An Unexpected Fate

Confusion

Ben and his sister, Abbie, walked into the yard of their school together. They bid each other goodbye before going off towards their respective friends. As Ben was walking towards Patrick and Steven, he spotted Freya and her friends talking. Again, he could've sworn that Freya smiled at him, but it was early and he was still tired. He greeted his friends just as the bell went and together, the three of them made their way to 1st period Chemistry.

The three boys took their usual seats in the middle row. Freya and her friends sat just behind them. The room was freezing and everybody was shivering, despite them keeping their coats on. After a minute or so, Miss Gillispie walked in. Miss Gillispie was stern and known for not having a sense of humour. Most of all, she seemed to hate her pupils.

"Good morning, fourth year." She said, sitting her flask of tea (or whiskey, as many pupils believed) on her desk.

"Good morning, Miss Gillispie." The room chanted.

She looked around the room. "Why are you all sitting with your coats on? This is an indoor classroom."

"C'mon, Miss, it's freezing in here!" Steven exclaimed.

"Demerit, Mister Richardson. Coats off, all of you." She replied, shooting a glare at Steven. The class groaned as they all took off their coats. A few people looked towards Ben and snickered, much to his confusion. Even Miss Gillispie looked at him strangely. "Now then, today, we'll be continuing our work on..."

"Why are you wearing that?" Patrick whispered whilst the teacher continued talking.

"Wearing what?" Ben asked, confused.

"That blazer. It's the girls uniform." Patrick said, sounding equally confused.

"Piss off." Ben said. Did Patrick somehow know about his dream last night? No, that's stupid. He's probably just trying to get revenge after the lunch hall incident yesterday.

"...Now, if you would all take out your workbooks, you should find the questions I mentioned previously on page 24. If you finish them before the end of class, additional questions can be found on pages 25, 26, and 30." Miss Gillispie finished. As the class opened their workbooks, she sat down behind her desk and picked up her phone, looking at Ben as she punched in a number.

Ben ignored her, and the other people glancing towards him. Deep down though, he couldn't help but wonder if Patrick was right. No, I'm just being paranoid. A few minutes passed by when Miss Wilcox, the head of Ben's year, popped her head in.

"Sorry, Miss Gillispie, d'you mind if I borrow Ben for a sec?" She asked. Miss Gillispie nodded and looked at Ben. His heart was now racing. What the hell is going on? He stood up and followed Miss Wilcox out of the room.

She led him downstairs and into her small office. She sat down behind her desk and indicated for Ben to sit across from her. As he did so, she began to talk.

"Now, Ben, we don't want to make a big deal out of this, but it would appear that you're wearing a girls blazer." She said.

Ben felt his heart implode. "What? No?" He said, looking down at his blazer. Sure enough, the seams were light blue, instead of the dark blue that the boys had. Now it makes sense why it was tight. "It was an accident, I swear."

"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. We don't mind if you want to wear the boys uniform or the girls uniform. However, generally, it's one or the other. Not a mix of both." She said.

Ben felt like an idiot. After his dream yesterday, something like this was the last thing he wanted to happen. "I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"It's fine, we can fix it. Do you want to wear the boys uniform or the girls?" Miss Wilcox asked.

Ben went to answer, but something caught his throat. Maybe this was his chance to see what it would be like to wear the girls uniform... No, that's stupid. "The boys."

"Okay, let's go to lost and found, we'll see if we can find you a boys blazer, yeah?" She said, standing up. As stupid and embarrassed as Ben felt, he somewhat appreciated the non-judgemental and empathy that Miss Wilcox had for him. He followed her down the hallway where all the year heads had offices. They stopped outside a room marked Lost and Found.

Miss Wilcox opened the door. The room was full of various lost items, ranging from clothes and shoes, to bags and even a few bits of stationery. "Right, you look over there, I'll look over here." She said.

Ben began to rummage through the shelves and boxes. He pulled out several pairs of trousers and shirts, but he couldn't find a blazer. "I can't find one." He said, dejected.

Miss Wilcox sighed. "Me neither. I'm sorry, but you'll need to wear the girls uniform today."

"Please, Miss. I can't, I'll get bullied." Ben said. A part of him wanted to, but he also knew it was probably a bad idea.

"It's for one day. We can't send you home because your mum is at work and you can't mix and match uniforms." She said. Once again, her voice was full of nothing but sympathy. "You don't need to wear a skirt, though, if you can find a pair of the girls trousers in here."

"I suppose that's something..." Ben grumbled. He turned back to his boxes and began to rummage through them. Miss Wilcox, in the meantime, had found him a blouse, a skirt.

"I've got you a shirt and a skirt, I'll grab some tights from the school shop. Probably best not to wear other people's..." She said.

Just as she moved towards the door, Ben pulled a pair of the girls trousers from one of the boxes. "Aha! It's fine, Miss, I've got trousers here."

"Okay. Go get changed, quickly."

Ben rushed down the hall towards the toilets. He threw his uniform off, trying not to think about the torment he would be about to endure. The blouse wasn't too hard to put on, the only major issue was that the buttons were on the opposite side. The trousers, however, were more of a problem. Whilst the boys trousers were a looser fit, the girls were tighter. Ben struggled to pull them up, he could feel them burning against his legs. Eventually, he got them up and soon discovered just how tight they were. Not only did he feel choked in the front, but the trousers were basically moulding his rear end. He cursed out loud, wondering how he could be such an idiot.

It took him a few minutes to calm his anxiety as he stepped out of the toilet and into the hallway, where Miss Wilcox was waiting. She looked him up and down, reminding him of the way Steven had done so in his dream. "That's better, but uh... Are you sure you want to wear those trousers? I don't want you to hurt yourself or anything."

Ben nodded. "I can't wear a skirt, Miss, I'll be laughed out of school."

"Okay, if you're sure. Come on, let's get you back to class." Miss Wilcox said. She led him back up the stairs to Miss Gillispie's room. She opened the door, walking towards Miss Gillispie as Ben walked nervously back to his seat. Everyone was staring at him. As he walked down his row, a boy called Charlie gave him a smack on the butt as some others laughed.

"Charlie, my office, now." Miss Wilcox said sternly. "Anyone else want to join him?" The class fell silent. "Good."

Ben briefly locked eyes with Freya on his way back to his seat. This time he didn't imagine the small, sympathetic smile. He sat down next to Patrick.

"I told you it was the girls uniform. Why didn't you just get a boys blazer?" He asked, confused.

"Couldn't find one." He grumbled.

"At least you aren't wearing a skirt." Patrick said with a laugh. Ben could tell he was trying to be nice, but right now, Ben just wanted to forget all about it.