond belief I started to search amongst the bushes by the
side of the house, under the window. After a little while I heard my
sisters talking together as they helped my mother in the garden. I felt
ridiculous looking under the bushes in a girlish frilly dress and tights
and it soon got dirty. Caroline noticed.
 -"Awww! Mum he's got my best dress dirty." My mother looked up and,
already a little red in the face from hoeing and raking, began to fume.
 -"What do you think you're doing! Get inside now!" Suddenly rather
afraid I ran inside and my mother caught up with me. She grabbed my arm
and led me upstairs. She tried the door of my room and, convinced that
it really was locked, pulled me back into my sister's room. "Well," she
said, "we'll have to see what Caroline has to fit you. Look at that
dress. And those tights! They're ruined!" I looked down to see grass
stains and holes in the feet of my tights. "Take them off!" She
commanded. 

 At last I was out of the dress, but as my head cleared it, I noticed my
mother had  found a little turquoise corduroy skirt in the cupboard.
 -"But mum I don't want to wear a skirt..." I moaned,
 -"Well you should have thought of that before you put your sister's
dress on. I'll be furious if those grass stains don't come out!"
 -"But I didn't..."
 -"And I'm cross with you about taking the keys from the kitchen. What
if the house burned down and you were locked in? You'll wear whatever we
can find, my boy! Put this skirt on!" Reluctantly, I pulled it up and my
mother quickly fastened the zip and button at the back. It was a
knee-length A-line skirt  and my mother found a yellow sweater with a
bear embroidered over the left breast which she pulled over my head.
Then she got a pair of yellow tights from the drawer and threw them to
me while she found some shoes at the bottom of Caroline's wardrobe. As I
struggled to pull the tights on I heard my sisters coming up the stairs.
They stood at the door for a while, staring, then Louise spoke.
 -"He looks so much like a girl now." My mother turned and looked at me,
with two little black girlish sandals in her hands.
 -"Yes. " If I could just do something with his hair no-one would know
he wasn't your sister. Well, he'll have to come to church in a dress
to-morrow unless we can get the door open tonight. If we can't open it
by Monday, I don't know how we'll send him to school. I guess we can
telephone the school office and ask if they'd mind him wearing a dress
just for one day. We can have the locksmith round then if we haven't
found the key." Once again I started to cry. "Oh do shut up, you really
are a big sissy sometimes. I've a good mind to say you're a girl when we
go to ballet on Monday night. How would you like that?" Then to my
sisters she said, "we might even have to!" and they all started laughing
as the tears rolled down my cheeks. My mother came over and pulled the
sandals onto my feet. Buckling them she said, "So now you're a girl for
the rest of the weekend, and maybe longer. You might as well enjoy it!
Come on, stop crying and I'll make your favorite tea, eggs, beans and
chips!" My sisters cheered and my tears slowed once more. She turned to
them, "look, I think he's very upset, why don't you just be nice to him
from now on huh? Play with him a bit, I think he feels left out
sometimes. Now he's just like another sister for you"
 -"Yes mum," they said and she left.
"So we have a new sister now," said Louise, "I think you'll like being a
girl, I'm sorry we teased you, you really look pretty in that skirt." I
blushed and looked down at my feet in tights and sandals. I ran my hands
over the corduroy skirt. How strange it felt! I said nothing and my
sisters decided to play a board game with me. I soon forgot my
predicament, but occasionally my sisters would point out that my skirt
was riding up and I would have to adjust it, at these moments, a blush
would come to my face. 

 Soon there was a call from Mother downstairs to say that tea was ready.
We all trooped down to the kitchen and she asked us how much of this or
that we wanted. When it got to my turn she said;
-"What about you young lady, one egg or two?", to which my sisters
giggled.
-"We like our new sister much more than our old brother, can't he always
dress like a girl?"
-"Well..." said my mother, "You've been so quiet this afternoon since I
was upstairs earlier, it does seem to make for more peace and quiet."
-"Oh Mum" I moaned.
-"Maybe I'll reserve it for when you've been extra noisy! You make a
good girl though, it's a shame it has to be a punishment." She looked
thoughtful for a minute then returned her attention to arranging a fried
egg on my plate. "Haven't you girls got any trousers between you? I'm
wondering what he's going to wear to school if..."
-"I've got some leggings!" volunteered Caroline
-"Well, I don't know..."
-"Oh please mum, don't make me wear a skirt to school, I'd be so
embarassed and the other boys will tease me."
-"You can try Caroline's leggings on after tea. They might be ok,
otherwise I'm afraid you may have to."
 We ate our meals then, clapping a hand on my back Caroline said to me,
"Come on sis, let's see what we've got for you to wear."

We clambered upstairs again and into Caroline's room. She flung open her
wardrobe and dug out a pair of stretchy cotton lycra leggings. They were
dark blue with small white polka dots. 
'Well, sis?' She asked and waved them at me. I nodded. They were still
pretty girlish, but at least they were approximately trousers. Just
then, mother came in,
'Yes they look ok, they're a bit casual, but I suppose they'll do for
school. Well it's nearly your bedtime. I suppose you'll have to wear
your sister's nightclothes. What do you have Caroline? Don't you have a
pair of pyjamas?'
'Yes... here' and she produced them. They were made of pale pink brushed
cotton. She giggled; 'At least you won't have to wear a nightie!'

I went to the bathroom to put them on and could hear my mother
struggling with the lock of my door. They felt so soft. Quite nice, if
only the colour hadn't been so girlish. When I came out my mother was
outside my room with a couple of screwdrivers and a bunch of keys:
 'I'm sorry Simon I just can't get it open, you'll just have to sleep in
the guest room.'
 'But what about to-morrow? What am I going to wear to church?' I asked.
 'You'll have to wear a dress. I hope no-one notices it's you! We'll
have to make sure they don't.' I looked down at my feet in slippers,
feeling miserable. My mother was going to dress me as a girl again and I
couldn't see any way out of it. I nodded and went to the guest room to
sleep.

 The next morning I had breakfast in my bathrobe which had been hanging
in the bathroom. It made me feel better to be wearing my own clothes
again, even if it was a bathrobe. But after eating my mother reminded me
that I'd soon be in girls' clothes again. I became withdrawn again after
that.
 'Come on, we've got to get you dressed nicely for church!' she cried. I
followed her reluctantly to the top of the stairss, to my sister's
bedroom, where I had to submit to the indignity of trying on various
dresses while my mother pulled my hair into various girlish styles.
Eventually she settled on a smart maroon velvet skirt suit for me. She
pulled out a blouse with a VERY frilly collar and after I had the
loathsome garment on she handed me a velvet jacket and skirt. They
fitted very snugly. She also gave me a clean pair of white tights to
wear under the skirt. For my feet I was given a pair of black shiny
shoes with a strap across the top of the foot. She explained that this
shiny type of leather was called 'Patent' and the shoes were called
'MaryJanes'. I felt so foolish and embarrassed being told the details
about such girlish clothes. When I was dressed, she took me to her
dressing table and brushed out my hair like a girl's. The she reached
into her drawer and b rought out some pale pink lipstick! I moaned as
soon as I saw it but she told me that it was far better that I made a
convincing girl otherwise the people at church would recognise me. I
felt foolish, but when I looked in the mirror, all that looked back was
a young girl of about my age. I was fascinated by my reflection, but
dared not say anything.

 At church, my mother introduced me as her niece from the North as I
shook hands with people whom I had known for a long time, but had to
pretend they were strangers. I felt ridiculous wearing a dress to
church, but my mother had said it was better that way. I wasn't so sure,
and I was amazed that I wasn't recognised. Eventually it was time to go
home and we all climbed into the car. My sisters made sure I wasn't
creasing my skirt as I sat down. They
had long since stopped teasing me about my predicament but it was still
enough of a novelty for them to fuss over me and ensure that I sat
correctly.

 When we got home they spent almost the whole afternoon with me, playing
with my hair and offering skirts and dresses to me to try on. For a
while I resisted, but I soon realised that I had never before had so
much positive attention from them. I really felt good that they were so
interested in me. I eventually decided to let them tie ribbons in my
hair. Caroline fetched two pale pink ones from her dressing table and
set to work. 
 'Pale pink? That doesn't match his outfit.' complained Louise.
 'I thought we could try him in something that it would match.' replied
Caroline. I moaned, but didn't struggle. I knew that if I just let them
dress me I wouldn't be left out of their games. With the ribbons tied,
Caroline fetched a pink satin dress with short sleeves and delicate lace
cuffs and hem.
 'He really needs a girl's name now. What about Sally?' suggested
Caroline.
 'Yes I suppose that's ok. This dress is made of satin, Sally, can you
see how shiny it is?' I nodded dumbly.

 Time flew, and before I knew it, we heard my mother's voice from
downstairs announcing that she had made some sandwiches. We went down
and I noticed a slight note of surprise in her eyes when she saw me.
 'My! You do look pretty! I keep forgetting you're in skirts today. It's
always a nice surprise to be reminded when I see you.'
 'We've been calling him Sally.' volunteered Louise. 'And we like him so
much better as a girl than as a boy.'
 'Well he does look better. And it's been nice not to have to come
upstairs and break up the usual fights today. How do you feel about
wearing dresses Sally' I said nothing. I looked at my feet. 'I think he
likes it, really.' finished my mother.
 
 We finished the meal without reference to my clothes or my new name. I
wondered how things would be when I got back to my old self again. Would
they just start teasing me again? As mother was finishing washing the
dishes she asked me to fetch an envelope from the desk in the study. I
brought it to her and she dried her hands on her apron and took it.
Inside was a glossy pamphlet about the ballet school. There were
pictures of the classes taking place. I couldn't see any boys in any of
them.
 'I was just wondering what clothes I should buy for you to wear in
class.' mother said, 'ah here we are, Uniforms: Black long armed leotard
and pale pink tights. Pink ballet shoes, available from Peterson's
dancewear. There's nothing about boys uniforms here. I'll just buy the
same for you. So you won't have to wear a tutu then Sally!' she
continued with a chuckle 'I'll buy them to-morrow while you're at
school.'

 The next day I got up and put on the clothes my mother had set out for
me, the blue leggings and a navy blue sweatshirt. I got some socks from
Caroline and luckily my school shoes were by the front door. Just then
my mother appeared.
 'Simon, er, I've just 'phoned the school to ask if it's alright if you
can wear leggings. They said the dress regulations are there for a
reason and if you can't wear your own school uniform you'll have to wear
your sister's.' I was dumbfounded. They wanted me to wear a girls'
school uniform. I started to cry.
 'Oh come on, now you're even crying like a girl. Come on upstairs now,
we have to get you dressed or you'll be late.
 'I don't want to' I whined through my sobs as we climbed the stairs.
She led me into Caroline and Louise's room.
 'He has to wear your other uniform, they won't let him wear leggings.'
My mother announced.
 'Oh mum! Well he's not going to get my nice skirt, he'll probably get
it dirty like on Saturday. He can wear my pinafore dress.' My mother
fetched it from the cupboard, along with a white blouse. She pulled my
arms throught the sleeves and buttoned it up.
 'Now put on your tie.' Sniffing back my tears, I tied it and pulled
down the collar of the blouse. 'Arms up!' She said, I did and she pulled
the dress over my head. It was made of the same dark grey material as my
school trousers, but it had a pleated skirt and no sleeves. She adjusted
my collar so that it was outside the dress and pulled the sleeves of the
blouse straight. 'There' she said. 'Now what about your legs? You'll be
too cold if you wear socks. Caroline have you got any woolly tights?'
 'In the drawer' she replied walking through the door to go downstairs.
 'Now you'll be nice and warm.' My mother continued as she helped me
with the tights 'Pull them up to the knee one leg at a time. That's it,
now up over your bottom. Watch out, you've got your skirt caught. Good.
Now how's that?'
 'I feel silly' I said, it was strange to have the sleeves of the blouse
outside the dress and my tie tucked under.
 'You look fine, like any other schoolgirl.'
 'But I don't want to be a schoolgirl. I'm a boy.' I said, the tears
welling agin in my eyes.
 'Look it's not my fault. If you'd left those keys where they were none
of this would have happened.' 

 I felt a ridiculous wearing my sister's uniform to school. As we were
going out of the front door, my mother gave me a note with me teacher's
name on. When I arrived at school I began to get raucous comments from
some of the other boys about the dress. They shouted out 'sissy' at me,
and even my friends gave me a wide berth. Eventually one of them asked
me why I was wearing such girly clothes. I explained that my sisters had
locked away all my clothes, but he just started laughing and began to
join the chorus of boys calling me names.
 Eventually it was time to go in and I rushed straight up to the teacher
and handed her the note. She unfolded it and read it. When the register
had been called she stood up and walked over to me.
 'Now 4b, Simon's had to come to school wearing his sisters' uniform
because his own clothes have been locked in his room.' There were
giggles at this. 'I know some of you, especially you boys, probably
think this is very funny, but I'd like you to imagine what that would be
like if it happened to you. It is not his fault, and I'm sure he's very
embarassed already without you making it worse. If I hear of anyone
picking on him because of the way he's dressed today...'
 -'the way SHE's dressed!' shouted Ralph from the corner.
 'That's ENOUGH Ralph! What if I were to ask your mother to send you to
school in a skirt hmm? If I hear that you or anyone else has bothered
him about this they'll be in big trouble. I mean it. And Simon?' I
looked up at her,
'You WILL let me know if anyone teases you won't you?' I nodded. My face
felt hot. I must have been as red as a beetroot.

 As it happened there were some comments from the other boys when they
were standing behind me, but they said them under their breath and quite
infrequently. I wouldn't have been able to say exactly who had said them
when I turned round. Everyone would be sniggering. I did notice that my
usual friends did not really seem interested in playing with me during
break times. Eventually some of the girls came over to me and asked me
to join their games. At first I wasn't sure, but I decided to anyway
because I didn't want to spend the whole day miserable and lonely. The
taught me some clapping and chanting games which were quite fun. I saw
the other boys watching me, and was that envy in their faces?

 At last it was time to go home. As I walked out of the school gates I
saw a group of the rougher boys standing together staring at me. I
expected trouble, but I think they were just trying to scare me as
nothing came of their threatening looks. I caught up with Caroline and
Louise on the way home.
 'Hey Sally!' they cried together when I appeared at their side.
 'Ohh don't call me that. I was nearly beaten up at school because of
this damn dress.'
 'Oh they're just jealous that they don't get to try on all those
dresses like you do.' said Caroline. 
I started; 'You didn't tell anyone about that did you?'
 'Only Helen. And Rachel. I know Rachel can keep a secret' She replied.
 'Yeah but what about Helen?' asked Louise. And they started laughing.
 'It's NOT funny. You don't know what those rough older boys would do if
they found out.'
 'Don't worry' said Caroline, 'I'm pretty sure she'll keep it to
herself.'

 When we got back I was more than a little worried about this potential
security leak about my weekend in dresses. My mother met us at the door.
 'So you're back girls, come in, we're having an early tea and then
you've got ballet!'
 'Hooray' shouted my sisters
 'Come on Simon' called my mother, I had started dragging my feet after
being referred to as one of the 'girls' and I'd clean forgotten about
the ballet lesson. I went inside and saw the kitchen table set for us. 
 'Did the locksmith come yet?' I asked
 'He's coming later, you'll have to wear your sisters' clothes until you
get back from ballet. I've bought you all uniforms.' She patted a
plastic bag on the side. 'And you can all change your clothes, I won't
have you turning up for ballet in your school uniforms. You can wear
your leotards underneath and just take off your top clothes when you get
there. Here, the food is ready.'
 We started eating.
 
'Mum can I wear the leggings on the way to ballet?' I asked 'I'm fed up
of wearing skirts.
 'Don't be silly dear, it'll be much easier if you wear a skirt then you
can just step out of it. It'll be too fiddly to mess around with
leggings.'
 'But mum...'
 'And that's the end of it!'
 We made another trip into my sisters' room to dress me. My mother
up-ended the bag and several smaller packages tumbled out.
 'Now...' she said 'These are Carolines, these are for Louise, and these
are for you Simon.' I took the packages, a pair of pink ballet shoes
were in one, one was the leotard, the last one the tights. They looked
so girly, but I was getting used to that. 
 'You have to put the leotard on after the tights, Simon!' Louise said
as she saw me opening the leotard wrapper. On the tights packaging was a
picture of a ballerina. I could hardly believe that I was doing this. I
was about to put on girl's ballet clothes and a skirt and go to my first
ballet lesson. I wasn't looking forward to the class. I pulled the
tights on the way my mother had instructed me earlier that day. Louise
checked that the seams were straight. Then I got out the leotard, such a
strange garment.
 'You just step in through the head hole and pull it up.' offered
Caroline who was already tying the ribbons of her shoes. I did so. It
was a snug fit, but not too tight. She then instructed me in tying the
ribbons on the ballet shoes.
 'Across the foot then round behind... the ankle, then tie them on the
inside of your leg. There.'
 'Don't put your shoes on yet' my mother said 'We have to walk to the
car and it's raining outside. Take them off. Now Simon we'll find you a
woolly and a skirt.' and she started rummaging in the cupboard. 'There.'
It was a fluffy white sweater and in her other hand she had a black
pleated skirt. Now resigned to dressing as a girl, I put up no
resistance as she pulled the sweater over my head. I then stepped into
the skirt which she held out in front of me. 'And you can wear your
sister's shoes, I don't want you wearing your school shoes with those
tights.' She found me some pink training shoes which I put on. They were
comfortable. Actually the outfit wasn't too bad. I was getting used to
these tight fitting garments.

 We got in the car and drove just to the outskirts of town to an old
Victorian house. A sign outside said 'Porters Ballet Academy' and we
went in. My mother spoke to the receptionist and then waved goodbye.
'I'd better get back in time for the locksmith. I'll pick you up at
6.30. Bye!' We all waved and went into the changing room. I was the only
boy, not that anyone would have noticed me in my skirt. I took the skirt
and the sweater off, then got the ballet shoes out of my bag. I had to
watch my sister doing hers as I had forgotten how to tie them already. 

 In the rehearsal room there were mirrors on three of the walls and a
wooden bar alongside. The teacher introduced herself as Miss Porter and
the pianist as Miss Dean.
 'Now girls' she said 'go and stand by the barre with your right hand
resting on it. Stand up straight!' I didn't comment that I wasn't a
girl, I figured it didn't really matter anyway, and I didn't want to be
laughed at again. She told us that the first half of every class would
be at the bar starting with simple stretching exercises then working up
to longer ones, then we'd move out to the floor and do some different
exercisesand steps. Miss Dean accompanied each exercise on the piano.
The barre exercises were very difficult, not least because of all the
French words. We were taught to stand in five different positions with
our feet and arms. In each position we had to bend our knees and squat
down keeping our backs absolutely straight. Miss Porter was very strict
and if she saw us leaning she'd come over and shout at us to straighten
up. All the time I could see myself dressed in a leotard and pink tights
in the mirrors. I looked just like any of the other girls as we moved
our limbs in unison.

 After about 45 minutes it was time to go to the centre. We were told to
stretch out for a while, then Miss Porter went out for a moment. She
re-entered with an armful of fabric.
 'Now I know you girls all want to be ballerinas. Normally in ballet
schools we make sure that you just wear your practise uniforms, but I
like to fuel you young girls' interest by having you in practise skirts
for the floor exercises, at least for the beginners class. Now line up
and you'll all get one to put on. We all lined up and were given a short
black net skirt to wear. It was sheer and only just covered our bottoms,
but the other girls seemed quite excited by it.
 'NO TALKING IN CLASS' shouted Miss Porter to the babbling girls.
Silently we adjusted the skirts. I didn't really mind wearing it. I saw
my sisters looking at me, but by this point I had got used to having to
put girls' clothes on. As long as no-one teased me I didn't mind.

 We did our floor exercises, more bends and arm movements, then finally
Miss Porter clapped her hands to call our attention.
 'Now girls, it's customary at the end of a ballet class for you all to
curtsey and then clap. The curtsey is an important part of any
ballerinas routine. It shows respect to the audience or her teacher.'
She showed us all how to curtsey and had us all do it one by one, I had
to repeat it a couple of times until I got it right.
 'No, Sally, bend your hend down!' Sally? I wondered why she was calling
me by my new girlish name. After we had clapped we went back to the
changing room. I put on my skirt and sweater and changed my ballet shoes
for those I'd borrowed from my sister. Just then my mother arrived. She
asked how it had been. My sisters were very enthusiastic and told her
about the skirts we were given to wear.

 In the car on the way home they told her how strict Miss Porter was.
 'And she really thinks Simon is a girl! She called him Sally.' 
 'Really? Well I don't think that matters. I had to tell them you were
called Sally because you were wearing a skirt. There might have been
some awkward questions otherwise. Don't worry though, the locksmith has
been and he's managed to get into your room. You won't have to wear your
sisters dresses any more!'
 'But won't Miss Porter be puzzled next week?' asked Louise.
 'Not at all. As far as Miss Porter is concerned Simon is Sally and
always will be. I'm going to take him shopping next Saturday and buy him
some skirts and dresses of his very own that he can wear when he goes to
ballet.'

 I said nothing. I had got to enjoy wearing dresses and tights, and was
not entirely looking forward to going back into trousers again, here was
an opportunity for me to wear my own skirts. I felt butterflies in my
stomach.
 'And you can wear them anytime you like, Sally!' she continued. I
paused, then;
 'Thanks mum.' I said. 'I do like wearing them now.'
 'Well it looks like we'll be getting you a whole new wardrobe on
Saturday then!' At this we all laughed. I began to imagine myself as a
ballerina on stage, wearing a long white tutu with rhinestones sewn into
the bodice and a tiara in my hair, tied back in a bun. Then I saw myself
as a Princess in long gloves and a long evening gown with a black velvet
bodice and lush full maroon satin skirt. Finally I saw myself in a
simple skirt and blouse playing with my sisters. Now I was accepted into
their games. I was one of them and I liked it. I looked forward to
Saturday and a beautiful future as both a boy and a girl.

END