Held Back Theater 5 (Patreon)

Toby sat outside of the principal’s office once again, holding a blue ice pack against his  sprained wrist. “Worst day of my life.” He sighed quietly as he stared at the borrowed white shoes when suddenly a pair of bare feet stood in front of him.

“What the hell was that?” Gigi growled.

“What?” he stared up at the angry girl.

“I was trying to be your friend and you–you beat up Nico and hurt Leslie? And probably cost me my play?!”

“I didn’t beat him up! I hit him one time!” Toby snapped. “If you told me he was supposed to kiss me I wouldn’t have let you talk me into getting on stage.”

“He adlibbed it.”

“He lipped me alright.” He said, angrily wiping his lips against the back of his hand.

“No. Adlib is–I didn’t write a kiss in that scene.”

“Oh.” Toby paused, sucking air through his teeth and clenched his jaw, “So see he deserved it.”

“Did Leslie?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“But you meant to hurt Nico. Do you have a problem with gay people?”

Toby rolled his eyes and huffed, “He’s been doggin’ me all afternoon. I do not care if he’s gay. He’s an asshole!” He sighed and adjusted the ice pack on his wrist. The pair were silent for a moment while Toby calmed himself down enough to add, “I’m sorry if I ruined your play.”

Gigi stared into Toby’s eyes. She wanted to keep yelling at him. Keep yelling at him for her sake, for Leslie’s, for her play, and even for Nico’s sake. Maybe it wouldn’t change anything that had happened but it might make her feel better. If it didn’t she could just keep yelling at him.But before Gigi could respond the office door opened. Nico and his father walked out of the office followed quickly by Principal McCullen, hoping to curtail another fight between the boys. Nico silently glared at Toby through his right eye. His left eye, where Toby struck him, he kept closed due to the pain. Making the large red mark on his eye and upper half of his cheek appear oblong and misshapen. His father pulled Nico closer to him and ushered him away quickly.

“You’re up, Mr.Laughlin.” McCullen said with a gesture to his office. “Grace?” He asked when he noticed Gigi, “Is there something you needed?”

“No, sir.” She said quickly before walking away.

Once again, Toby found himself in Principal McCullen’s office waiting for his parents. “Alright. I understand. I will handle the situation. Tell Leslie we all wish her a speedy recovery.” McCullen hung up the phone with an angry sigh.

“Is Leslie okay?” Toby asked, adjusting the ice pack on his wrist.

McCullen glared fiercely at the young boy, “She has a broken leg. So you tell me if you think that is okay.” The small vein above his temple throbbed angrily.

Toby frowned and hung his head low, “No, sir.”

“You realize, of course, you’re expelled.”

“What?!” Toby shouted, jumping to his feet.

“Sit down!” McCullen ordered sharply, slamming his hands on his desk as he jumped to his feet. For the first time Toby felt fearful of the older man as the full weight of his anger filled the small office. “What did you think would happen? You assaulted two of my students! One of whom is in the hospital getting a cast on her leg.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt Leslie.” Toby winced in pain as he squeezed the ice pack tightly around his sore wrist.

“But you meant to hurt Mr. Capelli?”

“Who?”

“Nico.” The vein on McCullen’s head reddened and throbbed.

Toby clenched his jaw as he shook his head, “The fucker kissed me.” he hissed.

Before McCullen’s vein could burst he was interrupted by a buzz from the phone on his desk. Composing himself he let out an exasperated sigh, “Yes, Mrs. Wallace?...Good. Send her in.” He said and hung up the phone before adding to Toby, “I am aware.”

A moment later, Toby’s mother hurried in through the door wearing a mix of anger and worry on her face as she walked up to McCullen’s desk. “I came as soon as I got your message. Fighting? Really?!”  Leanne demanded angrily. “What happened?” She asked when she noticed the ice pack on Toby's wrist, taking it in her hands as she sat in the empty chair beside her son. Worry taking over her face.

“Your son struck another student.”

“Why on earth would you do that?!”  Anger immediately flared up on her face.

“He kissed me!” Toby said defensively.

“What?! Who?” Her glare switched to Victor’s, “Where is this other kid? Why isn’t he here with his parents?”

"I don't know what to do with you. You turn your work in late, if you turn it in at all. Hell your grades are bad enough that if it wasn't for no child left behind you would still be a Junior." He gives the teen an even look before looking away feeling disgusted at him for acting out violently.

Victor raised his hands, hoping to calm down the furious woman, “I’ve already spoken with the other boy involved and his parents and I think I can convince them not to press charges–”

“My son was defending himself. What makes them think they can press charges?” Leanne cut in sharply.

“Let me explain. From what I’m told Tobias was helping read lines in a play when Nico kissed your son.”

“The kiss wasn’t in the script!” Toby shouted.

“So it’s still self-defense.” Leanne added. “So I ask again, why is my son the one in trouble?!”

Victor rubbed his temple as the vein in his head began to throb again. “If you’d like to press charges against Mr. Capelli I can’t stop you, but just know your son will be charged with a hate crime.”

“What?!” Both mother and son shouted.

“Your son graffitied the drama department with homophobic slurs and now assaulted a gay student.”

“You know he didn’t do it alone and my son is not homophobic. He’s a good boy. He’s just got some dumb friends who are bad influences.”

"Your son should have been expelled after the last incident. We all know he wasn't alone in what he did last time.” Turning to Toby he gave the young boy a hard look. “I know you think you're brave and sticking up for your friends, but you are the one holding the bag. I gave you a chance to redeem yourself, son, and what did you do? Spat in my eye is what you did." Victor rubbed the throbbing vein above his temple and continued, addressing Toby’s mother.  “Again, that’ll be a matter for the courts if charges are filed.” Victor gave his words a moment to sink in before he continued, “There is also the fact that when your son hit Nico he broke the leg of another student. So he’ll likely be facing two counts of assault at least.” Leanne’s eyes widened as she stared at her son who could only hang his head. “From the account your son gave it appears it was unintentional but…again it doesn’t look good.”

“You said they weren’t going to press charges.”

“Not at this time, but they still may.” He sighed and looked at the desk phone, its plastic yellowed and chipped with time. “It’s standard procedure when there’s been a fight on school grounds.”

“Please!” Leanne begged as horrid images of her son being beaten and tortured, or worse, in prison played out in her mind, “There has to be something else. Anything else!”

“If there were any–” Before he could finish his sentence his desk phone rang. The abrupt ringing made Toby jump almost completely out of his skin. “Yes?” Victor asked the caller on the other end, “I am in the middle of something. Can’t this wait?” After a brief pause as he listened to the caller he placed the phone against his chest and spoke to Toby and his mother, “If you would wait outside apparently I have to take this.” Leanne silently nodded and led Toby out into the hall, grateful for any short stay of execution of her son.

Leanne sat on the small two-seater bench just outside of the door while Toby leaned against the stone wall opposite Principal McCullen’s office. After several minutes of silence Toby finally spoke, “This is so not fair.” Toby sighed and shook his head.

“No, it’s not fair. It’s not fair that your father and I have given you every opportunity, opportunities we did not have growing up, and you’re not only wasting them but throwing them away!”

“I’m not!”

“That’s not how your principal made it sound. I hardly ever see you doing your homework.” “Are you even doing it?”

“What? Yes!”

Leanne hung her head and shook it slowly before saying, “I can’t believe you punched that boy. What were you thinking?”

“What was I supposed to do?” Toby growled. “Let him kiss me and have everyone think I’m a sissy fairy like him?!”

Leanne gasped at her son’s words, “I cannot believe you just said that.” The disappointment and anger was evident on her face. “After all the names you’ve been called when you were little? The amount of bullying you went through? How could you do it to someone else?”

Toby turned his head and stared down the empty hallway as he ran his hand through his hair. Anything not to look his mother in the eye right now.

“You’ve got too much of your father in you. Because lord knows, I raised you better than that.” she said with a harsh glare.

“What’s wrong with that? Dad’s great.” Toby finally said, looking in her direction but he still didn’t dare look her in her eye.

“I love your father, but there are parts I don’t like.”

The office door opened and Principal McCullen waved them in.

"Thank you for waiting.” Victor said as mother and son returned to their chairs. “I had to make a few more phone calls but I have a possible alternative solution that would keep Tobias in school and out of jail.”

“Anything!” Leanne said almost before Victor had finished his sentence.

“Now, hold on, it's a little more complicated than that.”

“Whatever it is, he'll do it.”

“Yeah, you want me to scrub toilets, shave my head, whatever it is.”

Victor held up his pointer finger calling for them to wait, “As I said; there is another option, and I think it is foolish given your track record, but those that brought it up already went above me to speak to the superintendent…” he paused to look them both in the eye before continuing, “The offer on the table is no charges will be filed from either family on the contingent that Tobias adheres to this alternative punishment and all of its conditions.”

“Like I said, whatever it is…” Victor had left too much of a pause between breaths and gave  Leanne the opening to jump on the offer again.

“Hear my offer first.” Victor said firmly. “Now, if you accept this deal it will mean an entirely new class schedule.”

“What? Why?” he asked.

“The belief is removing you from, so called, destructive influences will help. More to the point, Tobias Laughlin is no longer welcome at this school.”

“I’m so confused.”

“The conditions, besides an all new schedule, is that you will have to retake the entrance exam.”

“So…even if I agree I might still not get in?”

Victor shook his head, “I have every faith you will be precisely where you are supposed to be.”

Toby ran his hand through his hair but nodded, “O-okay.”

“There is more. Should you succeed, no matter which grade you are in, you will be monitored by another student. You will do exactly what she tells you if you misbehave she will report any and all infractions to me where you will be expelled and still have to face the assault charges.”

“Okay.” Toby nodded. For a second he had been worried that Principal McCullen would pair him up with Nico in a bit of cruel irony. But it seemed he lucked out for once. Maybe if his luck held the girl would be pretty and he could strike up a deal with her.

“Finally, and I suspect the condition you will like the least, should you pass the entrance exam you will be re-enrolled not as Tobias…but a female student.”

“What?!” Toby shouted as he leapt out of his chair.

“Excuse me?!” Leanne gasped.

“You want me to come to school as a girl?!”

Principal McCullen shook his head, “I do not want you to come to school as anything. But this is the offer I was asked to present. You can take it or you can leave it and find yourself another school to terrorize.”

“Wait–”

“You can’t be serious!” Toby shouted over his mother, “I’m not doing it!”

“Fine then, good luck in court.”

“What do you mean?” His mother asked.

“As I said, if he refuses the deal or fails to adhere to the guidelines I’ve stipulated, if he so much as gets a detention, the deal is off.”

“You can’t expect him to agree to something like this?”

“Actually I expected he would react exactly as he has. So did the parents of his victims. But I was instructed to at least make the offer. Whether he accepts it, or fails, I have done my part.”

“But if he does…there’ll be no charges? No expulsion? Right?”

“That is the deal.”

“Mom, you can’t seriously be thinking about agreeing to this. There’s no way Leslie or Nico’s parents would agree to go along with the deal.”

Leanne glared up at her son, “I can and I am." Turning to Victor she asked, “He does bring up a good point though, what guarantee do we have that they won’t press charges later after he’s gone through all of this?”

“Both parents have agreed to sign a contract stating that they will forgo any legal pursuit provided your son adheres to the deal and completes the school year.”

“So, just the rest of the school year?” Leanne asked.

“As a girl!” Toby shrieked.

“For the sake of discretion the contract will refer to it as ‘Sensitivity training’.” Victor smirked at the outraged young boy. “You will have to sign the same contract, acknowledging you know what will happen should you fail.”

“Nope. No way. Not doing it.” Toby said quickly, shaking his head.

“Tobias sit down.” His mother said calmly.

“Why? I’m not doing it. There’s no way I’m gonna let him humiliate me in front of the whole school just so he can get his rocks off! I’ll take my chances in court.”

“No you will not!” Leanne sprung to her feet and stared into her son’s eyes as if she wasn’t four inches shorter than him. “I love you but you’re a damn fool if you throw away this deal. You’re not just facing going to a new school and losing internet privileges. You’re looking down the barrel of years in prison. Prison! With real criminals who will hurt you! Now. Sit. Down.”

Toby dropped his head into his chest and returned quietly to his seat. The same frightful images that plagued Leanne now plagued Toby. After his mother sat back down he asked, “What about Nico and Leslie? No way they’ll keep quiet about this.”

“As of now, Leslie’s parents, Nico’s father, and the three of us are the only ones who know about this deal. Should you accept it, Nico and Leslie will be told you were expelled and have to undergo sensitivity training but they won’t be given any specifics.” Silence filled the office before Principal McCullen spoke again, “Then I take it you’re accepting the offer?”

“Yes.” Toby swallowed the lump in his throat.

“What about the student meant to monitor him?” Leanne asked.

The next day after school found Gigi entering Toby’s room for the first time. “Hey.” Toby frowned.

“Aww,” Gigi pouted, “Why so glum, chum?”

“I had a little trouble sleeping, my neck hurts and, oh yeah, you wanna turn me into a girl.”

“I wish.” Gigi giggled, “That would be the best super power!”

“That would be–forget it.” Toby shook his head.

Gigi sat beside Toby on his bed and placed an arm around his shoulder, “Don’t fret, pet. If you listen to my advice and do what I say, you’ll pass well enough that no one will suspect you were ever a boy.”

“Oh, joy of joys.” Toby said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.

“That's the spirit.” Gigi smiled and placed a large bag on his table alongside what looked to Toby to be a silver glittery tackle box . “Now, have you given any thought to what kind of girl you want to be?”

Toby gave her a curious look, either this girl didn't get sarcasm or she was purposefully ignoring it, “I…what?”

“You had all this time, surely you must have some idea.”

“All this–you mean since yesterday?!”

“Yes.” She said as if it were obvious.

“I hadn’t given it much thought. Honestly I was hoping I’d slip into a coma before you came over.”

“Well that’s fine.” She said, opening one of her bags on Toby’s desk, “Luckily I brought over a few options from what is left of the drama club’s wardrobe. You can be thinking about the kind of girl you want to be while we take care of your body hair.”

“Ugh.” Toby groaned.

“Come on, I thought you track guys shaved for your meets anyway.”

“That’s swimmers. I mean…some guys on the team do. They claim it’s supposed to cut down on wind resistance, but…that’s stupid.”

“You never tried it?”

“Pfft! No!” He lied. During his first year on the team he snuck into his parents' shared bathroom while they were out on a date and borrowed his dad’s razor but he could only manage to shave half of his right shin before he started bleeding.

“If you wanna pass for any type of girl then you still need to pluck, pull, and/or shave pretty much everything from the forehead down."

“What?

“Oh totally. And depending on how fast your body hair grows you’ll probably have to do it multiple times a week.”

Toby shook his head, remembering how painful it was the one and only time he tried to shave his legs. “That sounds really time consuming.”

“Oh it can be. Lucky for you I brought over something that might help speed up the process.” Gigi opened another bag and tossed a small black plastic bag to Toby.

Through the clear plastic window in the center of the bag Toby could see what looked like small purple beans. “What is this?”

“That is wax. You heat it up, rub it over wherever and then use one of these strips that comes with it to tear it off like a bandaid.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

Gigi hid her smirk by turning around and taking out her wax warmer and packs of wax strips. “We’ll need to heat it up first.” After a moment’s search she found an empty plug for her warmer. “While that’s warming up you need to take a shower.” Gigi took a large plastic bag out of her bag before asking, “I’m guessing your soap and shampoo is just scented with gun oil?”

“I…don’t think it’s got a scent.”

“It’s worse than I thought.” Gigi gasped. “Here,” She said handing him the bag, “Use the lavender body soap first. Then the honey shampoo. And then the rose hips conditioner. Afterwards, shave your face.”

Toby looked at the bag of scented soaps and shampoo as if it were a dead fish she had just laid in his hands. “...Fine.” He sighed and walked out of his room.

“Good girl.”

“I’m not a girl!” Toby shouted from the bathroom.

“From now on you are so you better get used to it.” Gigi shouted back. Toby’s only response was to growl angrily from the bathroom before starting the shower.

After his shower and shave Toby stepped into his room with the towel wrapped around his waist and was surprised to see Gigi was not still in his room. While he was in the shower Gigi had laid three large towels over his twin bed. Gigi’s bag had been emptied and placed under his desk while her glittering tackle box still occupied his desk, reminding him that this was not the fever dream he had been hoping it to be. Where his Tv, playstation, and his stacks of games once sat, were now replaced with small jars of cream, bottles of gel, a pencil case full of makeup brushes, and what looked like two identical black cardboard boxes.

He had just managed to find the opening of the mysterious box when Gigi returned to the room , with three washrags in hand, “That’s for later.”

Toby jumped and spun on his heel, feeling much like a child who’d been caught trying to sneak an ice cream bar out of the freezer before his mom came back. “Shi–I wasn’t…” He pointed awkwardly over his shoulder to the boxes.

“I know you’re really eager to play with those but first we need to get rid of all that nasty body hair.” Gigi smirked and placed the washrags beside his bed on the nightstand.

“The only thing I’m eager for is this nightmare to be over.”

“Then we mustn’t dally and get you all prettied up quicksmart, hadn’t we?” Gigi asked in her best imitation of Mary Poppins and her accent as she could muster.

“Uh...yeeesss?” Toby answered slowly, unsure of how to answer Gigi’s question that didn’t make him seem eager to be dressed as a girl.

“Brilliant!” She cheered and closed the distance between them.

Toby tried to step back but found himself right up against the desk with no room to maneuver and tightened his grip on the knot that secured his towel. In the last second he had become increasingly aware of the fact that besides a towel wrapped around his waist he was naked in his room with a cute girl. A cute girl who once again stood close enough he could feel her body heat radiating off of his now naked chest. “Are you going to keep doing the accent? Cause I think I might prefer prison.”

“How do you know it’s not my real accent, Love?”

Toby cleared his throat, “C-cause no way in hell anyone would choose to live in Kansas if they weren’t already from here.”

“I moved here because of my mum.” She said softly, “Turn your head.” She continued, cutting off Toby’s next question and losing the accent. Toby turned his head left and then right while Gigi examined his face. “You got most of it. Good girl.” Gigi smiled and stepped back.

“T-thanks.” He said after he had swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Alright, get on the bed.” She ordered.

“W-what?” He chuckled nervously.

“For the wax.”

“Oh, right. Yeah…that.” Toby cleared his throat again and hurried to the bed while he tried to will away the openings to numerous pornos he had seen that had begun just like this from his mind. The first touch of hot wax against his shin helped only slightly. While Gigi layered on a wax strip Toby tried to ignore the way her red hair fell over her bare shoulders, just reaching the ruffled short sleeves of her top. He also tried to ignore the way her white top was sheer enough between the ruffles that he could see her blue bra through it as well as try to ignore how it exposed her flat stomach and the fact that her yoga pants hugged her ass perfectly. But most importantly he tried to ignore the patient/nurse scenarios that currently plagued his thoughts. “So–uh shouldn’t I do this?”

“You can do your arms next if you want.” She said as she turned his leg and placed another strip on the inside of his shin.

“Cool….cool.” he said. “Naked grandma” he mumbled.

“What?”

Toby’s eyes widened, “I–I said, uh, what happened with your play?” He stammered, “Is it still happening?”

Gigi rolled her eyes and grabbed Toby’s ankle so she could place the next strip on his shin, “It’s still happening. Thankfully.”

“That’s good…” Toby said, ignoring the girl slowly moving her hand up his leg. “W-what’s it about anyway?”

“What?”

“I mean…I thought I was–whatever her name was, was a robot but…she was talking about having babies right? Robots can’t have babies.”

“They can’t.” Gigi laid the last strip on his leg. “That’s the point though.”

“The point is robots can’t have babies except her?”

“No. In the context of the play they can, well some can, but the play is about what that means and how it affects her.”

“Oh…sounds great.”

“You think so?” Gigi smiled.

“I mean, I guess. Most plays I’ve heard about sound pretty dumb but people say they’re great so…” Toby shrugged, letting his words fall when he noticed Gigi’s smile had faded into a frown.

“Uh-huh.” Gigi clicked her tongue and gripped the first wax strip she placed on Toby’s leg then in one smooth motion tore it off, ripping the hairs out of his leg.

“Motherfucker!” Toby shrieked as he grabbed his leg, pulling it to his chest. “Whatdidyoudothatofor?!”

“You have to pull it off like a bandaid to get all the hairs.” Gigi giggled.

“Fuck me!” Toby gasped, “Am I bleeding?! I feel like I’m bleeding.”

Gigi examined his red, but albeit smooth, patch of hairless leg. “You’re not bleeding. It’ll go away in, like, a minute.” She laughed before continuing, “Stay still, I’ll get the others.”

“Fuck that! I’ll get them off.” Toby sat up, remembered he was still only in a towel and snapped his legs shut.

“I mean, you can try,” Gigi giggled, “But if you do it wrong and don’t get all the hairs you’ll have to go through the whole process again.” Toby rubbed his sore leg as he weighed his options, “Of course, I can finish taking them off for you if you ask nicely.”

“Ugh…fine.”

“That didn’t sound very nice.” Gigi smirked.

“Can you please get them off.”

“Good girl.” Gigi giggled.

“Excuse me?” Leanne demanded from Toby’s open door.