Dance

It was raining when Mohan got to school soaked to the bone. As he leaned

against the brick wall, he slipped off his white sneakers, turned them

upside down and dumped water into the nearby potted plant. His pop

looked stringy like slack noodles. "What a day for picture day," he said as

he saw his white dress shirt, pants and sleeveless sweeter reflected in the

office window.

"Come on," Neha called as she put her raincoat in her locker and fluffed

her white dress with the puffy shoulders. She looked lovely with the

ribbon in her hair, suntan pantyhose and black Mary Jane shoes. "Hi, want

to be my partner at the dance?"

" square Dance?" Mohan asked.

"Did you hear?" Neha asked. "Because of the rain, we got square dancing

in gym." 

"Sure." 

The guys and girls looked nice all dressed in the suits and dresses. In the

gym they bowed to their partner and bowed to their mate. They began to

dance off, with Ryan stepping all over Daft's feet and getting the floor all

wet with the soles of his shoes. 

"Mr. Verma!" Miss Seema said as she walked up to him. "You can't

dance in those wet clothes. Didn't you bring anything you can change

No, ma'am." Mohan lowered his head. 

"Let's see what we can find you." Miss Seema said as he took him by

the hand while the others all carried on. Going through the boys locker

room the hall on the opposite side contained the drama class room.

"Unfortunately the play being done is Peter Pan." 

"Wait a second." Mohan protested as Miss Seema held up a blue dress

that reached his feet and had the same puffy  as Neha wore.

"You can change in the locker." 

"I can't wear this!" Mohan said as she glared at him. 

"Gym may not be as important as your other classes but it's still a class you

either pass or flunk." Miss Seema said as she returned to her class.

With reluctance, he peeled his clothes off his wet, sticky body and pulled

the dress over his head. He was just glad it didn't have one of those back

zippers. 

As he stepped barefoot into the gym all the kids laughed at him. He

wanted to turn and run back into the locker room, but Miss Seema

grabbed him by the arm. "You're not going anywhere. We can't have you

dancing with a girl like that.  You will dance with Akshay instead of Neha for

now on." 

Mohan blushed as he bowed to his new partner and took on the teasing as he

began dancing. While dancing; however, he found it much easier to be

lead in a dance than to lead himself. He was quite happy,. too.

After class, Mohan changed back into his picture clothes, which had finally

dried. He met with Neha by the lockers as they waited for the class picture

to be taken. 

"How did you like dancing with Akshay?" Aman teased. "You looked so

graceful out there."

"Knock it off," Neha gave Aman a shove. "You did think being made fun

is was a fun experience for him?"

"Actually," Mohan began with a blushing face. "I did kind of like it."

"Do you think Akshay's cute or something?" Aman teased. 

"Hey!" Mohan shouted. "I didn't say anything like that."

"You don't deny it either," Akshay added.

Quiet please," Miss Rani said as she got the class to settle in together

on the floor with small kids up front and tall kids in back. The one in the

center front held up a sign with the school and grade names on it.  "Let's

do this right for the year book." 

"Smile!" The photographer said. "!...2...3"... and... SNAP!

The next day it was raining again as Ryan showed up in baggy jeans and a

sweat shirt. Miss Seema stared, displeased. "That sort of outfit is good

for outside exercises, but not for school on a day like this."

"Does that mean I have to wear a dress again?" Mohan asked. He sounded

upside while trying to hide his hope as well. He loved the way the airy

dress had felt and how free he felt when he moved in it. "It's not that

important for square dancing is it?"

"No, but you did dance better with Akshay than with Neha." Miss Seema

said as she could see though Mohan and what he really wanted. "You go get

the dress from the drama department and change."

While he left, she exited the gym through another door and called his

mother at home from the principal's office, where she explain to Mohan's

parents what happened the previous day as well as today.  She also made

sure to get back before Mohan had gotten out and began dancing with Tim.

When Mohan got home, his parents were in the living room waiting for him.

"Son, we need to talk." Mohan's dad said as he walked in the room with a

guilty look on his face. 

"Yes dad?" Mohan said.

"Miss Seema said you seem to enjoy wearing dresses at school and

dancing with boys." His father glared at him. "Is this true?"

"Yes sir?" 

"Mohan, is that something wrong with you?" His mother asked. "We tried to

raise you the best we knew how and now we find out this. Where did we

go wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong, mom." Mohan jumped in. "I ... I just like

dresses and find I like guys. It just feels normal and natural to me. Like

Anu said when she got into High School, perhaps it's hormones." 

"But Mohan, you're a guy." His dad said, unsure how to proceed.

"Why don't you lay off of Mohan." Anu said as she came down for

dinner. "He's a little confused but it's not like he's on drugs or trying to kill

himself." 

"I suppose you're right, it could be worse." Mohan's dad said as he paced

back and fourth. "I suppose if you want Anu's hand me downs, it's okay

with me. It's better to have two daughters than a daughter and... well let's

just say it's better to have two daughters." 

"If that's settled, let's sit down to dinner and then we'll arrange things at the

school." Mohan's mother said as she lead them to the table. 

"You sure you can handle the teasing you're in for?" his dad asked.

"I handled it so far, I can handle it more" the new Mohini said as his parents

started the paper work to make him legally female while Mohan got his

sister's old clothes added to his wardrobe for a happy future. 

THE END