“What are you boys talking about?” Andrew’s mother asked as she entered.

“Nothing.” they replied in unison.

“Will you be staying for supper William
?” she asked him.

“Err… no thanks. My mum’s expecting me back.” William replied. He took this as a hint that it was approaching the time he should leave and he did just that. “See you on Monday.” he said, before saying goodbye to Andrew’s mother and thanking her for the biscuits.

“It’s not like William to say thank you without being prompted.” Andrew’s mother commented as he rode away. “Seems he’s not the only one who’s finally found some manners.” she added.

When William returned home, he wasted no time describing Andrew’s hair and dress to his mother. “Did he look nice?” she asked.

“I don’t know!” William retorted. “I guess.” he added.

“Was he embarrassed?”

“Yeah.” William replied. “At first anyway.” he said. “I’m glad I don’t have to wear dresses at home.”

“You’ll be wearing your Sunday dress tomorrow.” his mother causally informed him.

“What Sunday dress?!” William yelped.

“The one Mrs Arkwright gave you on Monday.”

“Why?!” he whined.

“Because it’s Sunday… all the boys at St Felicity’s wear dresses on Sunday.” his mother told him. “Surely you knew that.”

“I thought it was just the boys like Andrew.” William gulped. His mother shook his head and smiled. “But… aren’t we going to Nana and Granddad’s tomorrow?” he asked.

“Of course.” his mother told him. “Why wouldn’t we?”

On Monday morning, William boarded the school minibus and told Andrew all about his deeply embarrassing Sunday. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t gone to my grandparents.” he moaned. “And mum spent half the morning shaving my legs.” he said.

“Your mum shaved your legs?” Andrew gasped. William gulped and nodded and said it was weird wearing a dress without a pair of tights on. Instead, he wore a pair of white ankle socks and his school shoes. “What did your grandparents say?” Andrew asked.

“Well, Nana kept saying how nice I looked and my granddad kept teasing me until Nana told him off.” William replied. “I was glad when we finally left and came home.”

“And you could finally take it off.”

“Nah… I had to wear it all day.” It was big deal to William but not to any other boys on the minibus. They’re more than accustomed to their regular ‘Sunday’ dresses.

Monday began with a big school assembly. The head teacher addressed the school, a few pupils were awarded commendations. One read a self penned poem aloud. The entire school sang a hymn and after the lord’s prayer, they went to their classes. Starting at 8.00am and finishing at 4.00pm is a much longer day than both William and Andrew were used to, but their various classes are ordered, engaging, involved and informative… time flew and they were seldom bored. There was no getting out of the playground activities but Andrew preferred playing hopscotch to skipping and William mastered the rope much quicker than his friend had. Other activities included elastics, duck-duck-goose, tiggy and leapfrog… but these would be permitted only after they’d learned to hop, skip, jump and most importantly, play nicely with the others. After lunch they had their second dance class which meant donning their pink tights, burgundy leotards, see-through mini-skirts, ballet shoes and having their hair scraped back into a tight bun. As before, it began with the basic positions over and over again, followed by some simple steps at the barre, and ended with dancing to some modern pop records; this time it was ABBA’s SOS followed by Mud’s The Cat Crept In. After wards, Andrew was mesmerised as he watched William put his hair into two perfect French braids. “Is it easy doing that?” Andrew asked.