Chapter 8

"I don't have time to come down this week, Alex." Peter sounded frustrated. "Can you hold off with this girl until next weekend?"

"Peter, the dance is tomorrow night."

"I know. I said I'm sorry." He sighed deeply. "Alex. No pain until meet this girl. You wanna screw her, fine. But no scars, no bruises, no scratches. Clear?"

I have a number of things I want to say but all of them are likely to get me suspended. "Clear, Sir." I answer.

The next day was a long one at school. Brandon had been down right butch since the 'Brandy Incident', actually looking and acting like a guy at school, but our schedules had been crossed and I hadn't been able to see him alone. The one time we spoke, he smiled mysteriously, said things were cool, and that we'd have time to talk Friday. Sheila had agreed to go to the dance but hadn't said much more than that.

Friday night, I dressed early and went on the rounds to pick up Lisa, Brandon, Beth and Sheila. I got Beth first since she was closest. She was stunning in some pink thing.

When we got in the car, I made sure no one was watching then leaned over and stuck my tongue down her throat. "Why the fuck are you my cousin?"

"Don't ask me; I'm trying to remember why I care."

"We could skip the dance."

She laughed, "You're kidding, right? Drive."

I was only half kidding. I drove to Brandon's. I honked the horn and waited. When he didn't come out, I rolled my eyes. "Jesus! What uh chick!" Beth and I went up to the door, and just to prove how crass I could be, I shouted, "Hey! Brandy! Let's roll!" Beth hit me. "What?" I laughed.

Then the door opened and Beth gasped. 'Brandy' was standing in the doorway. He was wearing another one of his silk numbers — also pink — and looked like a blonde china doll.

"Sorry I took so long." He said.

"Oh my God," Beth breathed, "Brandon?"

"Brandy." He corrected.

"Ok," I shook my head, "you cannot do that tonight."

"Please, Alex." He begged. "Please! I'll never get to do this ever again. Please, Alex."

"Oh my God," Beth repeated, "You look amazing!" Beth pulled Brandy out of the doorway and walked all the way around him. "Oh, but he's right; you can't go as 'Brandy'. Everyone will guess."

"No, I meant..." but the two of them ignored me.

"I could use my real name, Ping Lo. I never use it."

"Look, you can't go..." Beth didn't even let me finish the sentence.

"Come on, Ping Lo, we just need to pin your hair in the back." Beth led Brandon upstairs despite my protests. She redid his hair and touched up his make-up. When she was done, I would have been hard pressed to say how many girls were in the room if I didn't know better.

Beth and 'Ping Lo' chatted happily as we drove to Lisa's house. She meet us at the door — which was a bit odd but we were late so I didn't question it — and she was also wearing pink. We were almost at Sheila's house when she realized who 'Ping Lo' really was. Like Beth, she seemed to think it was just fine.

At Sheila's, I put my foot down, "Ok. You three stay here. I don't want Sheila thinkin' I hang out with a bunch uh freaks."

Beth looked at me for maybe a full two seconds before she opened the door and got out of the car. Lisa and Brandon followed suit.

"Great!" I muttered under my breath.

Sheila's father answered the door. His face said what my Dad's face would have said if a guy in a gold lame suit arrived with a harem to pick up my sister.

"Good evening, sir." I coughed and cleared my throat. "I, um, I'm Alex. Alex McElroy. I'm here to take Sheila to the dance. She home?" He looked over my shoulder at the idiots arrayed behind me. I prayed he doesn't get a good look at Brandon. "My, uh, cousins, Sir. I kinda got stuck drivin' 'em since they can't beg, borrow or steal uh date of their own." No one could have looked at them and believed that, but he stepped aside and let us in the door.

"Who was it, dear" a motherly-looking woman peered into the hallway, "Oh, you must be Sheila's date. You just come into the living room. She'll be down in just a moment." We all streamed in to a quaint little room with lots of overstuffed pillows. "I didn't realize that Sheila had so many girl friends."

"Oh, uh, yes, ma'am." Lisa and Beth exchanged looks. "Actually, could we go up? She hasn't seen Ping Lo's dress yet."

"Oh, of course, dear. Her room is at the end of the hall."

The 'girls' ran off, giggling, leaving me and Mr. Garcia in the living room. He looked at me. I looked at the fireplace.

"Quite a suit you got there." He commented.

That, at least, I could explain. "I'm on the ballroom dance team. We're doin' uh bit tonight."

He grunted non-committal-ly then fell silent. "You're not like Sheila's usual dates, are you?" He said finally.

"Uh, no sir."

"Wait, you say your name was McElroy?"

The part of the conversation I hate; people either hate us or love us. "Uh, yes, sir."

"I went to school with a couple of McElroys. You wouldn't happen to know George or Charles would you?"

"My father, sir. George, I mean."

"Huh." was all he said. We sat in silence again.

Eventually, Beth called down, "Oh Alex, are you ready?"

"Jeez! You the one wanna go ta this thing. Let's go!"

I was answered with laughter. Then Beth slowly made her way down the stairs. When she reached the base, Lisa appeared and slowly came down. I sighed deeply and looked at my watch. They were determined to make a production out of this. Brandon followed Lisa, and I had to admit, I was getting used to seeing a girl.

Then Sheila finally entered. She moved quickly down the stairs in a black lace top and black leather pants. "Can we go now?"

"Wow, you look hot." I said, standing in more ways than one. Her father grunted again and I glanced in his direction. "Nice. I mean nice."

"You look microwave-able." She rolled her eyes. "I'll be back." She stuffed some keys in her pocket and headed for the door.

"Have fun on your date dear." he mother called out.

Sheila stopped, clearly exasperated, "It's not uh date."

I look at her Dad and shrugged. "I'll have her home early, sir."

He laughed at me.

In the car, I wavered between feeling like a sultan and a chauffer. We stopped for dinner in town as always. Beth and Lisa insisted that I sit between Sheila and Brandon. "After all," Lisa pointed out "they really are your dates."

"Maybe she is." Sheila sipped her soda, "I still don't know why I'm here."

"You're here because Alex isn't allowed playmates without approval." Beth picked up a breadstick and poked me with it, "Are you?"

"No ma'am." I wasn't at all sure I wanted to have this conversation over dinner.

"You Dominant over him?" Sheila scoffed. "Oh, come on."

"No, you're right, I'm not. I'm sort of representing, uh, his Dom at the moment." "Oh, right."

I decided to end this before it really got started. "Can we do this later? I kinda don't want to discuss this here, ok?"

Beth ignored me. "So, for tonight, he has very strict rules. You can use him but not abuse him. No scars, none of those letters — his Dom is not happy about that — no real pain. After you meet his Dom, you two can figure out what's allowed. OK?"

Sheila laughed for a moment then sort of stopped. "You're serious?"

"Very." Beth actually looked very Dom at the moment.

"Ok. Sure. No razorblades tonight." Sheila reached into her back pocket and tossed Beth a slim packet. Beth opened it. Her eyes went wide. She closed the packet and put it in her purse.

"Now, another thing," Lisa added, "Fidelity..."

"I'm not." Sheila stated.

"Good." Lisa smiled, "He's not allowed to be. He does who I say he does, when I say and how."

"You're kidding!" Sheila practically cackled. Beth and Lisa didn't even crack a smile and Brandon quietly sipped his tea. I felt roughly like 180 pounds of blue being haggled over down at the dock. "Ok, you're not kidding. What, you three, the pink dominatrix?"

That got them and Beth and Lisa broke into peels of laughter, "Oh my God!" Beth exclaimed, "We so have to get jackets made!"

"So what's you're job in all of this?" Sheila asked Brandon.

He looked at me. It was somewhat fawning and a bit disturbing. "I could say to service my master's every desire."

"Hey, uh, look..." I started but he laughed shyly.

"But really, I'm just here for the ride." He looked away even as he leaned toward Sheila, "He is an excellent lover."

"Is he?" She seemed to disbelieve that.

"Oh yeah," Lisa was positively chipper on the topic, "I mean, you have to like aggressive assholes to start, of course..."

" ... Thanks..."

" ... but he can actually hold back until you're done. So he can make it worth your time."

"And more," Beth spoke up, "he actually cares if you hit it or not."

Sheila lifted an eyebrow, "And you know this because..."

" ... because I know him."

"I see." Sheila finished the last bit of her dinner and put down her fork. "Ok, you know you guys are freaks, right?"

"You the one like kink, I thought." I didn't mean to snap but Sheila's attitude was beginning to grate. I didn't like the way she was treating Lisa or Beth and was becoming more and more worried that talking to her was a mistake.

"I am. But what are you, some kind of slave?"

I opened my mouth then stopped. I hadn't actually thought of it that way. Beth, Lisa and Peter control me — even more than my parents. If they told me to, I would eat, sleep and shit when they wanted. "Yeah," I said slowly, "I guess I am. Except for this pussy," I gestured at Brandon, "Pe-" I catch my self, "My Dom owns me. These two are just the overseers."

"So why do you need me? You have enough going on."

"No pain. They won't beat me. They would never carve into me. Shit, I can't even get them to slap me around every once in a while — a simple spanking." She looked thoughtful, "But you're all about pain. You could hurt me. Really, seriously hurt me."

"Yeah," She agreed softly, "Yeah, I could."

"No," Beth interjected, "You couldn't. You wouldn't be allowed to seriously hurt him. No permanent marks. He has one — that's all he gets until he turns 18."

"Yeah, I saw that. Cool tat. Why'd you put it there?"

"My Dom had it put there. Hurt like shit. I didn't get to pick the location or the design."

"See? That's just weird. I mean, if I just told you to poke yourself with a fork, you'd do it?"

I reached for my fork but Lisa got it first. "No. He has a rule about self-inflicted damage ever since, uh, we realized that he can't be trusted on his own."

"I was trying to make a point." I frowned at Lisa.

"T S." She kept talking to Sheila. "I don't mind sharing Alex but I want him to come back in the same condition as when I sent him out."

"What, am I for rent now?" They ignored me.

"The basic rule of thumb," Beth said, "is if they'd see it in the locker room, you can't do it."

"That cuts out a lot of stuff." Sheila noted.

"It's not a problem for the rest of us." Lisa shrugged.

"Ok." Sheila abruptly stood up. "Let me think about it. I'll let you know before the dance ends. Where's the rest room?"

They all went leaving me to flag down our waiter and pay the check. We arrived at the school with just enough time for me to get to the team but Beth stopped me as I got out of the car.

"Wait, let's do this right." She arranged us so that Brandon and Sheila were holding my arms and she and Lisa were holding Brandon and Sheila.

Sheila laughed, "Silk and satin, leather and lace." she sang.

"Black panties with an angel's face." Beth sang back.

The two of them continue with some song only they knew as I escorted them — or they took me, I wasn't sure which was more accurate — into the gym. At the door, was a booth for photos and they shoved me into the fan back chair and posed around me. Three pictures later, I was able to go find the dance team.