“So how was school today?” his mother asked upon his arrival home at around 3.15pm.

“OK.” he mumbled. “Can I get changed?” he asked.

“Have you got any homework?”

“A bit.” he replied.

“Well you can change after you’ve done it.”

“Ooh but… can’t I at least put my trousers on?”

“You’ve got a uniform on, that’s all that matters.” his mother replied. “Were lots of other boys wearing skirts today?” she asked.

“Not really… a few.”

“Really?” his mother replied, sounding surprised. “It’s all over FaceBank and from what I could tell, plenty of boys turned up wearing skirts today… some estimate as many as seventy.” she informed him. “And you’ll never guess what?”

“What?”

“You made it on the Today programme… just a brief glimpse, but it’s clearly you.” his mother said. Toby wasn’t entirely sure what she was on about, so she opened up her laptop, logged into FaceBank and quickly found the brief video someone had posted. It’s only twenty seconds. She paused it at just the right moment and tapped her manicured nail on the screen.

“There… see.” she grinned.

Toby’s jaw dropped. “Oh god… my skirt’s really short!” he realised.

“No it isn’t.” his mother claimed. “It’s all the other boys, theirs are far too long.”

“Everyone kept saying it was really short but I didn’t think it was that bad!”

“It’s not ‘really’ short.” she insisted. “It’s the same length the girls wear them; high mid-thigh.” she told him. “Were they impressed that you’d shaved your legs too?” she asked.

“I didn’t shave them.” he insisted for the umpteenth time. “You know I didn’t.”

“Well… epilated.” his mother retorted. “I bet the girls were impressed.”

“Some of them said they looked… nice.” he humbly replied, sneering a little. “But loads of people took the micky out of me.”

“I’m sure plenty of boys were being teased… they were wearing skirts after all.”

“Even the boys wearing skirts were teasing me… but more because of my socks than my legs.”

“I bet the girls liked them though.” his mother smiled. “Anyway, I also read on FaceBank that you’ll be keeping up the protest until the uniform policy is changed.”

“Nah… most of ’em said they were only doing it for the day, to make a point.”

“Meaning some of you will be keeping up the protest.” his mother replied. “And who knows… even more boys might turn up in skirts tomorrow.”

“I doubt it… most of those who did today said they wouldn’t.” he told her. “And the teachers said we shouldn’t.”

“Why?” his mother quizzed. “You have every right to a peaceful protest and you have every right to continue that protest.” she claimed. “It’s not as if you’re breaking any rules.”

“I know but…