The Newest Ballerina

Dalton paced back and forth outside of the dance studio, waiting for his little sister to come out so he could escort her home. He thought it was so dumb that he had to do it just because his mom was working a little late. She was only a year younger than him, so why did he have to escort her home? He turned as he heard the door open, but it was just one of Emily’s friends. Courtney or something? He could not remember.

“Hey, Dalton, Emily wanted me to come tell you that she’s running a little late, so she figured you could come inside and sit down to wait for her.” Dalton sighed.

“Fine.” He walked past Courtney or whatever her name was and into the dance studio. He saw a few girls in yellow tutus standing around, but none of them were his sister.

“Where is she?” He asked.

“Changing.” Courtney replied. “I can take her there if you want.” Before he could even answer, she had grabbed his wrist and was pulling him along. “They won’t mind a boy being back there, I’m sure.” He tried to explain that he did not really need to go to the changing room to find Emily, but another girl grabbed his other wrist and he soon found himself going through a door into a changing room full of girls. They all grinned as if they were expecting him.

“There you are!” He said to Emily, trying to act normal, even as every eye in the room was on him. “Let’s go.”

“Can’t.” Emily said.

“Why?” He asked with a sigh. Emily smirked and clapped her hands.

Every one of the girls leapt into action, grabbing Dalton and stripping him down to his skin in no time flat. His hoodie, jeans, and everything vanished as the girls passed them out of his sight. He tried to fight and claw his way out of the veritable hoard of girls, but many hands made light work and they found it a matter of a few seconds, it seemed, to pull panties, white tights, and a yellow leotard with attached tutu over the scrawny boy’s body. By the time they led him over to a mirror, his shaggy hair had been rearranged into a downright implausible tight bun atop his head.

“What the?” He and every girl in the room turned as the door opened and a navy leotard-clad instructor stepped into the room.

“Yellow tutu? You’re one of mine.” She said, pushing Dalton by the shoulders out of the changing room. Emily followed, her street clothes making her look more masculine than her brother in his flouncy tutu.

“I’m going to go to the mall, little sis.” She called to him as the instructor shepherded him over to a group of girls dressed identically to him. “I’ll be back in two hours to take you home!”

* * *

Dalton groaned as the teacher finally said that class would end in ten minutes. Two hours! Two hours of prancing around in a tutu and tights, feeling like a complete dork! Worse, the girls who had done this to him had somehow gotten word to the girls in the class with him, so during breaks, they made sure he could not sneak off to the changing room, giggling and telling him both how pretty he looked and how terrible he was at ballet.

"I'm not supposed to be good." He muttered, careful not to speak too loudly. If the teacher found out he was a boy in a tutu and tights, he did not know what would happen. He groaned as he once again had to dig the leotard out of his butt crack. How did anyone stand wearing this stuff? The wedgie, the bouncing tutu, the weird way the tights rubbed against his legs.

"Well, Miss Andersen's going to make you stay late if you don't get good soon." One of the girls said. "How's it feel having her have to adjust your arms and legs for even the most basic stuff? You're really bad!"

"I don't want to be good!" Dalton insisted.

"Then why are you even in this class?" Another girl asked.

"You know why." He hissed.

"Alright, ladies. Back to the barre please." Miss Andersen called. Dalton shuffled at the back of the group, but that was not good enough for the teacher. "I want you" she touched his shoulder. "Right in the middle where I can keep an eye on you." Dalton shuffled over, grumbling at the litany of giggles around him. Why did girls always giggle? It was so annoying, and seemed to get more annoying the more girls they were. Surrounded by giggling girls was almost enough to drive Dalton crazy!

He felt the breath of one of the girls on his neck as he took his place on the barre. Were they really going to be that close together? He was so clumsy, he might cause them all to topple like dominos. He snickered a bit at the funny image, but he knew it was sure to get him in trouble with the stern teacher.

"I’m serious. I think Miss Andersen might actually make you stay late." She whispered. "This is pliés, so all you gotta do is watch the girl in front of you and do exactly what she does. Who cares if you look like a complete sissy? You're already wearing a tutu, right?" Dalton shuddered, but nodded. It was, he thought, good advice at least.

Returning to the dance studio, Emily was surprised to see that Dalton was still part of the class. Even more surprisingly, he seemed to be keeping up, though admittedly the yellow tutus were the beginners, so it was mostly foot and arm positions and basics like that. All the same, he blushed and stumbled as he saw her standing there, watching him.

“Focus!” Miss Andersen said. “I would hate to make any one of you girls stay late for extra practice.” Emily giggled, determined to find out just how many times Dalton had been threatened with that. This whole scheme was just too good.

She sat down in one of the chairs by the door for parents to watch their kids. Well, daughters, Emily thought as she eyed the line of yellow tutu wearing ballerinas. And there, right in the middle, taller than any of the others, was her older brother. It was too good to be true.

Why on earth was he still in the class, she wondered. She had assumed that he would hide in the changing room until she returned with his clothes. Not that she had them, but she figured he would think she did. Could it be that he wanted to be in ballet? No, there was no chance of that. She would know if he secretly wanted to do ballet.

“Alright, that’ll be all for today, my beautiful ballerinas. Keep up your stretches and we’ll meet back here next week to continue learning le beau ballet.” The girls began to disperse from the barre. Emily watched Dalton, expecting him to make a dash for her. Or, given the large window behind her, probably the changing room. Judging by his face, that was exactly what he had in mind, but everything immediately became clear as she watched the other students surround Dalton, blocking his chances of escape as they peppered him with comments about his dancing. Smiling smugly, Emily slowly made her way over.

“Hey, everyone, I think my brother wants to go get changed.” The girls giggled and moved as one toward the changing room. Dalton, too embarrassed to even look his sister in the eye, shuffled after them, his tutu bouncing and flouncing just the same as theirs.

Emily followed them in. She had a good feeling her humiliated brother would need some help. He quickly removed the leotard, but stopped as he looked around for his clothes, blushing as he saw the girls around him in various states of undress.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked, smiling at her brother in nothing but his tights, the peach panties they had forced him into showing through them. It was amazing he had put up the fight he had with an entire class of girls determined to dress him for ballet.

“Can’t find my clothes.” it came out all mumbled and strung together, but that was what Emily assumed he had said. She looked around, frowning. “Where’d you put them?”

“There were like a dozen of us.” Emily said. “So, I dunno what happened.” She shrugged. “Just put your leotard and tutu on. You can change at home.” He made a strangled sound.

“They’re not mine, Emily! Where’s my stuff?”

“I don’t know!” She said, matching his annoyed tone. “Let’s go though. Mom and dad’ll be home soon and they’ll wonder where we are.”

“I’ll just tell them you” his face turned red. “You made me” Emily’s disdainful scoff forced him into silence.

“Made you what? Your little sister dressed you up and you decided to take a full ballet class? Yeah, I bet that’ll go over well.”

“They… they wouldn’t let me leave.”

“He’s right.” One of the girls chimed in, having overheard their conversation. “But it was for his own good.”

“Yeah, if Miss Andersen catches someone hiding in the changing room, she makes her do exercises in front of the whole class.”

“He would’ve been here all night with how clumsy he is!”

“That’s true.” Emily said with a smirk. “But just think what a dainty ballerina he would have been by the end of it!”

“My clothes.” Dalton seethed, completely sick and tired of the giggles of girls. Emily nodded, sobering.

“I guess I’ll check the lost and found. Can’t imagine there are a lot of boy clothes in there, right?” She hurried off to the front door, all but certain one of her friends had deposited his clothes in there.

Sure enough, every bit of Dalton’s clothes were in the lost and found bin, but they were not the only things. She smiled eagerly as she found a skirt and a pink t-shirt. It was plain, but still girly.

“Perfect.” She said, noticing the little white bows on the sleeves of the t-shirt. She hurried back to the changing room. Dalton was now all alone, sitting on a bench still in just his tights, not even looking at the yellow leotard and tutu beside him. “Sorry,” Emily said, trying her best to sound convincing. Her parents could always catch her in a lie, but Dalton was nowhere near as observant as them. “This is all I could find!”

“I can’t wear this.” He said, staring at the clothes in her hand.

“It’s either this or wear your leotard and tutu.”

“But”

“Seriously, I don’t have time to run home and grab your clothes.” Dalton’s eyebrows rose. “No. We need to hurry.” She smiled. “I think there’s another ballet class in a bit. Do you want to join them?” Dalton grunted a no. “Then throw on the skirt and shirt. Just over your tights. You can even wear your ballet flats home.” His jeans, shirt, and underwear missing was one thing, but Emily would have to figure out how to get his sneakers home. Those were expensive.

“They’re not”

“Dude. You just did two hours of ballet. Like full-blown, frou-frou in a tutu ballet.” Dalton’s seemed to both pale and blush at the same time. It was almost impressive, Emily thought, even if he seemed like he might faint. “So put on that skirt and tee and let’s get home so you can change.” He sighed. “It’s either that or I take them back to the lost and found and you wear the leotard. And we take the bus home.” Dalton groaned, but pulled the shirt on.

“Can I take the tights off?”

“They hide your hairy legs, but if you want.” Emily smirked as he had not even mentioned the bun he still had. He looked downright feminine even now. She did not point it out to him, but she felt relieved. There would be far fewer chances of getting sidetracked if everyone just saw two sisters walking home.

They left the changing room and Emily directed him away from the lost and found. She had pushed his clothes down under a few abandoned sweatshirts and jackets, but she did not want to take any chances.

“Want to sign up for lessons for real?” Emily teased as they passed the bulletin board. Dalton glared at her, slowly returning to his old self, even if he still did not have a single scrap of boy clothes on his body. Emily smiled sweetly as they left the ballet studio and Dalton’s time as a ballerina behind.