Peter looks at his sister’s legs, clad in white tights which appear much thicker than his pop socks. “Aren’t they warm?” he asks.
“Not really.” Sally replies as she put her foot on the bench and runs her hand over her stockinged leg. “They’re nicer than pop socks.” she adds.
With a little prompt from their mother, Peter follows his sister to her room where she routes out a pair of tights for him. She lifts her skirt to show him they should go ‘under’ his leotard.
“I know!” he blushes.
She asks him if he knows how to put tights on, before demonstrating how to gather them up to the toe and to pull them on carefully, “Otherwise you’ll ladder them.”
Peter goes to his room and strips down to his underpants. He carefully pulls on the tights, followed by his leotard and skirt before he finally slides his stockinged feet into the tap shoes. His mother is the first to see him and she tells him he looks ‘sweet’. His sister asks him how they feel. “Well… they are a bit strange… but quite nice I guess.” he replies, looking down at himself.
“I’ll buy you some of your own for next week.” his mother suggests.
“Aren’t they expensive?” Peter asked.
“Not at all.” his mother smiled. “The shoes are but we can easily afford a leotard and some tights.”
Peter does feel a little embarrassed being dressed as a girl. But he did feel like he did fit in at his first tap class… and as his sister and the dance teacher said, the other girls accepted him because he wasn’t dressed as a boy. “OK.” Peter timidly said.
The following Saturday, Peter and his sister go to their tap class and Peter attends wearing his sister’s old tap shoes and his own leotard, circle skirt and tights. He was self conscious at first but the girls didn’t seem at all bothered. In fact half of them said it was nice to see him back, which left Peter feeling warm inside.
The class is more or less the same; starting with a warm up and stretching, followed by a variety of basic routines. Miss Baxter claps the timing and shouts instructions, frequently reminding Peter to concentrate on keeping his head still. It’s easier said than done when ones feet are tapping away, but he tries his best.
After a short break, Miss Baxter drags a very large bag from the store room. “Right girls.” she announces, pulling the bag open. “We’ll do some pompom practice for the last half hour… so if you each grab a pair, we’ll get started.”
“Pompoms?!” Peter quizzes as he and Sally approach what looks like a huge pile of tinsel.
“Yes, pompoms.” Sally grins.
Back in line, Peter looks the reflection of the four rows of dancing girls, each holding a pair of big pompoms. “Now follow my lead girls!” Miss Baxter says, before pressing play in the cassette player.
Peter soon realises that dancing with pompoms is harder than it looks. Miss Baxter walks over and gives him some one-to-one tuition, “Follow my lead Peter, and don’t forget about your feet.” she says. He tries to keep up but struggles to do one thing with his feet and another with his arms. “Concentrate on the steps but don’t forget about your arms.” she reminds him. “Head up Peter… and remember, the mirror is your friend.”
Peter knows he has a habit of looking down. He looks straight ahead at his own reflection; one of many girls in a bouncy skirt, waving his pompoms as best he can. He drops his head again to concentrate on his footwork, but Miss Baxter shouts “Head up Peter!” After the pompom practice, Peter confesses to Sally that that was really hard.
Once the class is over, Miss Baxter approaches Peter and says she’s pleased he decided to return, and wanted to double check that he was happy dressing as a girl.
“It makes sense.” Peter replied, before telling her that his mother had bought him his own leotard, skirt and tights.
“Oh!” Mrs Baxter seemed surprised. “I thought you’d worn the one I’d left in the changing room for you.” she said. Peter bashfully shook his head. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy… just don’t get offended if I forget you’re a boy and refer to the whole class as ‘girls’, which I do tend to do.” she smiled.