Chapter 3

The next morning, Ed avoided Lou -- visibly -- on three separate occasions. Mike wasn't as visible -- in fact, he wasn't visible at all. Finally, Ed approached Lou at his otherwise empty lunch table and said humbly, "I'm sorry, Lou. I don't know... Mike... The gay stuff... The things he said... I thought..."

Ed ground to a halt like a freight train whose engine had shut down, unable to explain what had happened the night before. Later -- not much later, by some time scales -- Lou more or less put it together: Some slip on Ed's part had alerted Mike, who was at least bisexual and a master manipulator. Mike had blackmailed Ed into an invitation to a jerk-off party, and in the process had discovered that Ed had a latent homosexual streak. Mike had then invited Ed to a party at his place, where the tools of temptation were available, and had seduced him into homosexual sex. Next on the agenda had been extending his sphere of control to Lou -- but Lou had been prickly. That, and Lou's limitations as a male, had occasioned a comparison between Lou and teenage girls...

Ed, who had been put into serious conflict by the fact that he was engaging in homosexual activity -- and enjoying it too much to stop -- seized upon this, visibly. Mike caught on; Ed needed to avoid facing things -- and for that, he needed a girl... Mike spun it out; Lou was just like a girl -- he got all stuffy when you got close and he played and played but didn't put out. He even looked like a girl, and that teeny dick -- was it real? Too many things fell into place in Mike's rationalizations for the whole thing to be coincidence. Lou HAD to be a girl -- because Ed needed for him to be, if nothing else -- and everything else was gravy. So Lou was a girl -- Ed convinced himself, based upon his need and Mike's evidence -- and therefore Lou had been teasing him all this time, denying him the pleasures that they could have had... Lou had been a guy when they were kids, but he'd changed -- not grown, not kept up -- gone girly...

From there to the set-up where Lou was forced to provide the sex (s) he'd been theoretically withholding all this time was a hop, skip, and a jump; Mike set it up and Ed cooperated by pressing Lou to go -- and waiting while Mike set the trap. He also held to the pretense that Lou was female -- more or less because it was the path of least resistance...

Later, looking back, Lou would see that it all made a kind of twisted sense -- and the added complications presented by his odd mental flip were ironic -- but that morning, there was only the pain of the betrayal, and it was VERY fresh. Forgiveness wasn't even discussed between them. In fact, nothing much was said at all, after Ed ran down. He settled himself gingerly across from Lou and they ate in silence, until late in the meal, when Lou erupted, "Ed, what do you see when you look at me?"

Ed blushed. "I... don't know..."

It was the answer that Lou half-expected -- but it certainly didn't help any. He finished his meal and got up and went to the boy's restroom and spent a long time looking in the mirror. What he saw was, well, androgynous -- not surprising, since his best friend had suddenly decided he was a girl. Maybe he should try to grow a moustache? Yeah, right -- with what? Did he really have boobs? His nipples were a little pointy, but did that count? Fat kids had a LOT more than he did... He turned around and looked at his ass in the mirror -- and got caught doing it by some freshman, who he frowned at and hoped that was enough discouragement -- but the kid's nervous giggle rankled. Dammit! He was a guy -- wasn't he? Or were Ed and Mike right? He thought about the cheerleading team; if the guys thought he was a girl, and the girls thought he was a girl -- and his dick really wasn't a major source of proof, one way or another... Maybe he WAS a girl -- a broken girl, who had been given a couple of improperly fitting parts...

They all avoided one another for a while. Mike didn't SAY anything, but he got this grin on his face and snickered a lot in Lou's presence. Two weeks went by and during a mundane conversation, Lou decided to reach out. "Hey, do you want to go to the burger place?"

Ed blushed scarlet. "Uh, I'm goin' over to Mike's..."

"Yeah?" Lou was surprised; this was the first indication he'd had that Ed and Mike were even approaching the way thing had been.

"Yeah." Ed looked away. "I... can't do without -- not now, not when I know how it is..."

Lou took him aside. "You guys are... ?"

"Yeah." Ed's eyes pled. "It's not like it used to be, with you -- but it's better, in some ways. You know how I get..." That Ed was perpetually horny was a given -- Lou had known it for years. Mike was apparently providing him with a whole new class of release... "It'd be great if you'd..."

"I... don't think so," Lou choked out. "Mike..."

"Maybe... just us... sometime?" Ed asked hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe." Lou was really saying no, and they both knew it. Lou was positively scared to death of what would happen to him if Ed presented him with a cock to suck -- and it WOULD happen, sooner or later...

"Okay. Well, I gotta go..." Ed got out of there -- the discomfort level was just too high.

A couple of days later, Mike appeared to taunt Lou. "Ed misses you."

"I miss Ed," Lou replied, thinking, 'and you, you sleazy bastard, have ruined our friendship!'

"There's room on the couch," Mike said, grinning evilly, "and Ed needs a girlfriend..."

Lou turned bright red. "Fuck you, you pervert!" He couldn't beat Mike's ass, so he left, moving rapidly -- with Mike's mocking laughter following him.

It was the next Thursday that Emmylou broke her leg. They were practicing a new lift sequence, and Emmylou over-rotated and lit wrong. There was a snap and a wail and it was time to call the ambulance.

Everybody was dumped out. Not only was Emmylou a major force on the team, but there was a competition coming up on Saturday, and she was in the subset of the squad going out to compete. They were screwed, because the only other team member was Lou -- and you didn't even bother to show up if you couldn't field an all-girl team...

Practice on Friday was the pits -- Emmylou was devastated. Lou was devastated. EVERYBODY was devastated! "We're screwed," Kitty summed it up.

"Yeah," Marlene agreed. "There's no way that we can train anybody to replace Emmylou, and we can't compete with a guy on the team -- no offense, Honey..."

"None taken," Lou replied, leaning down and pulling up the leg of his sweatpants to scratch his calf. "I could just cry..."

Marlene sat staring at Lou's exposed calf. "Lou, Honey, do you shave?"

"My face? No."

"Your legs."

"What?"

"Do you shave your legs?"

"No..."

"Can I... ?" Marlene waved at his sweatpants. Lou blinked and lifted the leg as far as bunching the cloth would go. "Point your toe, Honey." Lou, totally lost, did so. "Nice calf."

"Thanks?" Where was she going with this?

Kitty eyed the leg, looked thoughtful, looked at his face, then put her hand out to run it through his hair at the temple, pushing it back. Emmylou suddenly snickered. Marlene eyed him and asked, "Honey, have you ever worn nylons?"

Lou goggled, nonplussed. "No -- I'm a..." Then he shut up. He was a guy, right?

"We need a girl for the competition," Marlene said quietly. "Want to try out?"

Lou, dazed, asked, "Is this what it sounds like?"

"If it sounds like we're going to be trying out lipstick shades on you, then, yes, Honey, that's it..." Marlene replied.

Fuck! "Nobody can know," he croaked. "Nobody!"

"Of course, Honey! If someone found out, we'd be disqualified!" Marlene cocked her head.

"My house at six, everybody," Kitty announced. "We'll see if this is doable. Frankly, we've got a lot more to work with than we could have..."

"I'll pick you up," Marlene told Lou.

Forty minutes later, Lou was standing outside his house when Marlene pulled up. "Are you game for this, Honey?" she asked.

Lou made a face. "If you really think we can pull it off..."

"Let's go find out."

They sneaked him in Kitty's back door -- the rest of her family was in the living room, listening to Becky and Emmylou describe the accident. Once upstairs, Marlene directed, "Strip down to your shorts, Honey -- we have to see what we're dealing with." Embarrassed, Lou did so; Emmylou, hobbling through the door, muttered, "I've got sisters worse off..."

The other girls agreed. "Razor?" Kitty offered.

"Nope," Marlene replied, her head cocked. "Trim the muff, maybe. Get some panties."

"Panties?" Lou swallowed.

Marlene nodded. "Can't have someone penetrating your disguise by seeing your tightie whities." She looked up at Kitty. "Go with granny panties if you have to, but find something."

Kitty dug in a drawer and came up with some French cuts. "Try these." They sent him off to the bathroom to try them on.

Lou came back bright red, but... "Turn around," Marlene directed. Lou did so. "He looks cuter in those than you do, Kit!" she chuckled. Lou blushed, but said nothing, hoping no one would mention the size of his dick. Marlene cocked her head. "Are you comfortable in those, Honey? You know, you MIGHT be able to wear a thong..." That got a couple of giggles -- even Lou smiled.

Then they got down to business. "Bra?" Kitty fished out an old one of hers with an A cup. Lou got into it and Emmylou made to fasten it, but Marlene stopped her. "Do it yourself, Honey," she directed, "You may have to." Lou struggled briefly, but managed it. "Practice at home. Who knows? It might help you at some time in the future..." Marlene grinned. "Next!"

They had him climb into pantyhose and Emmylou's cheerleading outfit -- which was too big, Emmylou being stocky. "I have my spare," Kitty offered, and dug it out -- and it fit better.

"Fortunately, we don't have to teach you to walk in heels," Marlene chuckled, "although that might be fun. Walk for me." Lou moved around as best he could in the small room. "Let it sway some," Marlene directed. "Let's take it out in the hall."

"Is that safe?" Lou asked.

The girls shared a glance. "It's safe," Marlene told him.

In the hall, Marlene and Emmylou critiqued his walk, "Let it sway some, Hon. Rock your hips -- that's a girl..." Marlene turned to Emmylou, "What do you think?"

"I've seen worse -- but maybe if we tried heels, it might help..." Emmylou advised. "I brought some..."

So Lou slid his feet into Emmylou's heels and went off, navigating on stilts. It DID help -- it forced him to shift his weight and straighten his legs.

"Come here, umm, Louise," Emmylou muttered. "Point your toe... Shit, she has better legs than me!"

"Walk a bit," Marlene directed. "Get comfortable. Your ass is doing the right things -- feel it and remember, so you can do it in sneakers."

"See what you're doing with your arms?" Kitty pointed out. "That's good..." Lou had them up a bit in case he tripped -- apparently, that was normal... Up and down, up and down, one end of the hallway to the other -- with the girls critiquing...

"What are you doing up there?" Kitty's mother called upstairs.

"Oh, Louise is breaking in a new set of heels," Kitty called back.

"Louise? Have we met?" Kitty's mother came up the stairs.

Everyone freaked until Marlene said, "It had to happen sooner or later..."

"Hi, I'm Donna." Kitty's mother took Lou's slightly shaky hand.

"Hi." Lou looked at the floor.

"Heels are such a pain, aren't they?" Donna said, smiling. "The things we do to look good..." She eyed Lou's outfit. "Are you going to try to replace Emmylou?"