Tomboy

Chapter 6

Kyle and I had to postpone our sleepover again, because I had to come home to cover for Connor. It was his last night sleeping over his girlfriend's house, and I couldn't expect Jake to stay at our house alone. Kyle said that he would be fine as long as I was at the dance. This was his first time bringing a date, and our friends were curious about who it was. Kyle had decided not to say anything and just let them see for themselves. They didn't know that he was coming out of the closet tonight. I hadn't been to a school dance since elementary school, and the only reason I was going now was to support Kyle.

"Are you nervous?" I asked him the day before the dance.

"A little," he admitted. "But I've decided that I'd rather lose all my other friends than lose Scott again."

I couldn't believe that they would drop him just like that. Most of us had been friends since elementary school, so I thought that our bond was too strong to be broken. Sure, they would be surprised, but I was confident that they would accept his sexual orientation after the shock wore off.

Kyle was dismayed at what I had chosen to wear to the dance. "Why don't you come out too, Cam? I don't know what would shock them more, me being gay or you being a girl."

"Ha! Ha! Very funny." I looked down at the black boy's track pants and black t-shirt I was modeling for Kyle. "Who cares what I wear? I'm only going because of you."

"No wonder Jake doesn't want to have sex with you," Kyle said.

I rolled my eyes. Jake was actually driving me to the dance and had assured me that this wasn't a date. "It's stupid to drive separately when we're going to the same place."

"Won't your date mind?" Why had I asked him that? I sounded like one of those pathetic girls fishing for information.

"I don't have a date," he said with a pointed look at me. "Kyle told me about tonight, and I told him I'd be there."

"He did? I thought you didn't like him." The last exchange I'd seen between them hadn't been very friendly.

"He'd just offered to teach you how to give him a blow job, so I wasn't thinking straight. I realized after that he was just kidding."

I smiled. "He's joking about eighty percent of the time, but tonight is serious. That's very nice of you to show moral support."

"Yeah, well I guess we better get ready." He went off into Connor's room and closed the door.

After much pleading from Kyle, I had agreed to wear my hair down for the dance. "It'll take some of the attention off me," he'd joked.

I tried to remember how long it had been since my friends had seen it down. I had it up in a ponytail ninety percent of the time so it wouldn't be in my way for all the physical activities I engaged in. I wasn't really sure why I didn't just cut my hair short. It sure did make me look more girly, even without any makeup, which I didn't own and wouldn't have known how to apply anyway. For some inexplicable reason, I went into Mom's room and sprayed on some of her perfume. It didn't take me any longer to get ready than Jake. Fortunately, this was a casual dance. Jake, however, had opted to wear dress pants and a dark blue short-sleeved dress shirt.

He grinned when he saw me. "I like it!"

Then he impulsively pulled me to stand in front of the hallway mirror beside him. As I gazed at our reflections, I noticed how much lighter his brown hair was than mine. Jake looked so good that I couldn't understand what he saw in me. Okay, my hair looked pretty enough to be used in one of those commercials on TV, but that was arguably my best feature. Jake was gorgeous from head to toe. I knew exactly what kind of body was under those clothes. Oh, not again! I had to stop thinking about that.