Fancy Dress day - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

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Jennifer White, the author, is excited to share a charming and succinct story on Patreon.

Summary - The story is about a boy named Eddie who got himself into trouble because he forgot it was fancy dress day at school. If he goes home to change, he'll get in trouble with school and his mother, but if he stays the same, everyone will think he's cheap. Eddie's cousin Claire may have an answer, but it involves him wearing a skirt and being teased all day.

Eddie checked his watch and sighed in relief. He was going to be early, well, on time, which was almost the same as early. Mrs. Hawthorne had threatened him with detention and a letter home if he kept being late, she wouldn't have anything to complain about today.

He had a feeling that he had forgotten something important, but it couldn't be as important as getting to form a group on time.

It was Friday, and all he was really worried about was getting through the day so he could get to the weekend. "Hey, Eddie! How's it going?" Claire surprised him from behind and grinned as he swung around to find her. "Oh, hi. It's good. Thorny said she wouldn't give me detention as long as I'm on time today." "Cool." Eddie noticed Claire was wearing a striped jumper under her jacket, cut-off jeans, and trainers. "Aren't you going to get in trouble with that?"

"Duh! I'm a pirate." Claire ruffled his hair until Eddie pulled back. "It's Children in Need Day, isn't it." She looked at his uniform. "Didn't you remember?" Eddie groaned, now he knew what had been bothering him. He was supposed to turn up in costume today. "Oh God, I'm going to be the only one wearing my uniform." Claire nodded. "They'll probably think you're being cheap." You had to pay two Pounds for the privilege of turning up in fancy dress with the money going to the charity, everyone would be doing it. "What am I going to do?

I can't go in my uniform, everyone is making jokes about me all day. All term! But I haven't got time to go home, they'll write to Mum and she'll kill me about being late!" Claire thought for a moment, smiled, opened her mouth, then closed it again. "What?" "Well, I was thinking. But no.

You wouldn't like it." "What?" Eddie stopped walking and Claire turned around after a couple more paces. "Look, it was a stupid idea. Alright?" "Claire, I can't go like this. It'll just give another reason for Craig to pick on me, and no one's going to forget it, are they? But if I go home and change I'll only just make it to our first lesson, which means Thorny's going to explode, I'm going to be in detention next week, and my Mum will properly explode when they write to her."

"You're still not going to like it." "Not going to like what?" Eddie was almost shouting. "Come on, we're going to be late no matter what if we don't get moving." "Why? We've got loads of time." "Well, I have sort of got a spare costume at school." "Oh, right. Is it another pirate's costume?" "Uh, no. It's not exactly a costume, but it will be for you.

If you see what I mean." Claire had started mumbling. "What are you going on about?" "You're really not going to like it." "Claire, if you say that one more time I'm going to go mental." "Just wait and see, OK?" Eddie grumbled until they reached Claire's locker, but she wouldn't tell him anymore. Inside her locker was a big plastic bag, she pulled it out and passed it to him. Eddie looked inside. "It's a uniform. Duh, I've got one of those, that's my problem!" "Duh, no you don't," said Claire, imitating his tone. "What you've got is a boy's uniform. What I've got is a girl's uniform." He pulled the clothes out of the bag. She was right, a blouse that he'd mistaken for a shirt, a cardigan, socks, and a skirt.

Eddie opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again as his brain whirred. If he went home, he'd be late, which meant big trouble. If he went in, everyone would make fun of him, for weeks, which would be just as annoying. If he borrowed Claire's uniform, it meant being dressed as a girl all day, which meant everyone would make fun of him.

But would they make fun of him longer if he kept his own uniform, or wore hers? "Why can't you wear my uniform and I'll wear your costume?" Eddie relaxed as he thought he'd seen an easy way out of his problem. "Girls are allowed to trousers, and those jumpers," Claire indicated the v-neck school sweater Eddie was wearing. "So that's not really a costume, is it? And I'm not the one who forgot it was fancy dress today." "OK, OK," Eddie tried to think of another way out. He looked from Claire to her clothes and back. "Nuh" his brain cut him off as he said 'No.' He thought some more.

Claire gave her watch a significant look. "Uh, well, Alright then. Yes, thanks. I think." "Cool. If we hurry you'll have time to change before forming a group." Claire hurried him along. "Hey, I bet no one else thinks of this costume." "Yeah," said Eddie drily. "I bet they don't." "Come on, it'll be a laugh." Claire was grinning again. "For everyone else!" "You'll be fine. It's only for one day." "Yeah, I know." Eddie sighed. One whole day. His stomach was doing flip-flops, but this really seemed the best way to go. Apart from missing school all day, that was one he hadn't considered.

He mentally kicked himself for forgetting the obvious. Besides, he knew he'd get caught if he tried to dodge for the day, he always did if he did something wrong, like he was the only one who got told off for being late, when Bryan got away with it all the time. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" "Inspiration," muttered Eddie as his friend pulled him down the corridor. "Or a time machine might do." Claire led him to the toilets at the end of the corridor to the Art rooms. "Come on, no one's in this one," said Claire and dragged him into the girl's toilet. "Hey! I was going in there," Eddie indicated the boy's toilet. "I can't be a lookout in there, can I?" Eddie took the bag into a cubicle and undressed before he could bottle out of the idea. "I can't believe I'm doing this.

I can't believe I'm doing this." Eddie muttered to himself as he tried to work out which way around the skirt went on. Eventually, he put the zip on the right and fastened it up. "How come you've got a uniform in your locker?" Eddie asked, loud enough for Claire to hear through the door. "Weren't you wearing it yesterday?" "You know when the band was being photographed last week? Mum made me bring it in, in case I spilled something down my front at lunchtime." This was quite likely, Claire had a habit of getting distracted when she was eating. "She'd been nagging me to take it home, but I keep forgetting."

The blouse went on like his shirt but felt a bit softer and the buttons did up the other way around, which was surprisingly confusing. Tucking the blouse in felt wrong as the skirt shifted against his legs. The socks were long girl's ones that went up his whole calf.

He put his own shoes back on, glad to have some normality in what he was wearing. He stepped out of the cubicle, waiting for Claire to laugh. Claire had been ready to laugh but was a little disappointed when Eddie reappeared. He still looked like her friend, and her clothes hadn't really made that much of a difference. "Oh," she said. "You look, uh, OK. Kind of like a female version of you, a bit, I guess. Come on, let's stick your stuff back in my locker before the bell goes." The warning bell sounded while they were pushing the bag into Claire's locker.

Eddie would have liked to put it in his, but there wasn't enough room, he had a bag of magazines in there for Stuart, but he'd been off sick. He felt strange, rushing through the school to his form room. The skirt kept flapping around and the breeze on his bare legs beneath it felt weird, different from how shorts felt. Just as they reached their form room Eddie stopped as his stomach twisted. The final bell went, drowning out whatever Claire was saying to him, and Eddie took a deep breath.

Claire reached out and squeezed his hand before turning and going into the classroom. For half a second, there was no response, but Eddie's stomach didn't untwist. "Who forgot it's Child" The voice changed. "Hey, it's Eddie!" "Woohoo! Who's a little girlie then?" "Blow us a kiss, pretty!" "Let's have a look under your skirt!"

Eddie felt his face flush as he blushed, but he managed to make it to his chair, fending off one of the older boys trying to grab the edge of his skirt. He sat down and the skirt bunched into an uncomfortable lump under his bottom. He raised himself up a little and scooped the skirt under his legs with his hands, trying not to draw any more attention to himself.

"All right, all right. Settle down!" Called Mrs Hawthorne. "It's nice to see you on time for a change, Eddie. Even if you are dressed a little... controversially, shall we say. That's enough Darren."

The final sharp words were directed at one of the year nine boys, who had moved on to cruder comments.

"I take it this is in aid of Children in Need?" Mrs. Hawthorne raised her eyebrow.

Eddie was still flushed but managed to reply in an almost normal voice. "Yes, Mrs Hawthorne. I didn't want my costume to clash with anyone else's." Darren and his friends had all come as mobsters and Eddie was trying to get in a dig at their expense, but the effect was lost when his voice started to squeak at the end of the sentence.

"Yes, well, very innovative thinking, I'm sure. Now next week if you can match today for punctuality, if not dress sense," This brought another laugh from the class. "I'm sure we can forget all about your recent track record."

Eddie nodded mutely, his face red from embarrassment. Fortunately, form group only took fifteen minutes and he was soon on the way to his first lesson, Maths. He drew a few comments in the corridor, but most of the other pupils were more interested in getting to their lessons than looking at him. When he got a chance to think, Eddie supposed they thought he was just a girl who'd forgotten what the day was.

The form group was a mix of years, but Maths was his normal class. This meant a lot more people seeing him for the first time and a lot more comments, especially as the teacher was a couple of minutes late.

Several of his classmates seemed interested in exactly what he was wearing under the skirt and he had to fend off various hands trying to find out. Eddie gritted his teeth and kept reminding himself that every minute of the lesson he survived was a minute closer to the end of the day.

"So, are you going to be a girl every day?" asked Bernard with some relish. "Are we going to have to call you Edwarda?"

"Edwina!" Zoe called from across the room.

"Edwina's a lovely name," said Brooke, it was hard to tell if she understood what was going on.

"Edwina's a lovely name," mimicked Craig in a high-pitched voice.

Eddie blushed deeper than ever. The cardigan sleeves were long enough to flop over his hands and he leaned his face on them, his fingers over his ears. He tried to ignore all the comments going on, and the bits of pencil rubber being thrown at his head. Where was the teacher?

Mr Maxwell bustled in, late, but unapologetic, although he would have demanded an explanation for any pupil who was late. He quietened the class down and took the register, rushing through the familiar names.

"Freya?" "Yes," Eddie got ready to speak. "Eddie?"

"Edwina!" Craig corrected, loudly, and the class dissolved into giggles.

"What?" Mr Maxwell stared around the class and his eyes stopped on Eddie as if seeing him for the first time. "Oh. Very droll. Interesting outfit, Mr. Simmons, that was certainly a brave choice."

"Thank you, Mr. Maxwell," said Eddie dolefully, wishing he'd had the idea of bunking off for the day earlier. It would have been worth the risk.

"Thank you, Mr. Maxwell," Craig repeated in a high-pitched, mocking voice.

"That will be quite enough of that," said the teacher sharply, his eyes boring into Craig. "Any more and I will be enjoying your company at the front of the class."

Craig's good humor subsided, he'd had several run-ins with the Maths teacher in the past and did not want to be under his beady eyes for a whole morning.

While the rest of the register was taken, Eddie risked a glance at the back of the room. Sally was back there, hiding as she didn't like the Maths lessons. She was wearing a sparkly dress with a Union Jack on the front and looked even better than usual. She was talking to Anika so wasn't looking in his direction. He was both sad about that, and relieved, he wasn't sure how she'd take him being dressed in a girl's uniform.

He looked back before Mr. Maxwell could get irritated and tried to focus on what he was trying to explain. The dock was moving far slower than it should, but at least everyone was too scared of the teacher to be poking fun at him.

By break time Eddie had almost managed to forget about the clothes, concentrating on the problems Mr Maxwell had set them. He didn't really want to leave the classroom during the break, but they were all dismissed so the teacher could lock the room. After fending off several more searching hands, Eddie escaped with Claire to the form room of one of her friends.

It was a bit of a grim room, dark and in need of repainting and a little bit of love. This was useful, as not many people wanted to hang out in it during their limited break time. Eddie hunkered down in the corner with Claire's friends. He'd met them before, Judy was in their class, and he'd been to the same primary school as Sarah and Debbie. Claire told them how he'd ended up borrowing her spare uniform.

"Aw, I thought you were just being clever. No one else would have thought of it," said Judy.

"That's because no one would want the stick I'm getting. Everyone wants to look up my skirt."

"That's just the boys," said Sarah. "Karen's the worst!" "Yeah, but she's only doing it because of Craig," said Debbie. "And because she's jealous," put in Sarah. "What?" "Because you're prettier than she is!" "Aw, shut up!" Eddie scowled as the girls laughed, but he didn't mind too much. They were taking his outfit a lot better than everyone else had. "You know, it does kind of suit you," commented Debbie.

"What do you mean?" said Eddie.

Debbie cocked her head to one side. "I dunno, it just doesn't look as out of place on you as I would have expected, not that I've really thought about it. Maybe it's just me."

"Look, the only reason I'm doing this is so I didn't get into trouble. As soon as today's over, I just want to forget about it. And it can't end quick enough for me, alright?"

"Hey, calm down," Claire reached out and touched his elbow, and he felt Sarah nudge against him from the other side. "She's just saying, OK? We all think you're doing really well with this, don't we?" All of her friends nodded. "Not many boys would spend all day as a girl, they'd have been too scared. Come on, we've just got the rest of Maths left, then it's lunchtime. Half the day is gone already."

Eddie shrugged away from Claire's hand. "Yeah, OK. I'm sorry. This is just really the worst day possible."

"Yeah, alright, we know." Claire squeezed his hand for a moment. "Come on, we'd better get back to the Maths block."

Eddie was relieved that the trip back to their classroom was relatively free of comment, and Mr Maxwell controlled the class more quickly so he could soon lose himself in the problems they had been set. Halfway through the lesson, Karen almost managed to lift his skirt up before he noticed what she was doing, but after the fuss had died down she was sitting in front of Mr Maxwell's desk and didn't cause any more trouble for the rest of the lesson.