Leslie Daniels didn't hate his name, but
it certainly wasn't helpful at school. It's a family name, the name of
his great grandfather, who he’d never met, but there were always cracks
about his name from some of the crueler kids, and with Leslie’s long
hair and thin body he had been mistaken for a girl a few times over his
life, particularly by adults, although never on a scale of this nature.
Usually,
he preferred to go by Les. Not really an improvement, but it was better
in his mind. Leslie always spent his summers at camp, and this year was
no exception. At fifteen years old now, he was heading for his last
year of summer camp, since Leslie ages out at the end of the summer.
Next year he’d need to get a summer job, but at least he had one last
hurrah. Leslie’s parents dropped him off bright and early at the pickup
location, a local school parking lot, before they had to go to work and
he dropped his bag with all the other boys' bags before he went up to
one of the directors who was, naturally, directing campers to their
correct bus.
"Name?" the director, a woman, asked as Leslie approached.
"Leslie Daniels," he said.
"Bus Two." she said, directing him to a bus.
The buses were identical except for a number plastered in the side window that identified it as either Bus One or Bus Two.
Leslie
climbed onto the bus and went straight to the back, sitting near the
window. He waited for some other campers to arrive, but because he was
so early, no one would be showing up for a while, so Leslie elected to
take a nap, given that he was up much earlier than he’d have liked.
Soon, he fell asleep, sprawled across the seat, and though he didn’t
know it, would wake up to a setting that was not expecting to wake up
in.
As he slowly became aware of the murmur of activity and the
bus chugging along, Leslie groggily woke up and took stock of his
surroundings, noticing that the bus didn't smell like sweat and cologne,
like it usually did, it smelled more like... perfume? He brushed his
hair out of his face and listened to the noises coming from around him
as he stared at the ceiling.
Instead of arguments about sports,
dirty jokes and discussion of girls, Leslie heard pop music, chatter
about clothes and boys and his eyes slowly widened as the realization of
what had happened dawned on him.
"I'm on the wrong bus... but that lady told me to...." he thought as he sat up in his seat.
Leslie
was ripped out of his thoughts by a light, friendly tap on the
shoulder. Leslie turned to see that a girl around his age had moved from
the seat across into the seat next to the one Leslie was occupying.
"Hi,
I'm Kendra." she said, extending her hand, which sported
well-manicured, polished nails, compared to Leslie’s bare, ragged and
dirty nails. “What’s your name?”
"Leslie..." he squeaked. He had to get out of there.
"You must've been tired, you slept through almost the entire bus ride." Kendra said.
But
Leslie had started to ignore her at this point, because he had to find a
counselor and explain what happened. Leslie went to stand up, but as he
did, the bus stopped. A quick glance out the window showed that they’d
arrived at the camp, the girl’s camp.
"Okay girls, we're here. Welcome to camp!" a cheery woman exclaimed from the front of the bus.
Leslie
scowled and sat back down in his seat. With everyone else disembarking
the bus, it would take some time to get the counselor alone.
“See
you later, Leslie,” Kendra smiled as she grabbed her purse off her seat
and headed towards the front of the bus, grouping up with two other
girls and leaving with them. Meanwhile, Leslie sat back while everyone
got off the bus, waiting until he knew he’d be the last one and
approached the counselor, who was checking off a list on a clipboard as
each camper passed.
"Excuse me," he said.
"What is it, sweetie?" she asked.
"Uh, you see... this is a little awkward but... I'm at the wrong camp. I'm supposed to be at the boy's camp." Leslie said.
"Name?" she asked.
"Leslie Daniels," he replied.
"Nope, we have you down here on our roster." she said, checking it off.
"But I'm a boy." Leslie insisted.
"Well, you're not dressed very girly but I wouldn't go that far," the counselor remarked.
"No, you don't understand..." Leslie tried to explain.
“I’m sorry, whatever the problem is, it’ll have to wait until later,” the counselor said, and started to walk away.
She’d been called away to where they were unloading the bags, and went over there to supervise.
“This is my chance!” Leslie thought. “If they see my bag filled with my clothes, they’ll have to believe me!”
Leslie
excitedly waited as bags were taken from the underside compartment of
the bus and claimed until eventually, there were no bags left to be
claimed. Leslie sighed in defeat and sulked.
"Of course, the bag probably made it to the right camp," he muttered.
Leslie
kicked dirt in frustration as he tried to figure out some other way to
explain his situation, preferably not to that flighty, oblivious
counselor, except from the looks of it, she seemed to be running things,
making her the highest authority. Noticing Leslie off to the side, the
head counselor approached him and flipped a page on her clipboard.
"Okay,
Leslie Daniels, you're in Cabin 8 with... Kendra, Annie and Nora." the
head counselor, who Leslie had heard another counselor call Carla, said,
pointing towards the group of girls.
"Please listen to me.” Leslie begged. “I'm not a girl. I don't belong here. I'll prove it!"
Leslie
couldn’t think of any other way to prove his gender, since all of his
belongings were in his missing suitcase, except for one, getting ready
to drop his pants to make his point. Carla quickly grabbed his arm.
"Young
lady! That is not appropriate! The roster said you had behavioral
problems, but I didn't expect you to be this bad." she exclaimed.
"Report to your cabin!"
Leslie debated talking back, but decided
it was smarter to give up for the moment, and just listen to what she
said. He had no cell phone, the camps had a strict no-technology rule,
and he knew that she wasn't going to budge, that was clear enough from
her refusal to see reason, especially if Leslie deigned to cause
problems. Although it made Leslie feel even worse about this
predicament.
“Am I really that feminine looking that no one would notice I’m not a girl?” Leslie wondered.
Leslie
resolved to see if he could use the camp’s telephone later to call his
parents and explain the problem. They'd surely get him out of this crazy
place once they knew.
For the time being, Carla led him to Cabin
8, where he walked in and was introduced to not only Kendra, from the
bus, but two other girls, Annie, a short, black haired girl and Nora, a
tall redhead, who was at least a head taller than him. Upon seeing him
walk in, Kendra rushed over and embraced Leslie in a quick hug.
"Leslie! I was hoping you'd be in our cabin!" Kendra exclaimed. "Where's your bag?"
"It... got lost," he said.
“I’d
better not bring them into the know about the mistake, they probably
wouldn’t take too kindly to having a boy in their cabin.” Leslie thought.
"Oh no!" Annie shouted. “What will you wear?”
"That's alright, we can lend you stuff until it gets here." Kendra said. “Right girls?”
Annie and Nora both nodded affirmatively.
"Well,
at least you'll have your cabin shirt." Nora said, pointing to the
remaining bunk, which had a baby blue t-shirt sitting on top of it. One
that he suddenly noticed the three girls were wearing as well, in
contrast to his rock band t-shirt and jean shorts.
"Great..." he muttered.
"Come on, try it on!" Kendra said.
"Oh,
you see, I don't really want to right now..." Leslie said, not wanting
to take his shirt off in front of them for fear of exposing his lack of
breasts.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of." Annie said as she
surprised Leslie by grabbing his shirt from behind and pulled it up over
his head.
“Stop that!” Leslie shouted as he tried to grab his shirt, but it was too late.
His
bare chest was completely exposed, and although he immediately covered
up his chest, he expected the girls to riot and go straight for Carla,
but they just stood there quietly until Nora spoke up.
"That's what you were afraid of? That you're flat-chested?" Nora asked, a quizzical look in her eye.
"It's
not a big deal, Leslie. Some people are just late bloomers, though you
probably should have worn a bra." Kendra said with a slight giggle.
"I..." Leslie started.
"It's
alright, you can borrow one of mine." Annie said, walking to her bed,
and pulling out a pink bra that she handed to Leslie. “I’m pretty small
in that department so it should fit fine.”
Leslie looked over the
bra for a minute, a girl had just handed him her bra, but instead of
the fun and sexy moment he assumed it would be, it was a mundane
experience. He sheepishly tried to put it on the best he could, managing
to succeed after a few moments and a little help from Annie. Then,
Leslie put on the shirt, which proudly emblazoned the words "Cabin 8"
across his chest.
“Could this day get any worse?” Leslie wondered.
"Campers!" came Carla's voice over the loudspeaker. "Report to the signpost for orientation!"
"Come on!" Kendra shouted as she grabbed Leslie's arm and dragged him out of the cabin.
A
few minutes later, Leslie found himself sitting in a circle, surrounded
by the girls of Cabin 8 and also the other cabins as Carla began to
explain the rules of the camp.
"First and foremost, no
technology. But of course you are allowed to call your parents for any
reason if you need to. But you can't monopolize the phone, we only have
the one." Carla started. “Try to keep your conversations short enough so
everyone has a chance.”
Leslie sat there as she explained
everything, from camp etiquette, to what time lights out was, though he
was hoping that he'd be gone before he'd have to heed any of those
rules.
"We're going to have a lot of fun this year, girls. Lots
of activities, and hopefully forging lifetime friendships." Carla
finished. "You can go back to your cabins now. Dinner is at 6 tonight,
so make sure you don't miss it."
The campers began to disperse back to their cabins, but Leslie quickly ran up to Carla as she started walking away.
"Excuse me, I need to use the phone," he said.
"For what?" she asked. Clearly his earlier outburst hadn’t endeared him to Carla.
"To call my parents... my bag went missing." Leslie replied, hoping she'd be more inclined to let him use it out of pity.
"Alright. It's in the main office." Carla rolled her eyes as she pointed towards a large cabin-like building.
Leslie
ran inside and asked the person inside to use the phone, who handed him
the corded receiver. He dialed up his home number, and got an answering
machine.
“Of course, they're still at work...” Leslie griped.
Then
he tried their cell phones, and no one picked up. Then, not even the
few neighbors that he knew phone numbers for were answering.
“Was there a local outage or something?”
Eventually,
another girl walked in to use the phone in the midst of his quest. She
was patient at first, but after a few minutes of crossing her arms and
tapping her foot, she decided to clear her throat and tapped Leslie on
the shoulder.
"Can I use it now?" she asked.
"Hold on, I'm still using it!" Leslie replied.
"You've been using it for a half hour, it's my turn!" she said.
The woman inside the main office turned from her paperwork to Leslie and the girl.
"Young lady, you have been monopolizing it. Let her use it." she said. "You can try again tomorrow."
Leslie
wanted to snap back once again, but he also didn't want to get in
trouble, because if what Carla said was true about the other Leslie’s
behavioral issues, that would make it less likely that he'd be able to
convince anyone of his identity, if they thought he was just a badly
behaved girl causing trouble for trouble’s sake.
"...Fine." he said, handing the receiver to the girl.
Leslie
dejectedly walked back outside. As he did, a group of girls rushed past
him heading towards the mess hall and he was knocked bottom first into a
dirty puddle. He stood up, and groaned, realizing that his shorts were
ruined. He rushed back to Cabin 8 to try to wash them in the bathroom
sink, along with his underwear, which the puddle had soaked through to.
Rushing in, he brushed past the girls of Cabin 8 who soon knocked on the
door.
"Leslie?" Leslie heard Annie’s voice through the door.
"I'm busy!" he shouted.
"We saw your shorts... Kendra has a pair you can borrow. And I have a pair of underwear if you need." Annie said.
Leslie
realized that even if he washed them and got the mud out, he'd have to
wait for his shorts to dry anyway, and he reluctantly walked to the
door.
"I'll take both." he sighed.
Leslie wrapped a towel
around his waist and opened the door, getting a pair of pink panties, to
match the bra, and a pair of denim short shorts to replace his shorts
from Annie, who passed them to him.
Leslie changed into them and
emerged from the bathroom, his sneakers and socks being the only vestige
of male clothing he had left.
Leslie had never been a very hairy
person to begin with, so with the girl's shorts, and the natural lack
of hair on his legs and face, he really did look like just another girl
at the camp. He grimaced as he lay on his bunk, realizing that this was
turning out to be a long day and his time at the camp currently had no
end in sight.
About twenty minutes later, Kendra, Nora and Annie
announced that they were heading to the mess hall for dinner. Leslie’s
stomach rumbled and he realized that he hadn't eaten all day, except a
small breakfast bar right before he got on the bus, and reluctantly
joined them. They went to the mess hall, which, for a summer camp, was
surprisingly nice. It was very roomy with a lot of spread out tables,
and was pretty clean. Leslie got his food and followed his cabin-mates
to a table populated with a few other cabins of girls and quietly
started eating.
"What are you looking forward to the most, Kendra?" Nora asked in between bites of her food.
"Swimming,
mostly. It's so great to just go out into the lake and swim, it's
always been my favorite part of camp." Kendra replied. "What about you?"
"Nature hikes and bird watching." Nora smiled, staring out the window at the nearby forest. "Annie?"
"Ugh,
I hate all this outdoorsy stuff. I'll stick to just the arts and crafts
stuff. My mom always likes it when I make her picture frames anyway."
Annie giggled.
"What about you, Leslie?" Kendra asked, and when he didn’t respond immediately. “Leslie?”
"Oh,
uh... I don't know, a little of everything I guess." Leslie muttered as
he kept eating, eager to remain outside of the conversation.
"You’re totally going on a hike with me." Nora said. "You'll love it. A good nature walk is good for the soul."
"I guess we'll see..." he weakly smiled and continued eating.
Carla walked in and whistled extremely loudly, which got everyone's attention.
"Alright,
campers! The activity schedule has been posted, you'll get to see what
we're doing every day for the next month, plus any extra activities like
the camp musical." Carla said.
"Musical? Ugh." Leslie thought to himself.
Leslie
was determined to get out of there before they even held auditions. The
rest of dinner went about the same way as it had started, with idle
chatter about what their plans for camp were, and the girls of Cabin 8
went back to their cabin, while Leslie approached Carla again, hoping to
explain the situation better than he did earlier.
"Carla?" he asked.
"Yes, Leslie?" she replied, looking up from her clipboard.
"Uh,
I know I said this before, but there's been some sort of mix up. I'm
not a girl, I'm a boy. Have been since I was born. If you could just
call the boy's camp, they're probably looking for me." he innocently
smiled. "I don't want to cause trouble but, I just don't belong here."
"Leslie,
you have to stop with this. I know you don't want to be here, but I'd
say make the best of it, because you're here until camp ends." Carla
said.
"No, you really don't get it. This is a mix-up, there must
be two Leslie Daniels or something, but I'm not a girl. For all we know,
she's at the boy's camp in my place!" Leslie exclaimed.
"Give it
a rest already! I'm not going to say it again, get used to being here,
and no amount of trying to convince me that you're a boy is going to
work." Carla sternly said.
"This woman really is dense, isn't she?" Leslie thought to himself.
Leslie
reasoned that he’d probably be better off trying to convince his
cabin-mates, but he doesn't want to open that can of worms, since they
might not be as forgiving as he wishes they'd be. What if they didn't
take too kindly to having spent the day with a boy who didn't belong?
They seemed nice, but so had a lot of the guys he’d met at the boy’s
camp in previous years who’d either bullied or pranked him repeatedly.
Dejected, Leslie went back to Cabin 8, and found the girls gathered around on the floor talking.
"Hey, Leslie! Come on, join us, we're talking about our favorite bands," Annie said.
"Maybe later." Leslie said, climbing into his bunk.
"Oh, and I have a spare pair of PJ's you can borrow." Nora said. "I left it in your part of the dresser."
"Thanks." he sighed.
Leslie
laid down under the covers until the other girls fell asleep. Then he
quietly got out of bed and walked over to the dresser, opening it to
find a pink nightgown.
"Ugh. Of course..." he grimaced. "This just keeps getting worse."
Leslie
sighed and stripped down to just the panties and changed into the
nightgown. He climbed back into bed and tried to fall asleep, however,
Leslie just couldn't get comfortable in the nightgown, since the
material was very different from what he had worn before and was rubbing
strangely against his skin.
After getting frustrated with his
inability to sleep, Leslie decided to go into the bathroom and took a
look at himself in the mirror. He hated to admit it, but dressed as he
was, he looked like a girl. Leslie quietly and slowly left the bathroom,
and climbed back into bed, eventually falling asleep.
After tossing and turning for hours,
Leslie managed to fall asleep, but was awoken by the bustle of the three
girls getting dressed and ready for breakfast. Leslie sat up and Annie
excitedly pulled something towards his bed.
"Leslie! Great news, your bag showed up this morning!" Annie exclaimed.
"My
bag?" Leslie asked, excited for a moment, before Annie plopped a
suitcase on his bed, a large pink suitcase, one that was decidedly, not
his own.
“Must be the other Leslie's.” he thought, involuntarily grimacing, before saying aloud: "Oh... this isn't mine."
"Of course it is!" Kendra said. "Look! It's got your name on it!"
Leslie
looked at the luggage tag, and naturally, it did indeed say Leslie
Daniels on it. Just not the right Leslie Daniels, but he knew there was
no sense arguing with Kendra about it.
"I think she was just looking forward to borrowing one of your skirts." Nora snarkily remarked.
Leslie
sighed and opened the bag, prepared for the worst, found the worst, at
least by his estimation. It was the girliest set of clothes, cosmetics
and accessories that he had ever seen. Blouses, skirts, shorts, a few
dresses, bras and panties, sandals, hair products, makeup and jewelry.
He wondered what use a girl would have for all this stuff at summer
camp, but after getting a peek into the drawers of his cabin-mates,
realized it wasn’t that strange after all.
"Must feel great to have your stuff back, huh?" Annie asked.
"Yeah... great." Leslie sighed.
"Anyway, we're heading to breakfast, better get dressed if you wanna catch up!" Kendra said as the girls left the cabin.
Leslie
started to rummage through the bag, reasoning that he needs to get
changed into something, given that his clothes are still dirty from the
previous day, and found that the real Leslie must also be flat chested,
since her bras had some padding in them, likely to make up for her lack
of endowment. He groaned and put on a fresh bra and panties, the bra not
strictly necessary, but his cabin-mates would expect it, and he knew
they’d likely notice.
Leslie pulled his hair back with a hair tie
he found in the front pocket, and dug through the suitcase for another
pair of shorts, though this time they were pink, and used the same
"Cabin 8" shirt, since he’d seen the girls all wearing theirs as they
left for breakfast. He slid on his own socks and shoes, the last
remaining bit of his original clothes, and looked in the mirror. Just
like the night before, he looked the part of a girl camper.
"I
hope wherever the other Leslie is, she's having as much fun as I'm not."
Leslie sighed and walked out of the cabin and to the mess hall for
breakfast.
He grabbed his food and sat down with Nora, Annie and
Kendra, who were excitedly talking about the day's activities. They
immediately tried to bring him into the conversation despite his clear
disinterest.
"Looks like the first craft activity is bracelets." Annie said. "Wanna join me, Leslie?"
"Maybe some other time." Leslie idly said.
"Oh
come on, I know you were probably dumped here by your parents and you'd
rather be somewhere else, but you've gotta get into the spirit! You've
spent the entire first day moping!" Kendra exclaimed. "You're doing an
activity with us today and we’re not taking ‘No’ for an answer. It's up
to you which one."
"I'm going bird-watching." Nora said. "Could always use a buddy!"
"Or
you can come with me, they're putting together softball teams. If you
don't wanna play, you can at least be one of the cheerleaders." Kendra
said.
"Girls, listen I..." Leslie started.
"You’re not getting out of this, Leslie. Pick an activity!" Kendra snapped.
"Why do you care so much about what I'm doing?" Leslie asked.
"Rule
#2 of the camp: It is the duty of cabin-mates to ensure that every
member of the cabin is involved with activities and enjoys themselves.
And Rule #4 No Loners Allowed." Nora replied.
“Are those even real rules?” Leslie asked.
“Not strictly, but they’re the unofficial code of conduct here.” Annie replied.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Leslie asked.
Leslie
really didn't want to do any of those dumb activities, but if Carla
refuses to listen to his protests, and no one at home will answer the
phone, he had no choice but to play along until he could find a way to
escape. And to reinforce that feeling, the girls shook their heads
negatively.
"Fine... Uh, I guess I'll do..." Leslie started.
Leslie
didn't want to play softball and wanted even less to be a cheerleader.
And bracelets sounded boring, so he figured at least bird-watching might
be halfway interesting.
"I guess I'll do bird-watching." Leslie sighed resignedly.
"Awesome" Nora beamed. "It'll be so fun!"
Leslie
finished off his breakfast and walked back to the cabin with his "new
friends", and they all but forced him to be involved with their
conversations.
"Say, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I found
it a little weird. You have all that makeup and hair stuff in your bag,
and you haven't used any of it yet... any particular reason why?" Annie
asked.
“Come on, give her a break, I didn’t see you go all out prettying yourself up for breakfast either!” Nora chided.
"I just... haven't felt like doing it yet, that's all." he replied, nervous that she might be onto him.
"I think that was her way of asking to borrow something." Kendra giggled.
Nora
and Annie joined in with the chuckling. Leslie wanted to hate them, but
he couldn’t, I mean, it’s not like it’s their fault he got on the wrong
bus, right? Leslie felt bad for being so mean to them, and came upon a
solution that he thought might appease them.
"All of you can
borrow whatever you want." Leslie said, giggling nervously. "It’s the
least I can do for letting me borrow your stuff when I didn't have my
bag."
"Thanks, Leslie!" Annie exclaimed, hugging him.
Once
the group got back to the cabin, Nora quickly grabbed a hiking backpack
and started to fill it with items, a few water bottles, a compass and a
pair of nice binoculars. She noticed Leslie scrutinizing her packing.
"They
give us binoculars, but they're never good enough for my liking, so I
brought my own." Nora said. “I’m a Level 2 Birder back home.”
"I see," Leslie replied.
After
Nora finished packing, the duo, Leslie and Nora, headed out to the
center of camp, where Carla was pairing girls up for the hike. As they
walked up, Carla asked for partners, and Nora quickly grabbed Leslie's
arm and raised it up.
"Very good, Leslie. Nice to see you're
getting involved. The summer will only be bad if you let it be." Carla
said, handing him a bird identification booklet.
He just smiled and nodded, determined to not deal with her again as they started out on the hike.
Against
his better judgment, Leslie actually started to have fun, checking
birds off the list, using Nora's binoculars, if he wasn't constantly
being reminded that he was being forced to masquerade as a girl and no
one would believe him when he told them he was a boy, it'd actually be
an enjoyable experience. Hiking at the boy’s camp usually amounted to
getting bit up by bugs and thrown into bushes as part of a joke
regarding the name of a President. Compared to that, the girls seemed
much more civilized.
After a bird perched on a branch, Leslie
decided to try to get a good vantage point to look at it, since it
looked like the final one on the list, and the rarest, according to the
booklet. Trying to stand on some nearby rocks, he ended up instead
stumbling and falling into a patch of nearby leaves.
The other
girls watched in horror as he tumbled, it wasn’t a particularly big
drop, but it definitely hurt, since he landed squarely on his posterior.
“Ouch…” Leslie whined as Nora quickly helped him up.
Meanwhile,
another girl identified what the leaves were, to Leslie's irritation.
Poison ivy... His body started to itch, but Carla assured him it was
psychosomatic... the rash usually doesn't start until a few hours to a
day later.
Naturally, Leslie was not quite as enthusiastic about
the latter half of the hike, and mostly sulked until they finished up
and got back to camp. Upon their return, Leslie ended up in the nurse's
office, where he was given a quick check-up and a bottle of calamine
lotion that smelled absolutely repulsive.
Following that, he
returned to Cabin 8 and slumped down on his bed. Annie and Kendra were
already inside and noticed Leslie putting the bottle down on the
nightstand.
"Got some poison ivy on ya, huh?" Annie asked.
"Yeah." Leslie sighed.
"Does it itch yet?" Kendra asked.
"Not yet," he replied.
Kendra
curiously picked up the bottle, opened it and smelled it, making a
disgusted face before immediately shutting it and putting it back down.
"Well, if it does, you can use this instead of that junk." Annie reached into a drawer and pulled out a pink bottle.
"What is it?" he asked, taking the bottle from her.
"Last
year I fell into some poison oak and my parents sent that up with me
this year because the stuff they keep around here is nasty." Annie said.
"This has like perfume and stuff in it, so it smells nice."
Leslie popped the lid and smelled it, confirming that it was much better smelling than the stuff he was given.
"Thanks," he smiled at Annie.
A
few hours later, Leslie’s skin started to itch like crazy, but the
sweet, flowery smelling lotion soothed it almost immediately. Leslie
wasn't happy here, but he was glad that his bunk mates seemed to be nice
girls.
But regardless of how nice they were, he had to make some headway into getting out of here. Leslie ruminated on what to do next.
I
could try calling home again... or maybe if the nurse gave me a full
physical and saw that I'm not a girl, she'd help send me home…” Leslie thought to himself.
Ultimately,
he decided to head to the phone, he had a sinking suspicion that the
nurse wouldn't listen, and the phone was his best bet for instant
gratification. Leslie went to the front office and asked to use the
phone, which the woman allowed, despite her tone indicating that she
hadn’t forgotten his earlier behavior.
"But no hogging it today, Miss Daniels." the woman said.
"I won't." Leslie said. One call was hopefully all he'd need.
Leslie dialed in his home number and waited as it rang, and rang, and rang, before it was finally picked up.
"Hello?" his mother answered.
"Thank god! I’m saved!" Leslie thought.
"Mom! It's me, Les!" he exclaimed.
"Les! Great to hear from you, how's camp?" she asked.
"Where
do I even begin? I'm at the wrong camp! There was a mistake with the
bus and I'm at the girl's camp! I need you to come and get me!" he
replied, shouting into the receiver.
What he heard back was muffled and static-y. The phone call was breaking up.
”Is that even possible with landlines?” Leslie wondered.
"Mom!
Wait! I'm not at the boy's camp! I'm at the girl's camp and I need you
to come get me! I'll send you a letter tomorrow!" Leslie shouted, hoping
at least part of it was breaking through the static.
Before too
long, the phone cut off and went back to a dial tone before screeching
in his ear about how he should dial the number again or hang up.
"Another bust..." Leslie muttered.
As Leslie left the main office, he heard the loudspeaker start to crackle outside.
"Attention campers! It's dinner time, so get your butts to the dining hall!" Carla exclaimed over the speaker.
Leslie's
stomach started to once again rumble. All of that activity today had
left him with a healthy appetite. As he headed towards the mess hall, he
pushed the feelings back as they came, but he was actually sort of
happy that he had a group to sit with.
Dinner went by without
incident, and Leslie was happy that the girls didn't seem to take any
objection to his eating habits, so he was able to indulge himself
without fear of anyone discovering his secret. At least camp food is
universal.
Most of the conversation revolved around the events
of the day, and so he was reminded of the poison ivy incident a few
times whenever a girl from the hike passed by to check on him, asking
about the rash and itching. Thankfully, the lotion he got from Kendra
was working wonders, and he didn't see any sign of a rash showing up as
of yet.
Once dinner was over, he headed back to Cabin 8. With a
few hours before lights out, the girls started their nightly rituals
that Leslie had partially observed the previous night. Nora was reading a
book, Annie was putting on a face mask and Kendra was inspecting her
toenails. Leslie noticed her staring at him as he unpacked "his"
suitcase, since he had nothing else to do to occupy his time, putting
everything away in the drawers.
"Am I blocking you?" Leslie asked as he moved out of the way of the dresser.
"Oh
no, I was just wondering if I could borrow that nail polish." Kendra
pointed at a bottle of bright pink polish that he had left sitting on
the dresser as he went through all the clothes. "It's such a pretty
shade."
"Yeah, of course. I told you it was all up for grabs." Leslie said as he handed her the bottle.
Kendra grabbed his hand before he could pull it away, and inspected it, clicking her tongue as she flipped his hand over.
"Been a while since your last manicure, huh?" Kendra asked.
"I've been busy." he weakly smiled, hoping that this wasn't the end of his charade.
"Sit down." Kendra pulled Leslie over to her bed.
"I should finish unpacking." he tried to pull away, but Kendra kept pulling.
“You can unpack later,” Kendra insisted.
Eventually, he gave up and sat down, cross-legged as Kendra was, on Kendra's bunk.
"Tsk, tsk." Kendra giggled. "Though I guess bird-watching will get your fingernails dirty."
Kendra
reached into a makeup bag and pulled out a nail file, then she started
to work on Leslie’s fingernails as she started to make small-talk,
mostly inquiring about Leslie's life outside of camp.
Apart from a
few embellishments, he tried his best not to lie, given that it would
be hard to keep a story straight if he told different lies to everyone.
Once
Kendra finished rounding his nails, she started to paint them with the
pink polish, all the while asking about Leslie’s life. The worst part
that Leslie had to face was admitting to Kendra that he'd never kissed
anyone. Boy or girl, he hadn't yet been so fortunate, and blushed
furiously when he admitted it to Kendra.
"Oh, don't be ashamed.
There's nothing wrong with saving yourself for the right guy. Or girl."
Kendra said. "Or if you don't want to do it at all, but based on that
blush, I think you do."
"I guess." Leslie giggled.
He'd
never admit it to anyone, but getting his nails painted was actually
relaxing, and talking with Kendra took his mind off the entire
predicament. So much so, that he didn't resist as harshly when she
offered to do his toes as well.
Eventually, Annie and Nora joined
in on the conversations, and they were giggling like schoolgirls, with
Leslie giggling right along with them. This experience stunk, but that
didn't mean that Leslie couldn't find enjoyment in the small things.
By the time his nails were dry, it was time for lights out and unlike the previous night, Leslie slept soundly.
Like the previous day, Leslie awoke to
his bunkmates doing their morning rituals and preparing for the day. He
yawned and scratched his face, noticing his pink nails and remembering
that he had let Kendra paint his nails before bed.
“Well, I can remove that once I get out of here, so it’s not a big deal.”
Leslie
hopped out of bed and grabbed “his” clothes out of the drawer, quickly
getting in and out of the bathroom, changing out of the oversized
t-shirt and shorts he’d chosen as pajamas, and into a fresh pair of
denim shorts, courtesy of the other Leslie's bag, along with a fresh bra
and pair of panties. He pulled his Cabin 8 shirt back on and brushed
his teeth, exiting the bathroom with barely enough time for Annie to
quickly rush past him to get inside.
"What activity are you going to do today?" Kendra asked. "We're still doing softball if you're interested."
"And I think there's another hike today." Nora said.
"I think I'll pass on any more hikes." Leslie said.
"Probably smart." Nora said.
Leslie
started looking for a pair of socks in the drawer that he’d somehow
forgotten to grab, but all the socks that he’d put into the drawers the
night before had vanished. And they weren't with the other girls' stuff
either. Come to think of it, Leslie couldn't find his sneakers anywhere
either. The only footwear sitting out were a pair of sandals with a
slight heel that he recognized from the other Leslie's bag. Not his
sneakers, not even a pair of the other Leslie's sneakers in sight.
If
he wasn’t so concerned, Leslie might have been suspicious. But as it
was, Leslie started to furiously look around the room, checking every
nook and cranny, when he heard chuckling from the other side of the
room.
He turned to find that Kendra was having trouble suppressing laughter.
"Kendra? Would you happen to know where my socks and sneakers went?" he asked, as sweetly as he could.
"Me?
Oh I..." Kendra burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, it was me. I just
didn't want my handiwork to go to waste underneath your sneakers."
Kendra
pointed to Leslie's polished toes. Leslie wiggled them and thought
about the situation. Since he was still at this point supposed to be a
girl, it’s not like anyone would question his pink toenails, and one day
in sandals wouldn’t kill him.
"Oh... I guess that's okay." he
said, pulling on the sandals. After all, he wasn't intending on doing
anything overly physical anyway. Plus it was an ultimately harmless
prank, not like the stuff he'd had done to him over at the other camp in
previous years.
As Leslie and the girls started to head out for
breakfast, he suddenly remembered his intended plan from the night
before that he’d gotten distracted from. The letter to his mom!
"I’ll catch up with you guys, but would any of you happen to have paper and a pen?" Leslie asked.
"What for? A love letter to your crush?" Annie asked in a sing-song voice.
"No, a letter to my mom," he replied, matter of factly. "The phones haven't been too reliable lately."
"I've
got something you can use. Even have a few envelopes too." Nora started
to dig through her bag, handing him a sheet of pink paper, an envelope
and a pen.
"Thanks. I'll catch up with you in a bit." Leslie smiled as he took the items.
"Got it." Nora said as the three departed for the mess hall.
Immediately,
Leslie got work writing furiously, explaining his predicament and all
the salient details. The other Leslie Daniels on the roster, the wrong
bus, and his attempts to correct the situation on his own. He begged his
mother to come rescue him and sealed the envelope up, writing his
address on the front. He'd bring it to the main office later, but even
then, he knew he’d have to wait a few days for it to be delivered, so
his main concern at the moment was food, and he quickly ran over to the
mess hall for breakfast after leaving the letter sitting on top of the
dresser.
After a hearty breakfast, Leslie joined the girls of Cabin 8 for the walk back to their cabin.
"So, given any thought to what you're gonna do today?" Annie asked.
"I
don't think I'm up for physical activity, especially since I don't have
any sneakers today." Leslie jokingly glared at Kendra, who giggled in
response. "So I think I'll do crafts."
"Yay! I was hoping you'd
say that!" Annie squeezed him in another hug and kept her arm around him
as they walked back to the cabin, with her telling him all the fun
stuff he'd be doing.
Kendra and Nora just rolled their eyes as they followed along back to the cabin.
Back
at the cabin, Nora and Kendra gathered up their things for their
activities, while Annie went digging in her bag for something.
"I
forgot to give these to you yesterday, but I made them during crafts."
Annie handed something to each girl, and then to Leslie.
What
she’d handed out were bracelets made out of thread and beads. Looking
closer, Leslie realized that the beads spelled out his name. And the
others spelled out the other girls' names. As much as Leslie wanted to
get out of here and go to the correct camp, his heart couldn't help but
be warmed by Annie's gift.
"Friendship bracelets!" Annie exclaimed. "That way, we'll be friends forever!"
“Thanks,” Leslie said.
Kendra
and Nora thanked Annie as well and put their bracelets on. In order to
not raise suspicion, and certainly for no other reason, Leslie also put
his on. Each of the bracelets were made of different color thread and
beads. Kendra’s was made of purples, Nora’s was made of greens, and
Annie’s was made of blues. Leslie's was made of various pinks, and
matched his nails quite nicely. That is, if he cared about such things,
which he didn’t.
"See you later!" Kendra said as she and Nora left the cabin to head to their activities.
"Let's go, Leslie!" Annie grabbed his arm and nearly dragged him all the way to the crafts area.
The
activity of the day was tie-dye, which Leslie thought was pretty cool.
He was all set to start when Annie offered him a pair of rubber gloves,
to protect his nails, which he sheepishly accepted.
The act of
tie-dyeing wasn't all that hard, and Leslie found himself getting
dragged into conversations with all the girls there regarding colors and
the cuteness of each design, even if Leslie didn’t really get what made
something “cute”. Everything was going well, and Leslie was happily
biding his time until a poorly timed turn caused him to collide with
another girl and fall backwards onto the table that had everyone's dyed
shirts and several open bottles of dye laying on it.
In an
instant, Leslie was covered in wet, sticky dye from the neck down,
mostly on his arms and legs, which were the most exposed, not to mention
the clothes he was wearing were completely ruined.
"Leslie!" Annie shouted as she rushed to help him up.
As she helped him up, several other girls tried to salvage the projects while asking if he (or to them, she) was okay.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just... crud!" he shook his arms and blue dye dripped off of his elbow.
Amidst the chaos, Carla rushed over, and inspected the scene, before turning her attention to Leslie.
"Leslie, are you okay? No scrapes or anything?" Carla looked him over.
"No, just humiliation..." Leslie muttered.
"Don't
worry about it, Leslie. It's not the first time anyone's done that,
just go rinse off in the shower cabin." Carla pointed towards an area
that he had been intending to avoid during his stay.
Unfortunately,
Leslie didn't have much of a choice given that if he didn't act fast,
he'd be stained for weeks, and the tie-dye would be much harder to get
rid of than nail polish. As such, Leslie quickly rushed to the showers,
with Annie promising to grab him a change of clothes from Cabin 8 as he
sprinted.
Getting to the showers, Leslie noticed that his sandals
had fortunately survived, and he rinsed the clothes out in the sink
before walking into the showers and stripping out of his underwear,
which somehow made it out unscathed. Leslie glanced around to make sure
no girl was hanging around the showers, as he didn't much want to be
exposed like this, especially not in front of some girl he didn’t even
know. No sense in causing trouble right before he got out after all.
Leslie
hung the bra and panties, miraculously un-dyed, right outside the
shower, and without thinking, started to wash himself with soap he had
found lying there, probably left by another camper. Knowing how helpful
and friendly everyone had been so far, he didn't think they'd mind.
As
he rinsed off the dye, and the assorted dirt from the last few days,
Leslie found himself feeling serene and relaxed. He just had to wait a
few more days and his mom would clear this whole mess up. Just a few
days...
Unfortunately, Leslie was so lost in thought that he
didn't hear Annie calling his name over the sound of the running water
as she walked into the cabin. Nor did he realize until she pulled the
shower curtain open and looked inside.
"Leslie! I brought you a
new shirt and...!" Annie stopped in her tracks as he turned around,
quickly covering up his crotch, but it was too late.
"I..." he started.
Leslie's
mind started racing as he began to run through possible scenarios in
his head. What was going to happen now? Annie would tell Carla what
she’d seen, definitely, then the other girls. Could he be arrested for
this? Leslie hadn't really thought through this far when he had debated
going to the nurse for a physical. He didn't ask to be here, but he
didn't think that anyone would buy that. Even he had to admit it’s a
pretty fantastical story of strange coincidences. And he didn't know
why, but what worried him the most wasn't legal ramifications, but the
fact that now, Kendra, Nora and especially Annie were going to hate him.
Why did they have to be so nice? And why did Leslie care?
Annie
dropped the clothes and stepped back, unsure of how to respond. Leslie
quickly shut the water off and dried off with a towel. He wrapped it
around his waist, grabbed another towel to wrap over his shoulders and
ran through the camp, blowing past several confused girls as they
watched their fellow camper sprint directly to Cabin 8 and slam the door
behind him.
Leslie quickly rushed into the bathroom in the cabin
and locked the door. He sank down to the floor behind the door and
started sobbing. He wasn't usually this emotional, but given the last
few days, this was a culmination of all his frustration and anger and
fear coming out all at once in an incredible release. As he let his
emotions out, there was a quiet knock at the door.
"Leslie?" the voice asked.
"Go away!" he shouted through your tears.
"Leslie, it's me," the voice started. "It's Annie."
"Leave me alone!" he sobbed.
"Rule #4... No loners." he heard Annie sit down on the other side of the door. "I brought your clothes."
Leslie
sniffled and unlocked the door. Annie opened it a crack and passed
through a bundle. Inside the bundle was another Cabin 8 shirt, that
she'd likely gotten from Carla while he was showering, and a skirt,
along with the underwear he’d left back at the showers in his haste to
leave. He shut the door again and locked it while he changed back into
dry clothes.
Leslie didn't see much reason to keep up the charade
with the bra, but he put it on anyway, along with the panties, skirt
and t-shirt. He took a deep breath and opened the door, he'd have to
face Annie eventually, and he didn't want this to happen with Kendra and
Nora around.
Annie immediately embraced him in a hug. Leslie
wasn't sure how to respond, he assumed that she'd much rather attack him
for the deception.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that, it was just a bit of a shock." Annie said.
"I..." Leslie started to speak.
"In
hindsight it makes so much sense, why you don't wear makeup, why you've
been hesitant to be girly, you're still new at it." Annie continued.
“But don’t worry about it, I get it, my cousin is trans.”
“She
thinks that I'm transgender? That's... probably better for her, rather
than find out that I got sent here by mistake and have been forced to
pretend to be a girl.” Leslie reasoned to himself.
"You're not mad?" Leslie sniffled again.
"Mad? Of course not! We're friends!" Annie exclaimed, which made him feel really good.
"Are you gonna tell?" he asked.
"Tell
who? Carla? No, if she doesn't already know, I won't spill. Kendra and
Nora? If it's all right, I'd like to tell them, that way we can all help
you in case something like this happens again." Annie replied.
Leslie recognized that the logic was sound, if anything happened again, he’d need someone to do damage control.
"You can tell them. But don't tell anyone else." he requested.
"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Annie mimed locking her lips with a key. "Pinky promise."
Annie held out her pinky, and Leslie put his up to it and linked them together.
"Come on, let's go finish tie-dyeing." Annie said, handing Leslie “his” sandals.
He smiled and quickly put the sandals back on, walking with Annie back to the crafts area.
When
Kendra and Nora returned to the cabin after their activities, Annie sat
them down and explained the situation, and naturally, they were nothing
but supportive, apologizing for what they now perceived as
insensitivity regarding his lack of femininity. He wasn't offended, of
course, because he was just a boy trapped in this feminine web, and
desperate to escape it, but it at least provided some cover and might
help him in the event that something unbecoming happened.
Dinner
was uneventful, but fun, since he had started to pick up on how to
converse with the girls, even subconsciously picking up on their speech
patterns and using his hands more when he talked.
"You're definitely playing softball tomorrow." Kendra told you as he walked back to the cabin after dinner.
"We'll see," he said.
"It's only fair, you've done Annie's and Nora's activities. Tomorrow's my day to hang with you." Kendra said.
"If you say so." Leslie giggled. Involuntarily, but it did feel nice to be wanted.
At
the boy's camp that Leslie had spent every summer since he was 8, he
made a few friends, but nothing substantial, and rosters rotated out
year after year, so Leslie very rarely had any lifelong friends.
Meanwhile, Leslie could tell from just watching, that lifelong bonds
were being forged here at the girl's camp. It was a different experience
to be sure, and one that wasn't as bad as the first day had made it out
to be. Sure, he wasn't happy to be here, and he didn't like dressing as
a girl, but at least he was clothed and fed, better than being in a
harsh environment with no one around who cared about you.
"Leslie?" Nora broke you out of your thoughts. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"Probably her crush." Annie giggled.
"Was not!" Leslie retorted. "I was thinking about... how much fun I've been having here."
He blushed, he didn't want to have admitted that to himself, let alone out loud.
"Aww, that's sweet." Kendra hugged him quickly, before she hopped onto her bed.
The
nightly rituals started once again, and Annie talked him into a facial,
despite his objections. Skin-care is a gender neutral activity anyway,
right? After washing it off at lights out, because of the excitement of
the day, he again drifted off into sleep easily.
Leslie suddenly found himself back on
the bus... except this one was full of boys! This was the right bus! Had
the last few days just been a really bad dream? Leslie looked down at
his clothes, they were the clothes that he had arrived with! And his
fingernails were dirty and bare, just as they had been before Kendra
painted them! Finally!
The bus quickly arrived at camp, and he
was assigned to a cabin, the correct cabin, and he excitedly started to
unpack his bag alongside his three cabin-mates. Leslie could finally put
that unpleasant girly stuff behind him. Though he felt a small pang of
sadness that Kendra, Nora and Annie weren't real. They’d been good
friends.
As he opened his bag, his heart sank. Inside weren't his clothes... it was the other Leslie's, the clothes from the girl's camp.
"See, I thought Leslie was a girl's name." one of his cabin-mates chuckled.
"Are you sure you didn't get on the wrong bus?" another one laughed. "Wait 'til we tell the whole camp!"
Leslie
started furiously blushing and tried to explain, but no voice came out
of his mouth. He wanted to explain that it wasn't his bag, that it was a
mistake! He was on the verge of tears when:
"Hey! Stop laughing!" Kendra suddenly appeared in the cabin and put her arm around him. "You okay, Les?"
Seeing Kendra made him feel a lot better, and while he still couldn't speak, he was able to confidently stand up.
Leslie nodded and smiled, hugging Kendra and suddenly:
Leslie
woke up in a cold sweat! He started panting as he readjusted to his
surroundings, this was Cabin 8, and he was again dressed in an oversized
t-shirt and girl's shorts. He had never escaped... What the hell was
that dream supposed to mean?
After the dream, Leslie managed to fall
back into a more peaceful sleep until he was awoken by the girls getting
ready for the day. Annie and Nora had gotten an early start and left
for breakfast right after he woke up, while Kendra stayed behind. As he
got dressed, Leslie glanced at his toes and tapped Kendra on the
shoulder.
"I can't really play softball in sandals, so..." he started.
"Oh
right!" Kendra giggled and went over to her suitcase, pulling out a
plastic bag containing all of "Leslie's" socks, or at least the ones
from the other Leslie’s suitcase, and a pair of pink trainers.
"What about my other shoes?" Leslie asked.
"What other shoes?" Kendra replied.
"The ones I showed up with, and the socks they came with," he said.
"Oh...
those were dirty and I didn't want them in my bag so..." Kendra glanced
around the room, before rushing out of the cabin, walking back in both
sheepishly and empty-handed about a second later.
"Where are they?" he demanded.
"Well…
You see, I left them at the bottom of the laundry hamper..." Kendra
admitted. "And it's laundry day today. They won't just toss them into
the wash, but you probably won't get them back for a few days. I'm
really sorry."
Leslie wanted to explode at her, stealing his last
vestiges of masculinity, and then losing them, but... he knew she
didn't mean it maliciously. It's not like anyone here was deliberately
trying to trap him in a feminine web... it just sort of worked out that
way because there were only girls here.
"It's okay," he said. "Just don't do it again or I'll have to go hiking barefoot."
Kendra
smiled and Leslie quickly put on the pink trainers, before following
Kendra to the mess hall. After another uneventful breakfast, he followed
Kendra out to the softball field.
"Okay," Carla said as she checked her clipboard. "Today's team Captains are... Kendra and Lauren."
Leslie
got a sudden sinking feeling that he knew why Kendra had been so
insistent that he join her today. The teams were chosen, and Kendra
picked Leslie immediately. He was a bit nervous, he was never the most
athletic boy, and could barely play baseball, but he was more worried
about the prospect of being a cheerleader. Not to mention, he’d never
been picked first for a sport ever, since even if his friends were
playing, they were more concerned about winning and picked based on
skill, rather than friendship.
"Well, looks like we've got a few
more girls than we've had in the past few days on both sides. Too many
to field at the same time, so you can all go up to bat, but when you're
fielding, a few of you will have to sit out." Carla said. "Or cheer on
the sidelines. I think we've got some pom poms in the storage shed, I'll
go check."
"Okay, as Captain, I get to pick who fields." Kendra said as she addressed the team. "Leslie..."
Kendra pointed at Leslie and opened her mouth. Honestly, either outcome made him nervous.
"You're
gonna play outfield." Kendra assigned, eliciting some cheers from some
of the other girls, likely the ones who got stuck playing outfield the
previous days.
One of the other girls passed Leslie a beat-up
glove, which he slipped onto his hand. It was rather fortunate today,
given that he had found a pair of capris in Leslie's bag, so he didn't
have to worry about a skirt or short shorts. Leslie quickly pulled a
hair tie from his pocket and pulled his hair back into a low ponytail,
as Kendra assigned the other positions and Leslie jogged to the
outfield.
The one good thing about non-competitive sports, is
that no one is really trying that hard, and so most of Leslie's
responsibilities involved standing around, watching the in-field, or
running after a grounder that got lobbed his way very rarely, nothing
major. Sure, everyone wanted to win, but the goal was more to have fun
than win, he noticed. That is, until the other team's captain, Lauren,
got to bat in the fourth inning. As Leslie would find out later, she
played competitively at home, and took the game seriously, so when
Kendra pitched a fastball, Lauren popped it into the outfield, and
straight towards Leslie.
"Catch it, Leslie!" Kendra shouted as Lauren headed for first base.
Leslie
rushed underneath it, and tried to track its movements as it descended,
but instead of landing in his glove like it was supposed to, it bounced
out and smashed into his face, knocking him to the ground, and causing
both teams to immediately rush the outfield.
"Oh my god!" someone shouted.
"Is she okay?" another girl screamed.
“I think she’s dead!” a third girl exclaimed.
“She’s not dead, you dummy!” a fourth girl chided.
Leslie
was fine, mostly, but his face was throbbing with pain. He held his
hand over his eye and pulled it off, thankful that at least there wasn't
any blood. Carla immediately broke up the circle of girls that had
formed around Leslie.
"Give her some room!" Carla shouted, before she grabbed his other hand and pulled him up. "You okay, Leslie?"
"Yeah, it just hurts." Leslie said.
"It sure looks like it does." Carla said. "You're very accident prone these last few days."
"Bad luck, I guess." he said, before muttering under your breath. "In more ways than one."
"Kendra, take her to get some ice, please." Carla said.
"Got it. Steph, take my spot." Kendra grabbed Leslie and started walking him back towards the nurse's office.
"Second
time in the same week! I don't usually see campers this much in the
first week." the nurse joked as she checked Leslie's eye. "But nothing
life threatening. You'll have a nasty shiner for a little while though.
Keep icing it and you’ll be fine."
"Got it." Leslie securely held the ice pack to his eye as he exited the nurse’s office and Kendra walked him back to Cabin 8.
Leslie
sighed as he stared into the bathroom mirror, with the help of that
calamine lotion from Kendra, the poison ivy wasn't bothering him
anymore, and the dye washed off, but this... this was worse.
"This is gonna suck, staring at this for a week." Leslie sighed.
"Maybe you don't have to." Kendra started digging through the other Leslie's suitcase, before finding something. "Ah ha!"
Kendra pulled out a makeup bag and smiled at him.
"Oh, I don't think that's necessary." Leslie said.
"Come on, take a seat." Kendra insisted. “I promise, it’ll make you feel better.”
Leslie
knew it was futile to argue with her, so he sat down opposite Kendra on
his bunk as she started to brush some makeup onto his face. He didn't
really understand what she was doing, but she seemed to have it down to a
science.
"And I'll have to use this on the rest of your face to
even it out..." Kendra worked as if she was a classical artist working
on her masterpiece. "And then your eye will need a little... And your
lips..."
Leslie wasn't sure what he was going to end up looking
like, imagining a clown, until Kendra pulled out a mirror and turned it
towards him.
There was still a bit of swelling from the softball,
but the bruising was all but gone. Kendra really was a miracle worker.
Though he noticed that she made a few embellishments that weren't
strictly necessary.
"Kendra? Did I really need eyeliner and lip gloss?" Leslie asked as he scrutinized his face.
"For the black eye? No, but I think it makes you look cute." Kendra giggled.
Leslie
felt a little embarrassed, boys weren't supposed to wear makeup, but
then again, boys weren't supposed to have polished nails or go to a
girl's summer camp either! And he can't say that it didn't feel really
nice when Annie and Nora got back from their activities and complimented
his new look, promising to give him makeup tips.
The rest of the
day was uneventful, which he was glad for, after the previous day's
excitement and the excitement of the morning. Leslie never realized he
was such a klutz! Or maybe being forced to do this masquerade was
throwing him off balance and he was inviting these instances of
misfortune. Whatever the reason, he was hoping the softball to the face
was the last misfortune he'd face. Maybe when he got home he could tell
people that he won a fight! That would certainly help him regain all the
masculinity that's been seeping out of him since he got here.
The next morning, Leslie woke up, not
because of the sun streaming into the cabin or his cabin-mates making
noise as they got ready for the day, no, today he awoke because he had
been pelted with an article of clothing. He opened his eyes and sat up,
finding a pink bikini had been thrown onto his bed.
"What's going on?" Leslie asked.
"Today's swim day!" Annie chirped excitedly as she laid out her bathing suit onto her bed.
"Swim day?" he asked.
"Once
a week, instead of the normal activities, we all go swimming in the
lake, over by the docks. Swimming used to be an activity, but I think
they had a lack of lifeguards, and figured it was easier to let us all
do it at once." Nora explained. “After all, the lake is big enough.”
"That's
great, but I'm not really a swimmer." Leslie said, both attempting to
get out of wearing the bikini, but also a truth. Swimming was an
activity that he loathed, especially when he'd go swimming at the boy's
camp and the older boys would hold his head under as a joke.
Although
the girls didn’t give up trying to convince him otherwise, Leslie
dressed in the same sort of outfit he'd worn in previous days, retaining
the capris from the previous day, and went with the girls to breakfast.
All of them had their suits on underneath their outfits, intending to
get right in after waiting a half hour after breakfast. But of course,
they escorted Leslie back to the cabin and insisted that he change into
his bathing suit before they did.
"Did I pack a different suit?"
Leslie asked out loud as he dug through the suitcase, hoping to find
shorts or one of those suits with the skirt or something of the like.
Heck, he’d even accept a one-piece at this point.
"What's wrong with that suit? I think you'll look great in it!" Kendra beamed. “It’s super cute!”
"It's just that... I have that thing... you know? Down there..." he pointed down.
"That's not a problem, just tuck." Annie said, almost off-handedly.
"Tuck?" he asked.
"Yeah, I've seen it on TV, you just sorta, hide all that stuff down there." Annie said.
What
kind of TV do these girls watch? Leslie had never heard of such a
thing, but if he knew anything about these girls, it was that they were
stubborn, and would wait in the cabin until he changed. Leslie went to
the bathroom and did what Annie said to do, or at least his best
approximation based on her description, and it seemed to work, not
revealing any undue information.
After changing into the bikini,
he slipped back into the sandals from the previous day, and followed the
girls down to the docks where all the other campers were already having
fun in the lake. Kendra, Nora, and Annie wasted no time jumping in
while Leslie stood at the edge of the dock, kicking his sandals off and
placing them to the side.
"Come on in! The water's fine!" Kendra shouted.
"I don't know..." he muttered, wrapping his arms around himself, still self-conscious in the bikini.
Being
so focused on not jumping in, Leslie didn't realize that Nora had snuck
out of the lake and climbed back onto the dock, until he felt someone
behind him and turned, only to be immediately shoved off the docks and
into the water.
"Woah!" he exclaimed as he plunged into the water.
Leslie
immediately returned to the surface and spit a mouthful of water out.
Memories flooded back of those dunkings at the boy’s camp, but Leslie
realized that the situation was different here, and it was all in good
fun. He wanted to be mad, but Kendra, Nora and Annie were laughing and
splashing each other, and it was infectious. Leslie smiled and joined in
with the activities.
It turns out swimming was actually fun when
he wasn't being tormented and dunked against his will! There were some
races that Leslie took part in, he didn't win, but it was fun to try,
and then there was a giant lake-set game of Marco Polo with the entire
camp which was abject chaos, but the fun kind of chaos. Leslie's self
conscious feelings vanished as he actually enjoyed the day more than he
had ever enjoyed swimming at camp in his life before.
But that
wasn't the only activity for the day, as not only was it "Swim Day" but
it was also "Bonfire Night" and after dinner, the entire camp gathered
around a bonfire roasting marshmallows.
As she watched the girls
sitting out in front of the bonfire, particularly Leslie and the Cabin 8
girls, Carla remarked to herself how proud she was that the girl who
spent so long trying to get out of the camp had finally come out of her
shell and was enjoying herself.
And as for Leslie, he was
thinking that maybe this camp wasn't so bad. He looked to his left and
saw Kendra grabbing another marshmallow out of a bag, offering one to
him, which he accepted. Looking to his right, he saw Annie and Nora
giggling to each other as they talked. It wasn’t a bad thing to be
making the most of a bad situation, but he just had to bide his time
until he could get out... right?
One week after Bonfire Night, Leslie
slowly opened his eyes as he heard the bustle of his cabin-mates getting
ready. He stretched and got ready to greet the day. His routine had
gotten a bit faster, since he didn't have to brush his hair thanks to
the help of one of the other campers, a girl named Izzy from Cabin 3,
who had braided Leslie's hair during movie night into twin fishtail
braids. Leslie reminisced about how that had happened:
As the
movie played, one of those coming of age movies about a group of girls
learning about true friendship, Leslie looked around for the popcorn
bowl, which had last been in Nora's hands. Nora didn't have it, but she
was preoccupied with another camper who was working her hands through
Nora's hair.
"Hey, Leslie, Izzy's gonna braid my hair, want her to do you when she's done?" Nora asked.
"I don't think so," he replied. "I don't think my hair is suited for braids."
"No way! Your hair is so cute!" Izzy exclaimed. "And braids are even cuter!"
Looking
at the faces of the two girls, he couldn't help but be swayed to accept
their offer. After all, braids can be removed, right?
Remembering
movie night made Leslie smile as he stroked one of the braids, since
the braiding had been mostly convenient and he didn't have to worry
about hair ties anymore. And he didn't get nearly as much forest junk
stuck in his hair during hikes or bird-watching, which he had gotten
better at since the last time. Especially since he knew to stay away
from anything that might be poison ivy.
After brushing his teeth,
Leslie looked himself up and down in the mirror. What a difference a
week can make! He managed to not have any more accidents, and his black
eye had almost completely healed, but he still applied a bit of makeup
at the behest of Kendra who insisted that he do it to keep his skin
even. The lip gloss wasn't strictly necessary, but his lips had been
getting chapped, and he didn't have any other type of chapstick.
Getting
dressed, Leslie had finally gotten back his old sneakers, but found the
pink ones to be far more comfortable, so his old sneakers had been left
under the bunk, untouched since their return from the camp’s laundry.
He
quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and his Cabin 8 t-shirt, examining
his nails as he pulled the shirt over his head. They'd gotten a tad
longer, so he might have to ask Kendra if she has clippers, though
she'll probably want to do another manicure, which he wasn't entirely
against.
"Hey, Leslie! Isn't this that letter you sent to your mom?" Nora asked as she looked under one of the bunks.
The
letter! Leslie had completely forgotten about it because of the shower
incident! He never sent it! He’d been biding his time for nothing! How
could he have been so stupid? Leslie smacked his forehead and sighed.
"I left it here and must have forgotten to send it, then it got knocked under the bed."
"I'm sorry, that was probably me when I went to get your change of clothes on tie-dye day." Annie apologized.
"It's fine," he said. "It wasn't time sensitive."
Leslie
had been having so much fun despite believing that his time was
limited... but maybe that was the takeaway. This was fun. He was
enjoying himself, enjoying being Leslie the girl and not Les the boy.
What did this all mean for him? Did he even still want to send the
letter? This was going to take some deliberation.
"Why don't you go along to breakfast? I'll catch up." Leslie said as he held the letter in his hands.
Leslie stood there wondering, “What should I do?”
Leslie knew he was a boy, and he'd never had any sort of predilection
for dressing like a girl before, or liked girly things as a kid. He
wasn't the most athletic, and preferred books to sports, but he was
never unsure about his gender. Until now. Leslie hadn't ever been
unhappy as a boy, or felt like he was in the wrong body, but the past
week had shown that he was missing something, and he liked all the
camaraderie and support that the girls gave each other that boys didn't
for fear of being seen as "gay". Despite not having any inclination of
being anything other than a boy prior to this summer, the evidence was
hard to dismiss.
And the clothes were comfortable, although he
didn't think so at first, but after a week, he found himself not minding
any of the more form-fitting items designed for a body he didn't have,
even if he was unnecessarily wearing a bra for breasts that would never
grow, despite how Kendra, Annie and Nora kept insisting they would once
he started hormones, a suggestion Leslie had found laughable.
Leslie
had fallen so easily into the role, what if that was the role he was
meant to fill? But more importantly, what happened to the real Leslie?
Surely, she'd want her things back at the end of the summer. And why
hasn't she shown up yet? She was supposed to be on the bus after all!
Was she at the boy's camp pretending to be him? He imagined that'd be a
bit tougher, but who knows? Maybe she ducked out of camp and Leslie’s
unwitting mistake had made it easier to evade her parents.
As he ruminated, Leslie thought back to a breakfast conversation he had with his cabin-mates a few days earlier:
Leslie giggled as Nora finished telling a funny joke, and Annie held a napkin up to her nose.
"Stop! Milk is coming out of my nose!" Annie cried.
"We should meet up after camp ends. I don't want to lose touch." Kendra suggested.
"We're
definitely exchanging numbers. A shame we can't use technology here.
I'd like to friend you all before I forget to." Nora added.
That
technology ban was one of the reasons he was stuck like this. He'd be
able to easily prove his identity with his cell phone. Or at the very
least, call his parents.
"Where do you live, Leslie?" Kendra asked.
"Southtown."
he replied as he took a bite of food. Not a lie, and it was a big
place, though he worried that she might look him up after and find the
boy he intended to return to being after he escaped.
"That's only about an hour away from Weston, where I live, I can totes take a bus to visit! Or vice versa!" Annie exclaimed.
Leslie
felt bad about leading them on, but what else could he do? Leslie
wasn't sticking around, at least, the girl Leslie wasn't, but without
his phone number, he'd never have to worry about seeing them ever again.
Leslie's
face fell as he realized what that meant. He actually enjoyed their
company, and wanted to remain friends, but he couldn't! Not as who he
actually was. Sure, they liked Leslie the girl, and Leslie the trans
girl, but Les the boy?
"Something wrong?" Kendra asked, her face full of concern and worry.
"Nothing." Leslie smiled. "Just thinking."
After
thinking it over, Leslie had come to a decision. He knew exactly what
he was going to do. He quickly marched out and headed for the main
office. He had to call his mom.
As he walked towards the main
office, he heard his name called from behind him. He turned around to
see Kendra, Annie and Nora quickly trying to catch up to him. He stopped
and waited for them to get close.
"Aren't you coming to breakfast?" Nora asked.
"They've got pancakes today!" Annie exclaimed.
He felt his stomach grumble, but this was a much more important matter.
"I'll be along, save me a plate. I've gotta call my mom." he said.
"You don't still want to go home, do you?" Kendra asked.
"How do you know about that?" he questioned. He'd never admitted to them that he wanted out at all.
"You
spent the first few days frantically calling home, every girl does that
their first time at a new camp." Kendra smiled. "But I'm glad you
stayed."
Annie and Nora nodded and smiled supportively at Leslie.
"So am I." he grinned back.
This
might be one of the toughest decisions of his life, but Kendra just
made it real easy. Leslie quickly ran to the office and asked to use the
phone. Carla was standing by and eyed him up and down as she
deliberated on the request.
"Given that you've been a pretty happy camper this past week, I'll allow it." Carla laughed and handed him the phone.
Leslie quickly dialed in his home number and he felt his heart race as the phone dialed and rang.
"Hello?" came his mother's voice on the other end.
"Mom?" he asked. "It's me, Leslie."
"Les!
Great to hear from you! After we got disconnected, I got worried, but I
figured you were just having so much fun that you forgot to call back."
she replied.
"Yeah, about that. I've got a lot to tell you." he started. "First things first, I got on the wrong bus. But that's okay!"
It was a lot to take in, but Leslie thinks that she'll understand. Guess this summer wasn't such a bummer after all.
"Leslie! Great to see you back." Carla exclaimed.
"Great to be back." Leslie smiled.
Leslie was early, long before anyone else would show up. As they started to climb on the bus, a voice shouted from behind Leslie.
"Leslie!" Kendra exclaimed.
"Kendra!" Leslie quickly ran to hug her.
Kendra looked pretty much the same as she had the previous summer, although her hair was different. On the flip side, Leslie looked very different from the previous summer. After having returned home, Leslie started her transition and began to live permanently as a girl. Thankfully, most of Leslie’s friends and classmates were very accepting, as were Leslie’s parents, who were just happy their daughter was happy. For the bus trip, Leslie had chosen a pair of denim shorts, not unlike the pair he’d worn at camp the previous summer, and a baby blue camp t-shirt that proudly stated that he was a counselor.
Leslie had started on hormones six months earlier and the results were already speaking for themselves, with Leslie now needing to wear a bra all of the time, something that Kendra noticed during their hug.
"Don't forget us!" Nora shouted as her and Annie dragged their bags towards the growing pile of bags.
"How could I?" Leslie asked. “I’m so happy to see you girls again!”
"You've come so far since last year." Kendra admired.
"I know." Leslie beamed.
"All right girls, ready for another year?" Carla asked as the campers started to arrive.
Leslie had been uncertain last year, but as she prepared for another summer with her best friends, she knew that she had made the right choice.
The End
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