The Silence probably only lasted for a second or two…
but it felt like minutes.
A deep sense of shame flooded through me as my sister’s four guests just looked and looked at me.
This is the moment I’d been dreading.
The moment of ridicule that will spill into tomorrow and the days after that.
I know what I look like,
it’s certainly a sight to behold.
With that thought, I cast my eyes over their outfits;
the pinks,
the prints, t
he bows and frills from head to toe.
Not many girls dress ‘girlie’ these days and Kirsten and Melanie look just as out-of-place as I do.
I smirk.
Melanie smirks.
Mollie chuckles but quickly contains it,
then Sarah bursts out laughing and that sets us all off.
It becomes infectious and we can’t contain ourselves.
We laugh so much it hurts.
Sally, Mollie, and Sarah each wear prissy pink dresses with big Lolita bows perched on their heads.
Their make-up is heavy and peachy.
Their footwear,
like mine, is dainty.
Kirsten wears a lilac dress because she really hates pink,
although it’s got more than its fair share of pink details.
Melanie, whom I’ve never seen in a skirt or frock,
clearly shied away from the offer of a blue dress
instead she wears the little pink dungarees with a pastel blue T-shirt,
pastel blue tights
and a pair of white baseball shoes
with pink ribbons instead of normal laces.
It’s clear that we all feel just as ridiculous as each other in our prissy girl clothes.
“Oh my god…
look at his shoes!” Mollie exclaims.
“You’re wearing heels!”
“Look at his hair!” Melanie yelped.
“He’s got ringlets!” she giggled.
“You look brilliant!” she claimed.
“You all look brilliant,” Mum said.
She handed out some fizzy drinks and put some music on.
It’s a golden oldie but highly appropriate;
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
The party started giddy and thanks to Sally’s meticulous planning,
she kept the momentum going with a well-selected play-list of girlie songs and intermittent games.
We all got into character and willingly played along to musical statues,
blind man’s buff, and pin the ponytail on the princess.
Sally presented prizes to the winners,
all of which wear cheap and girlie;
a plastic jewelry set,
some crayons and a coloring book,
a fluffy pink pencil case.
Things quietened down a little whilst we tucked into the buffet.
Mum’s cupcakes went down especially well.
I chatted with my cousin Mel and knowingly asked why cousin Simon didn’t come.
She grinned and said,
“He was too scared of wearing a dress.”
“So were you by the looks of things.” I smiled,
before telling her how Sally and I were certain she’d rather wear a dress than the dungaree shorts she opted for.
She told me that she’s a ‘modern’ girl and as such, refuses to wear dresses under any circumstances.
“I’d rather wear a dress than those,” I said.
“You look cute though,” I added,
causing her to momentarily grimace.
“So do you.” she smiled
. “I love your hair.”
“Really?” I coyly said,
bobbing my head and causing my ringlets to bob and bounce around my ears.
“Yeah…
its about time boys started making an effort to look pretty for us girls,” she claimed.
“If you weren’t my cousin I’d kiss you!”
“Eek!” I thought.
“Well… thanks, Mel…”
I blushed.
“…but I doubt I’ll be dressing like this again after today.”
“That’s a shame…
but you never know,
Sally might let you borrow it again.”
“Oh, it’s not my dress Mel,” Sally interjected.
Melanie looked baffled.
“Mum bought it for me,” I confessed.
“Then you’ll have to wear it again.” Melanie grinned.
“Oh, I dunno.” I coyly replied.
“What would my mates think?”
“You mean…
when they see all the girls flocking around you?” Melanie quizzed.
I bashfully claimed otherwise which prompted the other girls to interject.
According to them,
the kawaii-boi style is becoming mainstream in Korea and Japan and all the girls love ’em.
According to them,
the trend is ‘all the rage in Australia and New Zealand.
And according to Sarah,
it’s only a matter of time before they’ll be selling dresses for boys in this country.
“They already do.” Sally stated.
“Mum went all the way to Penton to buy him a proper boy’s dress.”
“Well there you go.” Sarah smugly smiled.
“The future’s already here.”
“Well…
actually…”
I smugly retorted.
“…it’s about fifty miles away, in Penton.” I grinned.
They rolled their eyes and sighed at my lame attempt at pedantry
. “I can’t see it catching on,” I claimed.
I looked down at my prissy pink dress,
my lacy white tights and pink heeled shoes with the dainty little ribbon on each ankle strap,
before casting my gaze to the equally prissy outfits worn by the others.
“I mean…
it feels nice and I know it looks nice but…
I can’t see ‘most’ boys dressing like this.”
Ever the wise one,
Mum sauntered in and agreed that it’s hard to imagine such a world.
She then suggested that it’s equally hard to imagine a world in which ‘most’ women and girls wore dresses,
heels, and make-up on a daily basis,
especially for young teenagers like us.
“It was like that when my mother was a girl.” Mum stated.
“Granny always used to say Sally was born fifty years too late.” she smiled.
“I wonder what she’d say if she could see you now?” she said to me.
Granny passed away a few years ago and I remember her well.
“I don’t understand these modern fashions…
pants and pixie cuts…
in my day girls were girls…
you could tell the difference.” she used to rant.
I wonder if she’d approve or not?
“Shall we have some cake?” Mum suggested.
Sally had meticulously planned the party and insisted on playing pass-the-parcel first.
“Everybody sit in a circle…
and leave a space for me.” she instructed.
“Mum… you’re the DJ.”
