A New Cheerleader - Part 1

PART 2 | ALL STORY LIST

Tony had always been an athletic kid, but except for soccer and floor exercises in gymnastics, he was too small to play most games. He was now a high school freshman and had, in fact, made the soccer team, but that was not his first love.

He was more of a gymnast, an acrobat of sorts. He could do back flips, handstands, walking, and flip-ups from a lay-down position, and his best trick was the running split, which he did with apparent ease. There wasn't another boy in the class that could do it, not even the Kung Fu kids.

The only problem was that his school didn't offer gymnastics as a sport for boys, only for girls. The gym was big enough that they had a permanent practice pad for the runs. He was kidding with one of his girl friends one day about ways to get into the football games for free, and she suggested he try out for the cheerleaders, something a boy had never done before. Tony did have all those moves and was, unfortunately, going to take after both his parents and be short, having probably reached his adult height of 5'5" and 125 pounds.

Brenda was, after all, already on the squad, and she could put a good word in. After some coaxing, he said that he would try out, and if he made it, then he could forget about having to buy a student pass to football and basketball. That was worth something. Tryouts were the second week of school. Tony was going to be a sophomore this year, and he wanted to earn a letter in something. He wasn't very good at soccer. Maybe he could do it in cheerleading. Well, Mrs. Cling was impressed with Tony's energy and all those gymnastic moves, so he was invited to join the squad.

Watching a boy wave pom-poms was something new, but they would get used to it. The four girls who were already on the squad liked Tony and were not threatened by his prowess but rather impressed by it, and so they accepted him enthusiastically. He would jump up and wave his pom-poms when the team scored, but he didn't get all squealy and excited like the rest of the squad. It wasn't appropriate for a boy, he thought, even though the emotion was there.

His mom was quite pleased, but his father was not too thrilled about his son being a cheerleader. "What kind of job is that for a boy?' he asked. "Give him a chance, Frank. After all, he's too small for team sports." "What's he going to be wearing, Annie?" "Just the same as the rest of the squad, a tank, tee, or sweatshirt, except he'll wear pants or shorts, I guess," she said. "Well, I know they use boy cheerleaders in some colleges, but Tony had better not end up coming off wimpy," said his dad. "Oh, I don't think so, dear, she said. The girls seem a little reserved about his being there, but they'll get over it, I'm sure."

As practice progressed into October and the first game, Tony and the girls were ready with all their routines. Ordinarily, having a boy on the squad would mean that there would be lifts and some tossing around, but Tony was too small for that.

He was right in the middle as to size, just as likely to be the one tossed. Instead, they featured each cheerleader in his or her specialty. The student body knew about the new cheerleader, and a lot of them were ready to make fun of him, but Tony did an exceptional job that left little room for criticism.

He was there to create enthusiasm, and he did. They were surprised at his gymnastics, and most had not seen a boy do a flying split before. That got its own applause. As the weeks progressed and Tony became really friendly with the girls and less of an outsider, they were more accepting of him. The four of them hung out together on weekends and began to ask Tony if he would like to come along and began, for all intents and purposes, to treat him just as they did each other. He was a little embarrassed and uptight hanging with a bunch of girls, and at first, he refused. However, they persisted in inviting him.

They liked him and knew that he brought something special to the team. So, from then on, if you wanted to find Tony, all you had to do was look for the rest of the cheerleaders, and there he'd be, or they knew where he was. When the school had a dance, he would dance with the ones who weren't taller than him. Tony's membership gave rise to another boy joining, but it soon became clear that he was there more to get next to the pretty girls than to do some serious work.

At this point, Tony was still spending some time at the bowling alley with his buddies Carl and Rick. One of the things it was hard for Tony to get used to was the pom-poms and not only being energetic in his performance but also being graceful like the rest of them. However, he soon found himself jumping up and down, squealing, and carrying on with the rest when their team made a goal or touchdown. Being with the girls all the time, the squealing just became contagious. It was so subtle, he didn't notice his transition to a squealing teen. They worked on both the football and basketball games.

Gradually, the sharp edges of his performance disappeared to be replaced with all of the aplomb that would have been expected had he really been one of the girls with all those gymnastic talents. Mrs. Cling seemed pleased with the streamlining, which made him seem more 'one of the group' rather than a lone boy on the team. Except for the red pants and no bumps in his sweater, Tony could now easily pass in the upcoming cheerleading competition if it were not for the fact that he was a boy. There were no provisions in the rules for accommodating a male in the competition. Boys were not at all common as yet, at least in his district.

She kept working on a way to get around that. He did have long hair, which he kept in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and he did wear an earring, like most of the guys on the athletic teams. He wore the same saddle shoes and socks as the girls, too. Brenda had given him a cheerleader's bracelet to wear, which he wore to school most of the time. It was quite feminine, but it was, after all, a gift from a girlfriend.

How could he not wear it? She was nice, and they became rather close during the season. It was time to submit applications for the competition, and Janice, their coach, submitted the applications for all five of them but made a slight error and spelled his name TONI. When she handed the applications out for their signatures, Tony was quick to notice this and was going to make a big deal of it but then thought, What the heck, I'll just sign it the way she wrote it, and so he did.

And, coincidentally, Brenda asked him if he was looking forward to having to shave one day. He said that he'd watched his dad have to do it every day, and it wasn't really one of the things about adulthood he was looking forward to. Brenda told him that he might not have to. "What do you mean? he said."

"My mom has some pills that will help you out with that if you want to try them. They'll probably keep it from growing. She's making me take them. You could just try two or three a week. I really think it might help you." "I'll think about it, Brenda, and thanks." Brenda, it seems, wanted a closer, more homogenous group.

The committee's acceptance letter came and stated that their five girls would be welcome and that they were looking forward to meeting them. Well, her five girls? They could only compete on that basis now unless she wanted to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops or just go with a team of four, but what was she going to do about Tony? His gymnastics were an impressive contribution to the squad. She decided to pass out copies of the letter and drop the matter into the team's lap.

They were all shocked, and needless to say, Tony was a little beside himself. He had picked up on their mannerisms and gestures, giggles, and general good humor, all of which now seemed to be continually plugged in, but go to the competition as a girl? Brenda was the team captain and his best friend on the team, so she took it upon herself to talk it out with him. "Tony, I know this is quite a shock, but if we don't compete the way we were entered, then we can't compete at all, and I just know that with all your gymnastics, we can win. Won't you please consider it for me?" she cooed. Since it was Brenda doing the asking, he said he would think about it.

After all, none of the kids from the school were going to be at the competition, just the other teams and the judges. A week later, he told Brenda that he would be Toni for the competition, and she told his teammates. They were ecstatic. They began to treat him more like Toni and got him a girl's uniform to practice in, complete with a bra, pants, and skirt. They quickly decided Toni should wear a very tight control panty under 'her' uniform panty just to be certain.

The skirts were pretty short, after all. "Brenda."  "Yes Tony?"  "I think it might be the right time to try those pills now. I have a feeling about something." "OK.  I'll bring you some." He began taking one every other day or so with no apparent ill effects. Tony wasn't stupid. He knew what they were, but they were for keeping you from getting pregnant, and he sure knew he couldn't do that, so what harm could they do except keep his beard from growing?

Unfortunately, biology was not on Tony's curriculum, so he altered the routine to take 5, then 6 a week. Toni was rather enjoying 'her' new level of acceptance and began wearing  'her' ponytail with a Scunci (otherwise known as a scrunchie) holding it rather than a rubber band.  ' She' also began wearing that tight panty all the time to get used to the confinement so it would feel natural and not affect  'her' performance at the competition, especially when she did a split, except on the days she had gym class.

'She' also needed some practice in the best way to hide the obvious and found that he could actually put part of himself back inside and push the other one down and back. It was a little uncomfortable and he had to sit to pee, but he was getting used to it. Brenda talked him into getting his other ear pierced and, while not wanting to wear two earrings to school, just switched the stud from his left ear to his right while at school and it was healing.

He was wearing them both most of the time, however, when not at school. Brenda even got him a pair of little gold hoops for his birthday, and he took to wearing them all the time, both of them. Rather than subject Toni to any ridicule, they decided to hold their last couple weeks' practice for the competition after dinner rather than right after school, having the gym all to themselves so he could get used to being Toni, his girl self. Well, they had him in the weighted bra and a skirt, but he still didn't pass because of one tiny inconsistency—no makeup.

So Janice took Brenda aside and asked her if she would try and get Toni to accept the makeup and tweezing and teach 'her' to use it because all the 'girls' would be using the same locker room at Bayshore High, and at 16, Toni couldn't have some other girl doing her makeup. It wouldn't be natural. Of course, it wasn't natural for a boy to be in the girl's locker room either, except the other girls didn't seem to mind him seeing them 'that way.' He'd already won their hearts by agreeing to be Toni and letting them compete.

He had now been accepted into that inner circle where no man may go, and seeing his teammates in various stages of undress became routine. Tony didn't have too much trouble by this time passing for Toni. The team had tutored him to act like a girl, and in a proper uniform, he had no problem looking like one except for the makeup. He was fine from a distance, but when you got up close, you could see some of the hardness of his male features.

Brenda was making slow progress, but Toni realized that the other cheerleaders would be made up to the hilt with stage makeup, so he conceded, and she bought the right colors for his complexion and gave him a couple lessons in 'the works.' He would practice the makeup in his room before bed and then wash it off. Brenda had shown him how to do his eyes up dramatically with liner and shadow, and, much to his surprise, he rather liked his face—her face. He was also getting a little charge out of what those pills were doing.

He was going to have his own A cup by competition time, and the girls were thrilled for the new girl on the team. His mom had seen the skirt hanging in his closet, even with his best efforts to hide it, and had noticed the change in the ponytail and the earrings. She had also found the used makeup and a 6" magnifying mirror in his desk drawer but said nothing for fear of upsetting him and making his father angry, and she found his extra sports bra in his sock drawer, where he had hoped to hide it.

She had also noticed that he didn't get all his eyeliner completely off sometimes or the foundation completely off his neck, and his fingernails were becoming quite pretty. His mom was pretty smart and put it together that he was competing as a girl in the competition, although she couldn't figure out how that got past the school or why her son would be doing such a thing.

The following Thursday was 'dress' rehearsal, and Toni brought all his stuff to school and got ready. His team mates had been very inventive, and one of them had made up some kind of cream-colored Jell-O that she put into clear balloons to give him the right 'look' and bounce under his sports bra to make him look like a B cup. She even figured out how to put silicone nipples on them.

When he showed up on the floor, everyone was waiting and gave him a big cheer. That night, he really was just one of the girls, and two of them were taller than he was (and the nipples did show through). Toni even went out with them to the local ice cream parlor afterwards. There was some buzz about some new girl making the cheerleading team, but nobody knew who she was. With full makeup, Tony became invisible.

Only six of them were there at practice, including the coach. Of course, he always carried a gym bag, so his mom didn't know he had a girl's cheerleading outfit in it and his makeup, or so he thought. The next glitch came when Janice was to transport them to the competition. It had been decided that they would wear their 'regular' clothes so as not to get any spots or wrinkles in their uniforms of white pleated skirts and maroon tops.

This presented quite a problem for poor Toni. 'She' didn't have a thing to wear, and if they won, Janice had promised to take them all out to celebrate,  again, in their regular clothes, which in this case meant dresses, skirts, blouses, flats, or heels. However, since they knew all 'her' sizes, the team put together an outfit for 'her', most of which came from Teresa, the next tallest one.

Of course,'she' had to wear makeup with it and tie 'her' hair up with a bow in the school colors. Tony, poor thing, was becoming accustomed to looking and acting like Toni and interacting with others just as though he actually was. When he was dressed as Toni now, he WAS Toni, a fact that Janice appreciated as she could lose her job if the competition committee found out.

She wasn't too worried about the school board. She knew they were truly hungry for the trophy. It had been five years since they had won, and how Tony's name was spelled wouldn't matter to them. Brenda helped Toni get ready for 'her' debut. She was a little surprised at how well Tony was taking all this and mentioned that to him.

He just said, "Brenda, I'm also in drama club. I looked at this as a part of a play, and in order to do it, I had to 'get into it,' just like Patrick Swayzee in that drag movie, "To Wong Fu." "Funny, I didn't expect to like wearing the dress and lingerie, hose, heels, and makeup, and I never thought I could pass as a girl. I thought it would be just as easy to 'get out' as it was to 'get in', but I'm finding I rather like being Toni.

It's a very different and somehow satisfying role, and I'm getting comfortable with it. Do you think those pills might have something to do with that?" "Maybe, she replied. "  "It's kind of fun, though, fooling all those people, he said. It's like I'm turning in a really good performance." "Toni, how long have we been friends? she  asked. "About five years." "And in that time, don't you think I've gotten to know you?"

"Well, I guess so." "You may be fooling them, Toni, but not me. "What makes you think that I don't know that you truly like being a girl, even if it is only a role, which, by the way, I'm seriously beginning to wonder about, and yes, I do think the pills are helping your 'performance'. If you want more help, take at least one a day, quit on the 25th, and start the 1st again."

"You are a cute little wench, Toni, and I just love how feminine you've become. Is that an act too?" "I wish I knew Brenda. I'm beginning to wonder." "You never were one to beat around the bush, were you, Brenda?" "Guess  not." "All right, I like it. There!  Are you happy?" "I am if YOU are Toni with an I. I don't mind having another girl friend, and if that turns out to be you, great. I don't care how you dress. It's YOU I like, not what you wear, although I may give you a dig about it once in a while.

I'll even help. How about it?" "I don't know Brenda; these feelings are all pretty new to me. I never thought I'd get such a kick out of it." "You're only 16, Toni. There's plenty of time to see just how far you want to go with it. You haven't even had to deal with really high heels yet." "Well, right now, how far I'd like to go is to try on that blue chiffon gown of yours and the heels that go with it, but we don't have the time.

Does that give you a clue, Bren?" "Is this skirt and blouse okay with these shoes?" "You look perfect, Toni, she replied. "And the earrings?" "Perfect.  Now let's go, you sweet young thing." Well, what can I say? When they all piled in the car to go to the competition, there were five girl magpies and one older one carrying on like everything was perfectly normal, which it was getting to be. They were the fourth team to compete, and their routine wows the judges. Two of the 'other' girls helped Toni do a double back flip. They had to wait for the other four to finish before they got the final decision.

That night, Janice was a very happy camper. She had coached the winning team, and they all did indeed go out and celebrate at Baskin Robbins with the five girls and their coach. There was an awful lot of laughing, teasing, and general giggling going on that night as they left Toni off in front of 'her' house. Her uniform was in her bag, but she was TONI completely when she walked through the door. Tony had promised his mom that they would be with the coach and would come home at a decent hour, so the house, thank heaven, was dark.

Tony knew his mom would still have one eye open, but his dad would be snoring away so Toni let herself into the house quietly, turned off the porch light, and went upstairs and got out of 'her' clothes and makeup. Tony was rather sad to see Toni disappear and began to give some serious thought to Brenda's offer of help with the wardrobe.

He hung the clothes up and went to bed, knowing that his dad would be out when he needed to return the clothes to Teresa and Brenda. It was what his mom was going to say when she saw them that he was worried about.

He didn't know she'd already seen the skirt to his uniform and found his gold mid-heeled mules under the bed. That night, he dreamt about the blue chiffon. And he didn't know that he had forgotten the hair ribbon either. A psychologist might think he wanted to get caught! Maybe!