Part 8
Boots and Shoes 

After the humiliation of my sister watching while I stripped to my undies then 
measuring me, I was ready to call it a day but everyone else thought that Gaby 
and Pippa could do with some girl lessons. 
Well have you ever heard of such tummy rot! Well the girls thought we needed 
schooling in sitting, standing even eating and drinking so we had our first 
crash course. (Well strictly speaking second, but our Meadowhall efforts were 
apparently only just passable in a crowd. We were going to a school dance, which 
would mean closer scrutiny by our peers.) 
So we spent another hour learning how to do it properly. 
"Well I think you need to practice" 
"A lot!" 
"Cheers, thanks for the vote of confidence" 
"Well you want us to be honest" 
"And you don't want the rest of the school clocking you!" 
"I guess" 
"Well both of you need to practice as much as possible" 
We both chorused "yes miss" which got us each a whack with a cushion. 
"Ow that hurt!" 
"Sorry" 
I grabbed my left ear 
"That really hurt," I felt something hard in the lobe, "what's this?" 
Maddy leant in to take a look. 
"Erm, hang on" 
"Ouch!" 
"Let's look at your other ear" 
"Why?" 
"Just do it" 
Maddy squeezed the right lobe and it felt like a spot bursting. 
"What is it?" 
Jules and Maddy shared a smug grin. 
"Well?" 
"You remember I put those studs in at Meadowhall?" 
"Yes" I could feel bad news coming. 
"Well I must have left the plastic keepers in when I took them out" 
"My ears are pierced!" 
"Er sorry Drew" 
"Mum will go ballistic" 
"Did she notice up to know?" 
"No" 
"Well she probably won't now then" 
"But they will heal over wont they?" 
"Not now, they've healed" 
"You'll look so cute" 
"I don't want to look cute!" 
What was even worse was that Mum wouldn't let Juliette have her ears pierced yet 
and of the others only Maddy had hers done. 
In a way I thought it was cool to have pierced ears, a lot of the older guys 
wore earrings, and if anyone noticed at school I might gain a bit of sadly 
lacking street cred. Mum was the real problem but Ally was probably right, if 
she hadn't noticed yet she likely wouldn't soon. 
We left for home soon after and I mooched along beside my sister. 
"You knew didn't you?" 
"What?" 
"The sleepers" 
"Did not" 
"Come on, fess up, you cleaned them up the other Sunday, you must have known" 
"Ok I knew" 
"Well?" 
"Well what?" 
"Why didn't you take them out?" 
"I don't know, I thought you'd work it out yourself and then I just forgot" 
"I bet" 
"I did, honest" 
I sulked the rest of the way home. 
I'm sure someone had said something at school next day, I kept getting funny 
looks from some of the other girls in our year. Whatever. 
I decided to get a head start on the shoe thing after school. 
I pulled out the list 
      'Bernie    flat sandals 4
      thick tan tights
      Allyblue sandals 6
      thick black tights
      Rhodflattish shoes or sandals 5
      white socks or tights
      Juliettewhite knee boots 6
      tan tights
      Drewwhite sandals or shoes 5
      white stockings or hold-ups
      Maddyblack sandals or shoes 41/2
      black stockings or hold-ups'

I was sure that the girls already had some of this stuff but it was going to be 
up to me to pull it all together. A test I suppose. 
I mentally went through what I had seen people wearing, I had some sandals that 
Bernie could wear and I was certain that either Rhod or myself could borrow 
something from Jules. The hosiery was another matter. Jules I knew did have some 
tan tights but as I had only seen the girls wearing socks, I thought that I 
would need to buy the rest. I decided to ring round to see if anyone had 
anything on my list and my list soon didn't look so daunting. 
      'Bernieflat sandals 4   my sandals
      thick tan tights
      Allyblue sandals 6
      thick black tights    Ally's
      Rhodflattish shoes or sandals 5  Jules
      white socks or tights
      Juliettewhite knee boots 6
      tan tights    Jules
      Drewwhite sandals or shoes 5
      white stockings or hold-ups
      Maddyblack sandals or shoes 41/2  Bernies mum
      black stockings or hold-ups'  

So I had cut the list to three pairs of shoes and four pairs of hosiery - and so 
far I hadn't had to go to a shop. There was a Baker day (Staff training, after 
the politician who introduced them) at our School on Friday so I planned to go 
to Mansfield and get it over and done with. 
Each night, my sister chided me to practice 'my moves', which I ungraciously did 
when the olds weren't about. Friday was not going to be quite as planned, the 
others all wanted to meet up so instead of all day I would just have a couple of 
hours in the morning before we met at BK. I got the eight fifty bus armed with 
the girls twenty pounds and another thirty of my own (you never know what you 
might see) and sat in a daydream until we pulled into the bus station. 
(For those not up on their UK geography, Mansfield is a small town on the edge 
of what remains of Sherwood Forest, like home to Robin Hood! Where I live is on 
the edge of the forest too. Mansfield is famous, at least locally, for beer and 
more widely leather, the Oak Forest providing essential tanning ingredients. So 
it's not surprising that there are more than a couple of shoe shops in town 
including a couple of discount stores.) 
I decided on a strategy, I would only buy one pair of shoes per shop, it would 
be easier to say they were a present, particularly if I needed to change any. 
The hosiery I would try to get in one of the bigger stores where I would be less 
conspicuous. 
There was a flaw in my plan, I hadn't allowed for shop assistants. I went into 
the first shop and rather self-consciously went to the girls department. 
"Can I help you" 
"Wh..!" 
"Are you looking in the right place?" 
"Oh right, yes I'm looking for a pair of shoes for my sister. For a present" my 
nervousness was clear to anyone watching the exchange. 
"That's a nice idea young man, do you know what style and size you are looking 
for?" 
She'd bought my story. I decided to go for Ally's blue sandals first. 
"Well she takes a six, I checked this morning and I know she really wants some 
blue sandals" 
"Hmm, we might have something up in the ladies department, follow me" 
I followed, what else with a command like that. 
"Here we go, size six" 
She shuffled along the shelf and returned brandishing a couple of shoes. 
"You're in luck, these are both in the sale" 
She showed me the footwear; the first pair was going to be a no-no, a high heel 
and sky blue. I quite liked them but the reality was they'd look good on mum but 
Ally was thirteen and I just knew they would be wrong. The others, by default 
would have to do; I didn't intend going back and forth like a girl to get just 
the right pair. The second pair was a pair of slip ons with a chunky sole and 
were a darker blue, much closer to Ally's costume. Even better they were really 
cheap, just four pounds. 
"Mum won't let her wear heels so it will have to be these" 
"Ok luv, let's pay for them" 
She escorted me to the cash point and I was soon relieved of the cash but up one 
pair of shoes. 
"Hope she likes them luv" 
"Yeah so do I" 
Once outside I drew a sigh of relief. I figured I would try the big discount 
store next, they had fewer staff and I could browse easier. I made my way to the 
store, on the edge of the main shopping area and entered 'The World of Shoes'. 
I had to get my shoes and Juliette's boots, both white and looking round not 
this season's colour! But my luck was holding I found some off white knee boots 
with a chunky sole and I guess about a two-inch heel. After a bit of a scrabble 
through the stock I found a pair in the required size six and I would only have 
to pay nine ninety-nine as they were an end of line. I should have just got the 
boots but I decided to see if they had any shoes, after all I could get them on 
another visit. 
The only white shoes well strictly cream, were wedding shoes, well that's what 
the header board said. I was probably lingering a little too long because in a 
store devoid of sales assistants, one was suddenly at my shoulder uttering that 
great starter. 
"Can I help?" 
If I ran I would have to abandon the boots, I was sure I could bluff my way out. 

"Er I'm not sure" 
"Are you looking for anything in particular" 
I'm sure that they all go on the same course or something. Before I realised 
what I was saying it was out, 
"I need to get some shoes for a dance" 
"What colour is your dress" 
What? 
"Eh?" 
"What colour dress are you going to wear miss?" 
Then it clicked, despite my combats sweatshirt and short haircut she thought I 
was a girl. Mixed emotions roiled around my head 
"I'm not" she cut me off 
"Not sure yet?" 
I decided to roll with it. 
"No, I mean yes, it's sort of off white" 
"Heels?" 
Not getting her meaning I just nodded. 
"I'm Sarah," 
"Gaby" I mumbled 
"Just sit over there, I'll bring some over for you to try." 
Stunned at this turn of events I just followed her instruction. She was kneeling 
in front of me just a minute later. 
"Shoes off please," seeing my socks she hardly broke stride, "hang on I'll get 
some footsies so you can try them properly" 
She disappeared for a minute and I was left sat bare foot in the ladies shoe 
department, help! What if anyone from school sees me? Well she reappeared and 
slipped a pair of thin sockettes on my feet. 
"Now then Gaby, how about these?" 
Well to cut a long story short, for nearly three quarters of an hour I tried on 
shoe after shoe, Sarah seemed to take me as just another awkward (as in clumsy) 
teen girl and she was some sales woman. I think I managed quite well, putting my 
girl lessons to use and I left the store thirty pounds lighter, but that did 
include Jules boots and a pair of very fine pearl coloured stockings, besides my 
shoes. I settled on a closed toe sandal, they have a pointy toe, open vamp and 
thin ankle straps perching on a three-inch heel. Sarah insisted I would be ok on 
them and they were essential if it was a formal dance. (Well that's what she 
told me and who am I to argue?) 
"Bye Gaby, have a nice time" 
"Thanks Sarah, bye" 
Had I really spent best part of an hour as a convincing girl, well tomboy 
anyway? If this kept up I'd be thinking I could pull this escapade off! 

      Jules boots  My 'dancing' shoes

Well I can tell you, I was glad to get out of there alive. I hurried back into 
the centre and had to grab a coke at Maccy D's to settle my nerves. Surely I 
didn't look that much like a girl? But Sarah seemed to think so; perhaps it was 
just the setting? After all I was holding a pair of ladies boots, stood looking 
at ladies shoes. I was well shaken up. 
With resources dwindling, I hit an ATM and withdrew another twenty before 
starting to look for the remainder of my list, thick tan tights for Bernie, 
white for Rhod and black stockings for Maddy. Walking along I was drawn to a 
costume shops window, all gaudy wigs and false noses. I decided to take a look 
inside and to my delight discovered they had a bargain bin that I delved into 
with gusto. I left the store with the two pairs of tights I needed, a false nose 
and on impulse, a pair of long pink hair braids. 
That only left the black stockings and I reckoned I could get those in 
Woolworth's before meeting the others. I was right, and they were cheap, 
emboldened by my time in the shoe store I got a bag of pick'n'mix and waited to 
pay. I was slightly annoyed when the bored cashier didn't even glance up as she 
rang my purchases through the till. 
    
"There he is" 
"Drew, over here" 
The others had already got a table and food before I got to BK; I dumped my bags 
and went to fetch a bacon double cheese and coke. 
"What you got Drew?" 
"The last things on my list" 
"You've got everything?" Bernie asked 
"Let's see then" 
So to my embarrassment I had to do a show and tell sat in Burger King. 
"Ally's sandals, Jules boots, my shoes"  
"Cute shoes Drew" 
"Let him be" 
"What else?" 
I flourished the hosiery, braids and false nose. 
"You got stockings?" 
"Yeah?" 
"I think he's getting to like the idea of being a girl" 
"What?" 
"Well those braids and the stockings, they're sooo sexy" 
"Did you get suspender belts?" 
"Eh" 
"Well like duh, you need something to hold the stockings up, garters or 
suspenders" 
"I thought they had elastic or something" 
"That's hold ups silly" 
"I don't think he knew the difference" 
"I guess we'll have to get some suspenders then" 
I had mucked up big style. The girls almost had to drag Rhod and I to the 
lingerie shop, but they failed to get us inside! However they managed to keep 
the embarrassment level up by bringing various bits of female underwear to the 
door to show us. I don't know why I stayed there, why I was doing this whole 
thing, I suppose I was sort of enjoying it all and I guess Rhod was too. After 
all how many of our peers got to hang out with some of the nicest girls and do 
stuff with them? 
Eventually the three girls (Jules was hanging with her own mate's back in the 
village) made their selections and joined us outside. Rhod suggested we went 
bowling and everyone agreed, so we hit the Superbowl for a couple of hours. 
Boy's v girls, I have to admit I was glad when Paul turned up as Rhod and I were 
losing badly. We just about pulled it even for a draw by the end of the session, 
then gladly accepted a lift in Paul's mum's Toyota Previa. I managed to get 
Maddy to claim my shopping when we got back to Church Warsop and Paul, Rhod and 
I went round to Clive's bungalow to play on his X-Box. 
Saturday followed it's usual pattern, a ride up to Tickhill with mum, tea and 
hot buttered teacakes at Oldcotes and then back home. An afternoon catching up 
with my homework then off to Worksop for dinner at the Beefeater restaurant. 
Sunday had me out with Mum again, meeting the others at Lincoln for lunch. We 
had a walk round before we all piled into the camper to go home, there was a 
really strong wind and neither mum nor I relished crossing the flat Trent plain 
into the gale. I might be fanatical but I'm not stupid! 
Maddy Bell 02.02.03
Copyright 2003 

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The images used above have been selected from various sources. If you hold the 
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involved in Cosplay, particularly Anime Turnpike.

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