Fancy Dress day - Chapter 2

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Lunchtime brought another gauntlet to be run. Pupils were only supposed to eat in one of the two canteens, and there were groups Eddie would rather avoid in both of them. He hung back at the end of the lesson and tried to see which way Craig went at the bottom of the stairs. He was pretty sure Craig and his cronies had gone to the East canteen, so he headed West with Claire.

"Give us a kiss!" Shouted a random boy as they passed him in the corridor, making a kissy face like an injured fish.

Several older girls gave him disgusted looks and Eddie started to feel like going to the canteen was a bad idea. What if he just skipped lunch? A hand stole into his and gave him a squeeze.

"Hang on in there," said Claire quietly. "If you show you don't care about the comments, they'll stop."

This sounded like something his mother would say and while he'd love to believe it, Eddie knew it wasn't true. Some kids never stopped, and while he was in these clothes, they had a perfect target.

"Maybe I should just skip eating," suggested Eddie. "I could"

"I need to eat, and so do you," interrupted Claire. "You're not going to get through this afternoon without anything to keep you going."

Eddie sighed, he knew Claire was right, but that didn't really help.

"Is that Sally and Freeya up ahead?"

He knew Claire was trying to distract him, but Eddie couldn't help looking. He reached up on tiptoes to see past some of the bigger kid's shoulders and spotted Sally's long hair and the top of her sparkly dress.

"Yeah," he sounded doleful but knew his friend had found the one thing that was going to make him keep going.

"At least you've definitely got one more friend in there."

They joined the queue for food. Eddie concentrated on the menu as several more comments came his way. Claire stood between him and the crowd, so he didn't have to worry about his skirt. He selected based on how quickly he thought he could eat.

"Forgotten it was Children in Need day?" asked the woman taking their money as he fumbled in his bag.

"Urn, yeah, but my friend helped me out." Eddie didn't feel like getting into a whole conversation about it but was surprised the dinner lady had worked out what had happened.

"Oh, that's nice, getting you something to change into, are they?"

"No, they," Eddie sighed, realizing the woman thought he was a girl still in her normal uniform, he took his change. "It doesn't matter. Thank you."

There were some spaces at a table over near the window and Eddie made a beeline for them, knowing Claire would catch up. A table where there were only people on one side of them meant he'd face half the hassle.

As he passed a group of older boys on the way to the empty table, he felt a sudden sharp pain from his backside.

"Ow!" Twisting away from the pain, Eddie's bag slid off his shoulder and down his arm, jolting him. The plate slid off his tray and fell to the floor, quickly followed by his drink.

The crash and laughter immediately made Eddie the center of attention, dozens of faces turned his way. He blushed and bent down, trying to scrape together the spilled pasta, but it was everywhere. Behind him, the group of boys laughed again and he felt the skirt shift as someone tried to pull it up.

Eddie saw red. He'd only tried to fit in. Claire had tried to keep him out of trouble, but it had just caused more. What was the obsession with his skirt? He was still holding the tray, he straightened up and turned, swung around. Just took in the sight of a year nine or ten boys wearing a beret and a painted-on mustache before the tray smacked him.

The table descended into chaos. A rockstar caught the tray as Eddie tried to swing it again, the guy with the mustache held his face, and a boy in a shirt and red waistcoat got up, making to grab Eddie, who prepared to punch him in the face. Some water appeared over Eddie's shoulder and splashed into the boy's face.

"That's enough!" Mrs. Thannet's voice roared, then echoed as the canteen went instantly silent.

The teacher strode through the crowded canteen, all of the pupils rushing to get out of her way. She looked at the mess on the floor, the table where food had been shoved aside, and at the various children she assessed as involved.

Her stern gaze raked across the tables nearby. "I do not require any extra witnesses." The pupils took her hint and went back to eating. "He hit me," said the boy with the fake mustache. "You pinched my ars" Eddie stopped himself, and looked up at the forbidding figure of Mrs. Thannet, "My bottom." "You hit me!" "And you were pulling up my skirt. What do you think is up there that you haven't got?" "You hit me!"

"You're very talkative for a mime," commented Claire quietly, this caused a number of giggles from the nearby tables, who were simultaneously studiously ignoring the situation and listening intently.

"That is enough from you, miss..." "Claire Jones," said Claire dolefully, obviously regretting her comment. "She threw water at me," said the boy in the waistcoat and cap.

"I find it difficult to believe you are scared of a year seven girl, Chris, or should I say, Marty?" Mrs Thannet fixed him with a steely glare and the boy decided he could go back to his lunch.

"Is this true, Michael?" Mrs. Thannet turned her gaze back to the mime. "Did you think it would be funny to pinch this boy's bottom?"

Michael's mouth opened and dosed a couple of times while he tried to work out what he was going to say, then thought better of it.

Mrs. Thannet's glare deepened. "Well, I think that tells me what I need to know. You will be joining me for detention on Monday. Over the weekend, you are to write me an essay on sexual harassment and why it is wrong, concentrating on bottom pinching and wolf-whistling. We can discuss it on Monday afternoon. And Michael?"

"Yes, Mrs. Thannet?" Michael's lips were thin and white he was pressing them together so hard, but the left side of his face was bright red from being hit by the tray.

"If I hear of any more pinching, or other harassment, being hit by a tray will feel like an utter delight compared to what will happen to you. Do you understand?"

Michael seemed to collapse into himself, even the left side of his face paled a little. "Yes, Mrs Thannet."

Her gaze passed on to Eddie. He'd never had Mrs. Thannet for a lesson, but her strict reputation was well known to every pupil in the school. He tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry.

"What is your name?" "Eddie Simmons, Mrs Thannet."

"In school, Mr. Simmons, violence is not the answer, even when the provocation is severe. Who is your form tutor?"

"Mrs. Hawthorne."

"You will be receiving detention with Mrs. Hawthorne, I shall discuss the details with her. In the meantime," she pointed across the room. "Get yourself a new plate of food and you shall join me at the teacher's table."

"Yes, Mrs Thannet." She looked across to Claire, who was trying to look small and inconspicuous. "As shall your friend, the water fountain." Claire nodded glumly. The teacher jerked her head and they both headed back across the canteen. Many eyes followed them, but no comments came.

"Michael, you can dean the floor. I wouldn't want the bottom of Mrs. Jones to provide too tempting a target for you. She can provide you with the equipment you will need."

The lady serving the food gave Eddie extra as he queued up again. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to pay or not, but the woman at the till waved him away with a smile. He noticed her name badge for the first time, this was the Mrs Jones who had issued Michael with a bucket and mop.

Although he saw some glances his way, no one dared say anything for fear of drawing the gaze of the teacher he had to share a table with. Some of the looks were actually sympathetic. Eddie settled into the chair opposite the teacher, his back to the rest of the canteen, and winced as the part that had been pinched pressed against the chair.

He and Claire ate in near silence as Mrs. Thannet watched the room. Under the table, Claire's leg nudged against his and she gave him a wry smile. Eddie tried to work out how he was going to explain getting detention to his mum. Going for the real explanation seemed way too outlandish, and might land him in even more trouble as he'd forgotten to say the fancy dress day was coming up.

They both finished as quickly as they could, eager to get away from the strict teacher. Out in the corridor, Claire suggested they go down the road to the shops, Eddie didn't really feel like it, but he didn't want to hang around at school either, so agreed.

Leaving school in the uniform felt a bit strange, but it meant there were a lot fewer people around, so fewer problems had to be had.

"Stupid skirt," said Eddie as it once again started flicking up randomly as he walked. "How do you control these stupid things?"

Claire watched him for a moment. "It's because you're walking too far every step," she told him. "Slow down a bit and take shorter steps. That's better, and stop stomping around, walk with your feet a bit closer together, like this."

She demonstrated, to Eddie it looked like she was walking the same way he was. "You're still doing it," Claire complained. "Look, stand still." Eddie did as she asked, she stood next to him, looking down at his feet.

"Now, put your feet closer together, like mine," Claire's feet were neatly next to each other, he was a few inches apart. Eddie shifted them. "Now, try to walk, without moving your feet further apart, horizontally." Claire struggled to describe how he should be walking.

"What?" "Just, Look, walk like this." Claire walked down the path, putting one foot in front of the other, like a model would on the catwalk, swinging her hips.

"You don't walk like that," said Eddie dubiously. "I know, it's just the first step... The first stage, do it." Eddie copied her, stumbling a little. The skirt swung around him but didn't flick up in the annoying way. "Now, relax a bit, so your feet don't go right in front of each other, but not as far apart as you normally walk."

Eddie found it remarkably hard to think about how he was walking and walking at the same time. With some further guidance from Claire, he started to get it. He could walk without the skirt flying up, but not like he was on a tightrope.

"This is all a lot of trouble," he grumbled.

"Yeah, that's why I wore jeans today," said Claire with a smile.

The nearest shop was a mini-market run by a grumpy old woman who didn't like school children, so they went a little further to a smaller shop that sold newspapers and sweets. Claire chatted about her music lessons and the cousins who were visiting this weekend. This distracted Eddie from his grumbling.

"Hi, Mr. Patel," said Claire as they entered the shop, she was a regular as her mother didn't like keeping sweets in the house.

"Hello, my dears," said the shopkeeper amiably, putting his book down. He squinted at an old laptop through the bottom of his half-moon glasses and turned down the Indian music that was playing through it.

"Don't turn it down," said Claire as she looked at the chocolate bars. "It makes me want to boogie!" She jiggled around in a very poor attempt at dancing. Mr. Patel smiled and turned it back up a little.

An older boy came in while they were deciding, grabbed some chocolate bars, and paid, ignoring them completely, which Eddie found a welcome change to the rest of his day.

"Thank you, kind sir," said Mr Patel, giving the boy his chance. He raised his voice to Claire and Eddie. "And have you made your choices now? Time, it is getting on." He knew exactly how long it took to get back to the school, from long experience of children running from his shop when it was just slightly too late.

Claire chose a bag of squashy sweets and some chocolate buttons. Eddie pondered a long time, then chose a Mars bar.

"Thank you, my dear," said Mr Patel as he took Eddie's money. "Exact change too, most welcome."

They started the walk back to school, taking it slow to arrive just as the bell went for the first class of the afternoon.

"Do you think he knew I'm a boy?" Eddie asked, thinking about what the shopkeeper had said.

Claire shrugged. "Probably? You've been in there loads of times, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but he's never called me a dear' before, always something like an e young sir,"'

"He calls me fie-dear' all the time," said Claire. "Do you want another?"

She shook two of the squashy sweets out into Eddie's hand. Eddie chewed on them and contemplated the afternoon. English, then PE, and Humanities. Three more lessons and the day would be over. He cheered up as he realized he would be wearing his sports kit for PE, so only two more lessons in Claire's clothes.

Mrs. Hawthorne took Eddie aside as he arrived at the classroom for the afternoon register.

"Mrs. Thannet told me what happened in the canteen," she began, rather sternly. Eddie blushed and looked at his feet. "You should never have hit that boy with the tray, so you'll stay in on Monday lunchtime for your detention. Come to this room at the start of lunch and I will give you some tasks to do."

Eddie's heart lifted. A lunchtime detention? That was hardly detention at all, and he wouldn't need to explain it to his mother.

"Think of this more as a probation, Eddie," Mrs Hawthorne told him. "If there's any more hitting, whether it's with a tray or anything else, you'll be in front of the head."

"Yes, Mrs. Hawthorne," Eddie said meekly. "There won't be."

"Go and sit down. We need to get on."

After the register was taken, the older children filed out to their various lessons and Eddie lounged around while his classmates came in from their form groups. Claire slipped into the seat next to him and gave him a smile.

"Everyone's talking about what happened with Michael," she whispered quickly while the last members of the class were still coming in. Eddie blushed. "You're a big hit with the year eights in my form group, they all hate him."

The trouble in the canteen had dampened the enthusiasm to make Eddie's life difficult. Craig tried a couple of comments while Mrs Hawthorne was writing on the board, but no one else was laughing and the teacher quickly quashed him. Eddie was feeling pretty good as he got his PE bag out of his locker. Two lessons to go, and only one in the girl's uniform. Things were going to be OK.

As they filed down the corridor of the sports hall to the changing rooms, Eddie was stopped by Mr. Blackwell, the boy's PE teacher.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Eddie looked up at him, confused. "I'm going to change."

"Not in there you're not, that's the boy's changing room," said Mr Blackwell sternly.

"But I'm a boy?" "Not today, you're not." "Well, I am, this is just my Children in Need costume." "I don't need any smart alec comments," said Mr. Blackwell and Eddie realized the teacher was just being deliberately awkward. "You can join the girls with Ms Charthers today." He pointed at the door to the girls changing room. "I can't go in there!" Ms. Charthers beckoned him over, giving her department head a slightly baleful look. "Come on, I can sort you out." Eddie went against the flow of pupils to get to her, Craig taking the opportunity to give him a good shove as he went past.

Caught by surprise, Eddie went sprawling. Mr. Blackwell did nothing, letting Craig pass by him with no comment. On the floor, Eddie made sure the skirt wasn't showing his pants, he didn't want to give Karen the satisfaction of finally seeing what he had on underneath it. "Let's go," said Ms. Charthers, giving him a hand up.

She led him through the teacher's office to the lost property room. Eyeing him up and down, she looked through the shelves and pulled some clothes off. "Right, change into these, then meet us in the netball court by the field." "Can't I just wear my normal PE kit?" said Eddie sullenly.