High-Tops to High Heels: Part 5

Despite Bobby’s bold words on the driveway, he missed school for the next few days pretending to be sick, no doubt trying to let the buzz die down. When he finally did return, arched brows hidden under a fitted baseball cap, he couldn’t walk five steps without someone playing the video of him primping in the bathroom as “Barbie” or having the wax ripped off his legs at the Papillon Salon. He did his best to laugh along -- and there was a lot of laughing -- but Kimberly could see it was not the welcome back he’d imagined.

She also noted, with some irony, that if he had come back to school right away to head things off, Jefferson High’s obsession with the result of the lost bet might not have gotten so out of hand. But his absence had added to everyone’s fascination, spawning several rumors that he had skipped town to avoid the fall-out, and a particularly wild one that he was getting a boob job and re-enrolling in an all-girls Catholic school. Bobby’s most loyal sycophants had defended him in his absence, pretending it had all been one hilarious prank, and mostly Bobby’s idea, but it wasn’t their opinions that mattered.

People were a lot more inclined to listen to the cheerleaders, who were happily sharing photos of Bobby’s mall adventure left and right. On his first day back at school, they swarmed his locker -- but not in the adoring groupie way Bobby was accustomed to. Rather, they were eager to show him that Papillon Salon had made his “before-and-after” a feature on their website, delightedly swiping back and forth on the photo to change it from a sullen dark-haired teenage boy to a gorgeous blonde with a nervous smile.

Kimberly did her best to blend into the background of it all, but she couldn’t resist joining the new trend of “accidentally” calling Bobby by his feminine moniker whenever possible. It was clear that Bobby Vickerson, all-star jock, had been replaced in the popular girls’ minds by Barbie Vickerson, cute crossdresser. She figured even Bobby had to notice that their interest was no longer sexual in the slightest -- instead, they were all badgering him to get dressed up again for the next school dance!

With his female public having undergone such a radical change, it made sense for him to take refuge where he always had: with the jocks. But even as an outside observer, Kimberly could see that things had changed there, too. The football players were usually quietly resentful of Bobby, since the success of Jefferson High’s basketball team and long overshadowed their rather pathetic football program, but now they finally had a chance to take the cocky basketball star down a peg, hooting over the video of “Barbie” introducing “herself” in the hallways and even papering the locker room with a print-out of one of his post-makeover photos.

But surely his basketball team would stay loyal, right? After all, he was their captain. Well, Kimberly sensed some things shifting there, too. DeShawn had a big mouth, and had told the mini-putt story about a dozen times already. Bobby tried to laugh along, but the fact that he had rubbed his butt up against some pro golfer and given him a huge erection (yes, the story was changing) was just too much for a lot of his teammates. 21st century or not, having the captain of your basketball team come out of the closet could cause some uncomfortable tension in the locker room.

It was obvious to Kimberly, and probably to Bobby as well, that his only hope for salvation lay in absolutely destroying the Midtown Mohawks that Friday. It would shut up the football players, who always lost to Midtown, and quell any rumors in the Tomcats locker room -- after all, would a closeted cross-dresser be able to drop thirty points on the opposition and rip their hearts out with trash-talk, to boot? In Bobby’s limited worldview, no, and Kimberly had to admit that a lot of his teammates probably shared the same opinions. He probably even thought that seeing him in action again would remind the cheerleaders he was all man, no matter what the Papillon Salon put on their website.

But when Friday rolled around, for the first time since anyone could remember, Bobby Vickerson played like total crap. The saga of the lost bet had not been contained to Jefferson High, and when the Tomcats rolled into the Mohawks’ arena, they were greeted with huge cut-out pictures of their captain pouting his gloss-coated lips, wide blue eyes framed by long black lashes, blonde hair tumbling around his slender tan shoulders. Kimberly and the other cheerleaders got a close-up view of Bobby’s face turning beet red. It didn’t help matters that Bobby’s dad made one of his rare appearances, and was clearly bewildered by the whole thing.

From the tip-off, Bobby was off his game. Kimberly could guess exactly what kind of trash talk he was getting -- probably asking if he was wearing lingerie under his jersey, if Josh Delacroix was picking him up after the game, if he wanted to use a women’s ball… She saw more than a few opposing players blow kisses at him, and some of the Mohawks fans on the end-line were wearing cheap blonde wigs to throw him off even further.

Kimberly could see that all the “Barbie” stuff, combined with his dad watching -- well, half watching, half talking on his Bluetooth, likely arguing about something with Serena’s agent -- had Bobby unfocused and distracted. He turned the ball over four times in a row, missed a layup, lost track of time and made a shot clock violation, got into a shoving match with the Mohawks’ outdated and vaguely offensive mascot, and finally, for the first time in Tomcats history, was ejected from the game. Kimberly caught a glimpse of Bobby’s dad shaking his head as he followed his son, who was collecting boos from the Mohawks’ fans, out of the gym.

Afterwards, Bobby posted an Instagram selfie of himself angrily working out, “clearing his head” and, of course, #STRIVING4GREATNESS. Kimberly felt no small satisfaction when she noticed his protein shake clearly displayed in the background.

#

The next two basketball games were equally disastrous for Bobby, and his failures on the court, together with his increasingly strained relationships with his teammates, had the interesting effect of driving him to work out more and more often. Kimberly saw a new post work-out selfie every day, and without fail, the protein shake made an appearance, too.

His original declaration, that everyone would forget the “Barbie shit” in a month’s time, proved overly optimistic. Teams that the Tomcats normally trampled over were getting the best of them, thanks in large part to Bobby’s poor play, and everyone had clued in to the fact that “Barbie” was the key to getting under the Jefferson High point guard’s skin.

Opposing fans took it to new heights, having their burliest male students swishing around the stands in Tomcats colors, wearing blonde wigs and padded bras, acting way more effeminate than Bobby ever had with their limp wrists and campy cheering. They got a lot of laughs from their classmates, but also from Jefferson High’s students, which Kimberly could see drove Bobby crazy. But as the weeks passed, Kimberly realized his struggles on the court weren’t all mental. Just as Skeeter had predicted, the estrogen pills were taking effect fast.

She noticed it in the work-out selfies first: no matter what angle Bobby used, she could see that his attempts to bulk up were backfiring spectacularly. In fact, any muscle he’d managed to build in the weight room over the past season seemed to be disappearing, leaving his small shoulders and slender arms perfectly dainty-looking. He seemed to also be losing definition to his abdomen: where he’d once had the suggestion of a six-pack, he now merely had a flat, toned, swimsuit-model type midriff. And his pecs looked soft and almost, dare she say it, puffy?

By the six-week point following “Barbie”’s debut, Bobby had stopped taking selfies entirely -- his Instagram was strangely dead -- and Kimberly knew it was because his appearance was changing in ways he did not care for. When she saw him from behind in the hallway wearing tight warm-up pants, for a full second she assumed the taut butt belonged to a girl on the volleyball squad. Watching DeShawn give him a playful slap on the ass made it that much better, especially since instead of returning the gesture or barking at him, Bobby looked totally mortified.

Of course, dosing him with super-powerful estrogen was only part of Phase Two. Kimberly was hard at work writing constant LiveJournal entries for “Barbie’s” secret diary, carefully using details from Bobby’s real life to make sure everything corresponded. For example, on the day she saw how nice and girly his butt was getting, she wrote:

“Still taking the hormones, still haven’t told anyone except you guys. It feels so right, and I’m finally seeing results. Like, I’m seriously going to have boobies before long, and my butt is getting cute. I’m going to have to be more careful with what I wear. I’m terrified of people noticing the changes. But also, at the same time, I super want people to notice? I don’t know. I’m all confused. One of my teammates slapped my butt today, and I swear it jiggled. I don’t know if he noticed, but I couldn’t stop blushing after. The weirdest part is, I kind of liked it? #BOY2BABE #BOOTYINCOMING #STRIVE4REALNESS.”

That latest update got more likes than any single post to date. Kimberly was surprised but pleased by how many followers the LiveJournal had managed to amass in such a short time. People were getting really into it. They loved the idea of a macho athlete secretly wishing he was a girl, and were even more intrigued by the idea of him starting to “transition” in plain sight, before even coming out of the closet. Most of the comments were incredibly supportive, and several people were already trying to guess Bobby’s identity, while others scolded them and typed long messages about respecting “her” privacy.

It was all going to come to a head soon, and Kimberly had to be sure Bobby was completely outmaneuvered when that happened. She needed him to trust her. Confide in her, even. She had stayed out of his way for the past six weeks, and now it was time to get back in his good books.

#

The next day, Kimberly waited around after the Tomcats’ basketball practice to catch Bobby leaving. Six weeks ago he would have been the last one out, surrounded by his faithful gang of followers, but today she was barely rounding the corner into the gym hallway when he shot out of the locker room door like a bat out of hell. He had a panicked look in his eye and was clutching his backpack as if he feared someone might try to steal it from him at any second. He was so distracted, in fact, that he ran right into her.

“Hey, watch where you’re going, Bobby!” Kimberly exclaimed, barely managing not to drop the smoothies she was holding.

“Sorry, sorry,” Bobby muttered. “I’m in a hurry, I got stuff to bra at home, I mean, to do at home…” He seemed to notice who he was speaking to for the first time, and suddenly his harried expression gained a note of suspicion. “Wait a minute,” he said, hefting his backpack. “Was this you, Kimmy?”

“Was what me?” Kimberly asked, genuinely confused.

“This!” Bobby hissed, yanking his backpack open.

Kimberly could see the bubble-wrapped package from Amazon inside, the kind that usually held clothes ordered online, and it had a Victoria’s Secret tag. Someone, probably one of the football players, had bought Bobby some very sexy lingerie. Kimberly did her best to hide her smirk.

“It wasn’t me,” she said. “I swear. It was probably…”

“The football team,” Bobby finished, gritting his teeth. “Screw those guys.”

“Look, that’s kind of the reason I’m here,” Kimberly said. “Can we talk?”

Bobby glanced back over his shoulder. “Whatever. Just walk. I need to get out of here, Chet already waved the bra around the whole locker room and everybody’s gonna be talking about it...”

Kimberly fell into step beside Jefferson High’s star point guard, who now looked totally terrified of his own basketball team. He didn’t relax or slow down until they were out of the school and on the way back to his house. She took the opportunity to finally hand him one of the smoothies she had been carrying around.

“Here,” she said. “It’s mango, your favorite.”

Bobby stared down at the smoothie with a look of suspicion, and for a split second Kimberly wondered if he could somehow tell it was loaded with crushed-up hormone tablets -- she figured he would give up on the protein powder soon, and she needed to establish a new delivery system. But when he took a long suck from the straw, he made a small sigh of contentment.

“Yeah, mango is the bomb,” he said. “But don’t think I’m going to forget you’re the one responsible for all this bullshit.” He gestured to the backpack. “You know what my life has been like lately?”

“I have some idea, yeah,” Kimberly said. “That’s why I wanted to apologize. I went too far with that whole makeover thing. I wanted to humiliate you, you know? Like when you dumped me?”

“I dumped you?” Bobby took another suck from the smoothie. “Oh, right, yeah. The cafeteria. Well, you got what you wanted, Kimmy.”

“Kimberly,” Kimberly corrected.

“Whatever,” Bobby said. “My life blows right now. Ever since that bet, I can’t go a day without people calling me ‘Barbie.’ And we lost to the freaking Mohawks.”

“I was there,” Kimberly said dryly. “I saw your dad showed up. Guess he picked the wrong game to come see.”

Bobby’s face went red. “He didn’t even know we lost,” he snapped. “He was talking to Serena the whole time. You know, most dads, they give a shit about sports, but he doesn’t notice if I’m putting up thirty or if I’m getting ejected for fighting a mascot. Who had it coming, by the way.”

Normally her ex didn’t talk much about his dad -- or even his mom, for that matter -- and it was clearly getting him worked up. Kimberly decided to change topics.

“Look,” she said. “I know it’s been a tough couple weeks. You’re kind of a social pariah right now, and that’s weird for you, but I went through the same thing when I first moved here and didn’t know anybody. Dating you helped me make friends, so now I want to help you out in return, and be your friend. Maybe it’ll make up for what I did. Okay?”

“I get it,” Bobby said, suddenly calm again. “You want a friends-with-benefits kind of arrangement, right?” He shrugged, looking down at his phone. “Missed the Bobby Vickerson D.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kimberly said dryly. “That’s it exactly.”

Abruptly, Bobby’s eyes widened. He was looking down at his phone with an expression of outright shock. Maybe the lingerie in the locker was already trending on social media? Without warning, he took off running. “Gotta run,” he shouted over his shoulder. “I’ll think about the FWB thing! Dress hotter, maybe?”

Kimberly gritted her teeth. God, she couldn’t wait to get him back in high heels and a skirt.

#

Despite Bobby’s initial indifference, it was clear that he wasn’t in much of a bargaining position when it came to friends these days. He seemed constantly nervous and agitated, and it repulsed his old crowd the way his confidence used to attract them. The whole lingerie locker room fiasco was part of it: a lot of rumors were circulating, and it seemed like about half of Jefferson High was willing to believe he’d bought the lingerie himself.

With his teammates and pals becoming increasingly distant with him, Kimberly managed to make herself indispensable, partly by bringing him a mango smoothie every single morning. Since the rest of the girls in school had written him off, he was desperate for attention from an attractive female, even if it was his ex, and Kimberly knew he probably hoped people would see them around the halls together and assume they were hooking up again.

Bobby was going to need an ego boost from anywhere he could get it, what with the latest news. The Tomcats’ head coach had held out longer than Kimberly anticipated, but after two more losses in a row, the inevitable happened: Bobby lost his starting point guard position to one of the freshmen. With his demotion to the bench, and in the aftermath of the locker room lingerie incident, it was decided that Bobby wasn’t cut out to be team captain anymore, either.

The news that Jefferson High’s star athlete had lost his starting position and his captain status in one go spread through the school at the speed of light, as did a rumor that when the coach gave Bobby the news during morning practice he shoved over a rack of basketballs, hurled one at the newly installed Jumbotron screen, and ran away crying. That part seemed almost too good to be true.

Kimberly spent all day looking for him, and finally managed to catch up to him at his locker at the final bell. The great Bobby Vickerson’s locker had once been a hang-out spot all on its own, since he was usually surrounded by friends and admirers, but now he was totally alone, ignored by his classmates hurrying for the exit.

She took a moment to observe just how different Bobby looked these days: he had totally abandoned his old skinny jeans and tight warm-ups, in an attempt to hide his blossoming curves, and now wore formless baggy sweatpants and oversized hoodies -- not so different, she noted with irony, from the ones that she’d worn for a week straight after he dumped her.

But it wasn’t just his fashion sense that had changed, it was his body language, too. Bobby had always been small, but he had never seemed small. He had that charisma and presence that actors strived for, always the center of attention, and that used to make him seem like the biggest man in the room.

Now, however, it was totally the opposite. He seemed to have shrank into himself, his movements were small and timid, and his eyes were downcast. In fact, the word “demure” popped into Kimberly’s head looking at him now.

“Hey, Bobby,” she said softly. “I heard the news.”

Bobby turned around, and she noted again how well the hormones were working. The shape of his face was changing subtly, and his skin was incredible -- so smooth she was jealous, in fact.

“Everybody heard,” he said miserably. “DeShawn is probably going to be captain now, and I’m riding the bench like a nobody. I haven’t been benched since I was, like, six.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, and Kimberly noticed something strange: it seemed like he had small daubs of concealer on his earlobes. She was sure the holes from his piercings would have healed up by now. Was that some weird side effect of the hormones? Something to Google later, no doubt.

“How about I come over to your place tonight and cheer you up?” she asked sweetly.

“What, like, a blowjob?” Bobby sighed. “I guess that might help.”

“We’re just friends, now, remember?” Kimberly asked pointedly. “I’ll come over and we’ll watch a movie or something.”

“I guess I could use some company,” Bobby said, looking wistfully toward the exit where a bunch of his teammates were laughing and joking together. “Yeah. All right. Let’s hang out. My life is ruined anyways.”

“I’ll come over at seven,” Kimberly said. “And your life is not ruined, Bobby.” She gave him a comforting pat on the arm, then walked away with a sly smile on her face. “Not yet, that is,” she murmured. “But it’s in progress.”

“What’s in progress?”

Kimberly jumped -- she hadn’t seen Beverly coming out of the bathroom. “Oh, hey, Bev,” she said. “You know, life.”

“Yeah?” the head cheerleader shot a look back toward Bobby, who was now slinking away from his locker. “You and Bobby are friendly again, I noticed. You’re not, um, dating again? Are you?”

Kimberly knew that Bobby and Beverly had briefly been at item, but, like with most girls he dated, Bobby had unceremoniously told her he didn’t want to get “tied down” -- never mind that Beverly was one of the hottest and most popular girls in school. Kimberly hadn’t been surprised by Beverly’s eagerness to get in on her ex’s embarrassment at the mall. In fact, just about every girl on the cheerleader squad had either dated or been spurned by Bobby Vickerson at some point.

“Oh my god, no,” Kimberly said. “Just friends. I don’t know what I ever saw in him, to be honest.”

“Thank god,” Beverly said. “I’ve honestly been thinking the same thing? He seemed so different when we dated. He was just, like, so confident. And strong. And hot. And now, he’s just…” She shook her head. “Is he gay? I mean, he was pretty great in bed, but now I just keep wondering if he was thinking about some football player the whole time…”

“I haven’t asked,” Kimberly said primly. “But he invited me to his place tonight to do spa stuff and watch a chick flick, so, connect the dots?”

“Wow,” Beverly muttered. “Well, whatever. I hope he finds, like, happiness? I’m kind of starting to feel sorry for him, to be honest.”

“Yeah, right,” Kimberly said skeptically. “He was almost as big an asshole to you as he was to me. You’re loving this.”

Beverly frowned. “Loving this?” she demanded. “Me and Bobby were forever ago. How petty do you think I am?” The brunette suddenly had a suspicious look on her face. “So you aren’t trying to be friends with Bobby out of sympathy. You like seeing him turn into some weirdo loser, and you wanted a front-row seat.”

Kimberly momentarily flushed, speechless. Somehow Beverly, despite being one of Jefferson High’s worst students, had seen right through her -- the nerve of the bitch. Kimberly opened her mouth, searching for a retort, but her fellow cheerleader wasn’t done.

“I’m over Bobby being an asshole to me,” Beverly said. “I have been for ages.” Beverly shook her head, actually looking sad for her. “But his life being in the dumps won’t make yours any better, Kimberly. It won’t make you, like, happy. Sorry.”

“You don’t have a clue what makes me happy!” Kimberly snapped, losing her temper completely. “You don’t have a clue about anything! So how about you keep your psychotherapy bullshit to yourself, bitch?”

Kimberly clenched her fists as she stormed off. She could feel herself shaking, and her face was burning hot. Underneath all the anger, she had a terrible, sickening feeling that Beverly might just be right. But it didn’t matter. Who cared about happiness? This wasn’t about her being happy. This was about justice being served. Bobby Vickerson had it coming, and she was going to deliver, no matter what.