And now for something different. Not different for me, come to think about it, but a change from the general gloom.

This is a sequel to “And the Winner is …” To understand this sequel you really need to (re)read that.

While my parents just stood there shocked Arnold said

“Until tomorrow morning then. I’ll take you up in the mountains so wear sturdy shoes and suitable skirt if you have one.

Thanks to my parents I did have one. A short one.

True to his word Arnold rang the bell at exactly 10 am. The skirt was the only girl garment I wore. Shoes, socks, shirt etc. were all my ordinary boy stuff. If only they had screamed “BOY” instead of just whisper it!

I admit. I had good time with Arnold that day. He certainly knew some good tracks and spots in the mountains and his ample back-back held a delicious lunch. And he had made it himself. Well, to be honest I didn’t really have a good time, I had a great time. For some reason Arnold and I just felt comfortable together. And as things turned out we have lots of interests in common. No hugging, no cuddling, no kissing - to my relief. Just a great day with a guy I liked (and not THAT way) in the mountains.

As Arnold had said we were back in time for dinner. Despite the way things had gone awry, much by their own actions and spite, my parents were scrupulously polite – at first. Then father found out that Arnold was into old cars. My father is passionate about them. I’m not. Another way I disappointed my father.

All the time Arnold was the perfect gentleman. When it was time to call it a night my parents took it with good grace that Arnold went out to his car to get his overnight bag. My parents implied that they had realized that Arnold had trolled the night before. They were calling the bluff.

“Good night boys. And have fun!”

That night my bed got a real work-out. It made lots of noise. But nowhere as much as Arnold and I. There was heavy breathing and moaning, there was grunting and screaming ending with

“Yes, yes, yes, YEEEES!” (me, falsetto)

Coming down to breakfast we met two shell-shocked parents. Then we tore into them. The way they had treated me. Pushed me into being girly to embarrass me. And then we revealed that last night was all a big act. No sex, only acting. Pure “When Harry met Sally”. Arnold had slept on the floor. Finally we got through to them. They were even a bit ashamed. But even more relieved. Still, I’d have liked them to be AS ashamed as relieved.

So that was the end of it all. Of course it wasn’t (even a Bru story isn’t his short).

I happily went to school that Monday. Full boy mode. Prepared for boys’ PE and all that. The Date (with capital D) was but a memory. A nice memory, but still only a memory. I was looking forward to going back to normal and the end of all this nonsense.

Of course some people wanted to know more about the Date. OK, practically everyone did. Everyone from Sally to the lowest of the low freshman pestered me. However, I’m NOT one to kiss and tell. Especially since I DID kiss. By lunchtime people had got the message. So after lunch I happily went and changed for boys’ PE only to be met by a surprised coach.

“Peter, why are you here? You train with the cheerleaders.”
“That was only for the silliness with the Date.”
“Nobody told me that. As far as I’m concerned you are a former student, an ex-student, a dearly departed student. If you have a problem with that talk to the Principal.” Coach Miller never was a great fan of mine.

So I went to see the Principal.

“Yes, you are still with the cheerleaders.”
“Why? It was just supposed to be until the Date?”
“Oh, but I have sooo much fun with this so I decided to keep you with the cheerleaders.”
“You are doing this to me because you think it’s fun?!!”
Why do people do this to me all the time. I’m a GOOD boy. I don’t kick puppies and steal little kids’ lunch money. Why do people keep doing this to me?

“Yes, it is. And tell me honestly. Do you prefer boys’ PE with coach Miller or cheerleading practice with miss Meunière?”
“I admit coach Miller and I don’t really see eye to eye but I want a stop to all this girly nonsense.”
“As I see it it’s a win-win-win-win-win situation. Coach Miller gets rid of you, you don’t have to deal with coach Miller, the cheerleaders keep their pet, you’re still a cheerleader if you want to date Arnold again. AND I have my fun! Besides, have you seen how happy our QB is today?”

I realized that further protesting was a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation. If I kept protesting the Principal would only find some way to embarrass me further. I’d just have to live with cheerleading practice. But that was IT! No more girly stuff.

Could I get any more humiliated? Yes, I could. After cheerleading practice I actually physically bumped into Arnold when going into the showers, both of us naked. I’ll refrain from repeating the comments from the football players.

Apart from that, things got back to normal. Not exactly as before since Arnold and I had become good friends. We did more things together and Arnold often came over to help Father restoring that old wreck in the back-yard. Another thing we did together was take ballet classes.

Arnold claimed that the performance of Spartacus we had seen had inspired him to start to take classes. Just for fun of course since he was too old for anything else. He also claimed that he had got an offer of 2 for 1. Meaning a male friend of his could take classes for free. I admit. I had my doubts about Arnold’s offer. I didn’t believe for a minute the thing about the 2 for 1. I suspected that he’d pay for me and the reason was that he was afraid to be the only boy and needed moral support. I was naïve. I never for a moment considered that Arnold might have had less than honorable motives. Anyway, I accepted the offer. I too had been captivated by Spartacus.

I later learned that I was both right and wrong. The 2:1 deal WAS real. Arnold did NOT want to be the only boy in class. As I came to see under the self-confident surface I realized that Arnold was much more vulnerable than he wanted anyone, including me, to know. Nonetheless, he did not have ulterior motives – then.

Too bad that I had got a “reputation” in town by that time. When I went to the dance store I had to firmly reject pink tights. I had done my homework and knew that boys wear white T-shirt or leotard, dance belt and BLACK tights. Too bad I hadn’t read enough to know the difference between girl black dance tights and boy black dance tights. The girl in the dance store was so convinced that I was a girly boy, the girlyfriend of Arnold, that she made sure I got the less than opaque girl version. I can’t figure out why since everything else I bought was boy stuff. First class - another embarrassment. However, by that time I had started to get used to all that. Since everyone in class assured me that it was all right to use those tights, no penis visible anyway, only my (firm) buttocks, I decided to just go with the flow. And besides, the teacher claimed that she’d see better how my muscles worked. Of course Arnold had the thicker, opaque boys’ version. To be honest he was quite handsome in the formfitting dance clothing. Me? I was called cute. And as Arnold had said, I have the best-looking legs in school, as set off by the all too thin dance tights.

So things were back to normal, barring a few minor issues. Like that most people in school were convinced that the honorary cheerleader and the big QB was an item. The fact that we had become good friends was misinterpreted. The minor issue that one of the cheerleaders moved away and I was shanghaied to be a regular cheerleader was another. After the way I had always supported the cheerleading squad I didn’t really have a(n awsome) leg to stand on when I tried to decline. As was the revelation to the school of my legs on match days when we wore the skirts to school. Hey, you didn’t think the Principal would let me be a male cheerleader? Not fun enough for him!

Still, I managed to keep my spot on the baseball B team through all this. Not that we had much success but regardless of the poor results I love baseball!

Things settled down as I said. School, cheerleading, baseball, ballet, spending time with the QB. Just ordinary boy stuff. Just as said QB taking me to a couple of ballet performances in the nearby city. We both had really got into this ballet thing. Arnold’s parents are well to do. Mine – miserly. Oh, they are also fairly well to do and not really miserly, c.f. earlier girly clothes purchases, but they think that teenagers should mostly gain their own pocket money themselves and with school, cheerleading, baseball, ballet, spending time with the QB … there was not much time for that. However, I paid for my own meals.

As the weeks went on Arnold outperformed himself on the field. The team went from victory to victory. Sally, now my fellow cheerleader, claimed that the real change came when I became a regular cheerleader. Pure silliness. If anything it was the ballet that gave him that extra edge. However, I did notice that the other football players were much nicer to me. The ribbing in the locker room had stopped completely. Yes, I still changed with the football team even if I was a cheerleader. Strange. The Principal insisted that the squad was a GIRL cheerleading squad and I should wear a girl uniform just as the other cheerleaders but I had to change with the boys and not with the other cheerleaders. Something didn’t quite add up there. Of course the reason was that the Principal was EVIL. Of course he himself claimed he wasn’t evil, just impish. And I couldn’t complain since that would mean involving my parents. My parents that were unaware that I was a cheerleader and not only the manly man boy that I desperately tried to convince them. Besides, Arnold convinced me it wasn’t worth kicking up a fuss.

Did I say normal? Well, it was for some time. Then Arnold started to act weird. We were still good friends but did he have to look at my legs so much? Even if the shorts I wore were almost to the knees. Since the weather was unusually warm well into Fall I preferred shorts. I decided to pull his leg, as opposed to my apparently irresistible ones. I voluntarily went to the mall to buy a piece of girl clothing. A pair of short shorts. A spur of the moment stupid idea.

First, I was the only boy that was alone in the shop which gave me some looks and some whispers between other shoppers. I think I heard Arnold mentioned. I tried to ignore them the best I could. I was not very good at it. And the shorts. I hadn’t really imagined them that short and girly. I turned around and started to leave the store only to bump into Mary from cooking class. Just my luck she worked in the shop that day.

“Aren’t they lovely shorts”
“Sure are. Sorry, but I have to leave now.”
“Oh, don’t be shy. Looking for something to tease Arnold?”
I was but really not in the way Mary thought.
“Hm, no I was just looking.”
“But these are not really what you are looking for. We have more exciting ones in the back of the store.”
The problem was that Mary talked a bit too loud and people started looking at us so I just followed her there.

“Look at these. Arnold will love these on you.”
OK, so why does everyone think that there is a thing between me and Arnold. I just ignored the fact that I was in the store exactly to buy shorts to disturb Arnold.

The shorts Mary held couldn’t be described as Daisy Dukes. Cheeky was more accurate. And neon pink.

“NO Mary, I’m not THAT kind of boy!”
“Are you really sure? These will look sooo good on you.”

Mary must be a witch. Somehow she got me not only to try on the offending garment. Very tight and very revealing. I still don’t know how I ended up outside the shop with a pair shorts in a bag. Denim, NOT neon pink but still cheeky.

Well, at least I wasn’t disappointed by Arnold’s reaction. He had problems trying to avoid looking at my legs when he drove us into the city that Saturday. On second thought this was not a good idea considering Arnold was driving Still, the whole thing would have been a great prank if only we hadn’t come across the Principal.

“Hello, Peter, Arnold. Nice Daisy Dukes Peter. I suppose you are aware that those are fine to wear to school, as long as you are a boy of course” He winked to Arnold and then he walked on with a Cheshire cat smile. Or was it an impish smile?

“Do you think he really meant that?” Arnold wondered rather shocked.
“Oh, he did. He most certainly did. He’s evil.”
“Evil? I don’t think so. He sounded friendly enough. But still he must have been joking.”
“NO!”
“Well, I bet you 100 dollars" he joked. I was weak and in need of money so I accepted the bet. That was a bet I couldn’t lose.

The Principal made a point of greeting me that Monday morning. And also making sure that everyone understood that ONLY BOYS, the implication being only me, were allowed to wear so short shorts, or so short skirts for that matter. He stressed the skirt part. And he had that damned Cheshire cat smile all the time.

This had two consequences: 1. No one doubted that I was Arnold’s girlfriend (girlyfriend?) any longer. 2. About a third of the girls started to hate me. Not because of Arnold. They had given up on him a long time ago. No, they couldn’t accept that I had more beautiful legs than they. Wait, what about the cheerleading skirts? Those are longish and when wearing those the focus was on the cheerleading. So people had only partly realized the awesomeness of my legs. Now EVERYONE looked at my legs. ALL of my legs, way up to … ahem. At least I won the 100 dollar bet. If only Arnold had shown any regret about losing. What he didn’t lose that evening was the football game. Arnold played better than ever. The Principal even came down on the field and told us how proud he was of the team – and of the squad. But why did he wink to me?

Changing after the game, after I had changed back into the cheeky shorts I turned around and saw Arnold. Red face and erect sign of sexual attraction. Only for a moment though. Then he grabbed his towel. That was the last day I didn’t wear long trousers. To school AND when I spent time with Arnold outside of school. Good thing the weather changed at that time.

This didn’t stop me from hanging out with Arnold though. I wondered what that said about me.

And for the record, my parents never saw those shorts. I made sure to sneak out and in. I always made sure to avoid anything girly that they could see. I was their manly son again. Even if I hadn’t gone to that man-up camp Father had wanted me to go to.

To be honest I was starting to have doubts about that though. I liked being friends with Arnold. I had got used to everyone in school assuming that we were a couple. I could live with that. What I found more difficult was living with what I thought. And perhaps what Arnold thought. I firmly pushed all those thoughts and doubts into the deepest holes I could find in my mind. I was a boy. Period!

As I said the weather changed and the Saturday before Christmas Arnold was over at my place when a snow blizzard hit us. No, Arnold wasn’t there because of me. He was there to be with his other friend, Father. They still had some work to do on that heap of junk before it was finished. I hadn’t expected them to spend THAT much time on that so I wound up in the kitchen helping Mother to prepare dinner. I had nothing else planned.

After dinner Father told Arnold that he had better stay the night at our place. Arnold went out to his car and brought back his oversized backpack. Then we went up to my room. No, the oversized backpack did not contain any overnight stuff for him. No pajamas. However, it did contain a parcel wrapped in Christmas paper. I had never seen Arnold so embarrassed as when he gave it to me. Not even the incident with the short shorts.

“Peter, this is a Christmas present for you. I know that this is not really what you expected or even wanted but when I saw it I couldn’t resist. I HAD to buy it for you. Ehrm glgll cough. Open it now and if you want to you can beat me up afterwards. I will not stop you. I know that you’ve said that you are not THAT kind of boy. ,,,,,,, Oh whathehell Merry Christmas.”

I opened the parcel. It contained the most exquisite baby doll set. NOW I understood what Mary in Mall had hinted about. So what if I had been back to that shop and looked at a few things? It wasn’t like I had bought anything after the shorts!

What do you know? I WAS that kind of boy. However, we made sure not to make too much noise. To be honest I wasn’t that excited by the mechanics of it all even if Arnold was but I liked the emotional side of it.

At breakfast
“Hey boys, no need to go into all that acting again. We got the message last time so no need to try to shock us again. You are good actors but you overacted this time. Especially Peter’s high pitched ecstatic screaming “Yes, yes, yesyesyes, YEES YEEEEEEEEEES!” was a bit over the top. “