The Lady's House Part 2 Of 3: Skirt Shocked free porn video

The Lady's House Part 2 of 3: Skirt Shocked By Gail Blue When Charles woke up the next day everything seemed surreal. He had slept in his boy underwear, and he still felt like a boy, but he saw a black and white maid's dress in the corner that everyone expected him to wear today. He thought it might have just been a strange dream, but his room was different; he walked into the bathroom and found Lilly's things. He spent a long time staring at the dress, wondering if he really had to put it on. Lilly knocked through the bathroom door, cracked it open, and carefully peeked out, "How's it going in there Charlie?" "I don't know, I'm just kind of skirt shocked. Does everyone expect me to come out in the dress?" "We were kind of wondering that ourselves. Kate bet Ms. Hughes twenty dollars against it." "Is Ms. Hughes going to be mad if I don't?" "I don't think so. She's been more quiet than usual. How do you feel about it?" "I keep thinking about all the kids at my old school laughing at me." "You see any of them in town?" "No, but... it still feels that way. Do you think I should put it on?" "Only if you want to." "It's kind of embarrassing to admit that. I mean I don't think I want to be a girl, but I liked wearing those dresses. It made me feel like I fit in. But then doing something like crossdressing makes me feel like a freak, so I don't know how I feel." "If it wasn't crossdressing would you do it?" "What do you mean?" "It's totally socially acceptable for girls to wear pants, and no one calls them crossdressers. If boys could wear dresses without anyone batting an eye, would you do it?" "Well... yeah. But that'd be different." "If boys could wear makeup, and be named Charlotte without worrying about it, would you give it a try?" "I guess so..." "What if a boy could be called a girl? Being called 'she' and 'Charlotte' is lot like trying on a new set of clothes. Look, I feel like I know you pretty well, I don't think that would change, no matter what you are wearing. The best case I can make for it is, that it's always good to try new things, and this is a pretty safe place to do it, if you want to. When you leave, you can leave it behind if you like. But I'll still be your friend no matter what." "Thanks. It still feels like I'd be doing something really wrong." "Is that the biggest reason for not doing it?" "That, and I don't want to start dating boys or anything." "Hey, you don't see us trying to set Georgia up with any guys do you?" "No, I guess not." "Well, I'm not going to make up your mind for you. If you go down there as a guy and Ms. Hughes gets mad, I'll chew her out for you, I swear I will. But I don't think she's going to do that. I think she just wants you to have fun this summer." "Thanks. I do think the dresses are kind of neat. It was fun to wear." "Yeah, that's one of the reasons I came here this summer. I like playing dress up a lot. There's just something about wearing a uniform," Lilly smiled, "It's kind of dumb but I like being my own dress up doll. Sometimes I'll look at myself and think I look totally ridiculous, but it's fun." "That's how it felt. I looked at myself and I looked like another person. It was really odd to see that, like an out of body experience. I enjoyed it, but I'm afraid of taking it too seriously." "You don't always have to take things seriously. So what would make you feel comfortable?" Twenty minutes later Lilly and Charlotte marched downstairs, both wearing black and white maid's uniforms with white aprons, stockings and headdresses. They entered the kitchen where the found the girls and Ms. Hughes eating breakfast. Georgia smiled and silently waved at Charlotte. Lilly held up her hand. "Okay everyone this is Charlie, but you may call him Charlotte. He is not a girl, but you may still refer to him as 'she' or 'girl' if you want to. She's just doing this for fun, because she doesn't have a big problem with it, she wants to fit in, and she thinks dresses are kind of neat. If anyone makes fun of her, she's going to go back to being called Charles, and then he's going to do nothing but lay around playing video games and watching football all day. Are we all good with that?" "I'm good with it. As long as you do your work," said Ms. Hughes. "I'd still like to make fun of him a little bit," said Kate, "But not about the dress. I mean we got to make fun of George here when he became, Georgia. And Lilly used to be Lyle." "Yes, and who did you used to be?" asked Lilly. "Umm... Katen? Kater... Ketih?" "Yep, that's what we do here, turn boys into girls," Ms. Hughes said, folding her paper. "You're kidding right?" asked Charlotte. "I'm kidding about everyone, but one." "Yeah, so who's the boy?" Charlotte looked genuinely puzzled. "And here I thought it might take you a long time to get comfortable," Ms. Hughes said pointing back at Charlotte. "Oh..." "Feeling better then?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Good, because Lilly's going to show you how to clean rooms. We have a lot of guests coming in for the weekend." "But I get her tonight," Lilly interjected. "Yes." "What are you doing with me tonight?" "I made Ms. Hughes promise I could take you down to the clothing fair, if you came down in the dress." "Like a bet or something?" "No it's just something I really wanted to do. I thought you'd enjoy it." "Oh, thank you." Charlotte spent the rest of the morning making up rooms with Lilly. They started by working on each room together so that Charlotte could figure out what she was doing. A while later, they split the rooms and Charlotte started cleaning some by herself, but this was slow going because frankly she wasn't very good at it, and Lilly had to double check her work. After the first hour, the fun of wearing the uniform became secondary to the task at hand, and Charlotte found herself forgetting about it. Though a few times a guest would stop her and ask about her clothes. A young married woman asked if anyone sold the dresses, and Charlotte told her to ask Ms. Hughes about it. There was a fairly long break between noon and four when Charlotte didn't have any chores, so Charlie came back down in one of his boy suits, to read in the kitchen. Kate was in there preparing food. "Hey, Charlie. Didn't you have fun this morning?" "It was less exhausting than yard work, but there's a lot to pay attention to." "So why'd you take off the dress, are you done with it?" "No... I mean. I was just taking a break. I didn't think I needed to dress all day." "Oh okay. So are you going to help out in the kitchen tonight?" "Yes, but I'm not scheduled for another hour. And then I'm only helping out for a bit. Lilly wanted to take me somewhere tonight." "I'm working all night. You should do your kitchen shift as Charlotte, it'll be more fun." "I guess I could. But how is it more fun?" "I don't know. I just think it's kind of neat when you dress up. Plus you could go out in the dining room and waitress if you want." "I've never done that before." "It's hard work, but you get tips. If it's slow, just one or two people, you should totally do it." "Why is it neat when I dress up?" "I don't know, your prettier. It's like a game. When I'm here in this house, dressed in these clothes, I feel like I'm a little girl. I want to have tea parties and sleep with stuff animals. Do you like that kind of thing?" "I've never really tried that, It always seemed a little silly to me. I'm usually kind of serious." "That's part of the fun of seeing you dress up I think." "That I'm serious?" "Sure, serious women are always the prettiest. Like Ms. Hughes, she can be barking orders at men while she's in a puffy pink dress, and they'll take her more seriously for it. Of course if I tried to do that, I don't think it'd work." "I guess I could dress up for the kitchen tonight." "Really? You should, Please please" "I guess I could." "You should go do it now." "My shift's not for a little bit." "Then just hangout. Please, please. Lilly and Georgia both got to see you dressed for a long time. But I've hardly seen Charlotte at all. I feel left out." "Alright... I'll be right back." Charlie went up and switched into the yellow kitchen dress. When Charlotte came back down, Kate took a ten minute break and took Charlotte back upstairs to do her makeup. Charlotte had to admit that she didn't really know how to do it herself, and Kate offered to help her learn over the next few days. Later that evening, Lilly took her to the clothing fair. It was really a swap meet where a bunch of local clothes makers could show their wares to tourists without needing their own shops. Most of the clothes were all too expensive for either girl to afford. So they just browsed, but when Lilly saw Charlotte fumbling around in her clothes, looking for Charlie's wallet, she bought her a simple black leather purse. Charlotte did make one purchase of her own. The local wig shop had a small table of clip in pony tails. Lilly tried a few on, but her hair was already past shoulder length so they didn't do much for her. Charlotte's hair was short, and when she tried clipping one in, it instantly made her hair so much more beautiful. * * * Between the chores, and Kate's makeup lessons, Charles didn't get much time away from Charlotte for most of the week, and he was looking forward to Wednesday (Wednesday's are always slow), as the hotel didn't have many guests scheduled, and he could wander around town as Charles. It turns out they didn't get any dinner reservations, and Ms. Hughes decided to close the kitchen for the night to give the girls a bit of time off together. When Charlotte got back from cleaning up the four rooms that were occupied, she went back to her own room to find a bit of a surprise. Lilly, Georgia, and Kate were all trying on Charles's boy clothes. Lilly had on his brown suit, which was a tad small for her. Georgia had on his grey suit which fit her just right. And his dark blue suit was hanging off Kate, who was using a belt and rolling up the pants in order to get the suit to fit at all. Lilly and Georgia both had their hair pushed up under caps, and there wasn't any sign of their breasts. They were helping Kate wrap an ace bandage around hers. "What's going on?" Charlotte asked. Lilly answered, "Oh hey Charlotte, we just wanted to try on some of Charles's clothes. Hope you don't mind." Georgia continued the explanation even as she helped Kate close her shirt and tuck her hair up under a cap. "We all got to talking about how neat it was that you get to be a girl sometimes, and we were wondering what it would be like if we tried to be boys." Kate took a pair of Charles's socks and stuffed them down the front of her pants. "Hope you don't mind." Lilly and Georgia, saw her do this and instantly grabbed more pairs of Charles's socks and stuffed them down their own pants. "But you're wearing all of my boy clothes... Charles was going to go out tonight." "Oh, sorry about that. I guess we did," Georgia apologized. "It's just for one night. You'll live." "So what were you all going to do?" "We wanted to have a boys night out. No silly girls allowed," Lilly joked. "But what about Charlotte?" asked Kate. "No silly girls allowed, George, Lyle, and Keith are going carousing!" said George(ia). "None of you are old enough to drink." "The silly girl has a point," Lyle poked her gently in the ribs. Keith interjected, "Actually there's a street carnival. It's still setting up for this weekend. But some of the games are already open." "Still, I don't know if I want a girl around," Georgia made a sour face at Charlotte. "Fine, well then I'm asking her out," Keith pushed the through the other "boys" and held Charlotte's hand. "Dear sweet Charlotte, would you do me the honor of accompanying me this evening?" Suddenly George(ia) looked stunned, "Hey, what are you up to?" "Well, you didn't ask her. You called her a silly girl. Besides, I burrowed something from Ms. Hughes for her," Keith went over to the closet, and pulled out a dark mauve dress with black ruffles and lace. It was long and elegant, the style that Ms. Hughes normally wore. Charlotte's eyes glistened; she hadn't thought it was possible to lust after a dress. "Wow, Kate... Keith. I don't know what to say. It's beautiful." "So you'll go out with me?" "Of course!" "Hey what about us?" Lyle looked at Charlotte with disappointed eyes. "I guess you guys can tag along." They passed Ms. Hughes on the way out the door. She shook her head, "You know, you guys are bonkers. Have a good time, and Charlotte, please try to keep yourself, the boys, and that dress out of trouble." Keith and Charlotte locked arms on the way to the street fair. They didn't hold hands, or brush up against one another. It was the way a groomsman and a bridesmaid will treat each other. In heels, Charlotte towered a good four inches over him. George would try to stride up next to them, so he could be near to Charlotte, but Keith and Charlotte made a game of walking close to obstacles, so he'd have to back away. Lyle was trying to keep his cool, and stood back from the group, whistling some old southern tune. The street fair was amazing, even if it wasn't fully set up. It was near the town's lake, and when the gas lamps came on, they reflected against the water. A small flock of ducks would swim to one side of the lake, and then fly back to the other. Workmen had just finished setting up an old wooden carousel, and a ferries wheel. And there were several games of skill and chance lined up behind the town hall. They all sat and ate corndogs by the lake. And one of the funnier moments of the evening was when Keith got up to use the bathroom and stood bewildered for a good long minute looking between the signs on the men's and women's room, before charging ahead into the men's room. He came out about thirty seconds later and darted into the women's. George took the opportunity to sit next to Charlotte. "How's the date with Keith going?" he asked nervously. "You know it's just for fun. We're just being silly." "Oh... Okay," He wasn't making eye contact. "Would you like to go up in the ferries wheel, with me?" "Sure." George awkwardly held out his hand; Charlotte took it, and they made their way into a car. "Hey, George. You seem a little quiet." "Sorry, about that. I've just been thinking about the other night... If we're alone you think you could call me Georgia?" "Oh, sorry Georgia. I didn't realize." "It's no big deal. I mean I like the boy game and all. It's just that I haven't gotten to talk to you in the while." The wheel started in motion, and they took each other's hand as they watched the ground fall away. Georgia, pulled off her cap and shook out her hair. "I don't want to do anything that'll get us into trouble. But I missed you." "You see me every day." "I know. But I still think about that night. Do you?" "Yes... of course. But I guess I don't know what to do about it." The car stopped when they were almost at the top. The night got silent, and they could hear the riders above them. It was a man proposing to a woman. He'd written a love poem, "the five things I love about you," When he got to number five, he retitled the poem "The ten things I love about you," And repeated the renaming until he got to thirty, when the wheel started up again. This startled the woman, who started giggling, until she could blurt out "Yes!" Georgia and Charlie smiled back at one another, and they kissed each other gently on the ride down. When they got back to the group, they found Lyle at a game, throwing baseballs at a pyramid of stacked cups. He was taking turns with a man, and they seemed to be in a bit of a competition. The man was thin, and had an almost comic handlebar moustache. He was wearing a navy blue military uniform, that despite his best efforts, didn't completely conceal the shape of the breasts that lie underneath. Keith introduced them "Charlotte, this is Colonel Hughes, Colonel Hughes. This is Charlotte." It was, of course, Ms. Hughes, and when she opened her mouth to speak, she tried to sound like a British Military man. Her voice was silly, but it got the idea across. "Charlotte, Charlotte. So pleased to meet such a pretty young lady, with staggeringly intelligent fashion sense," Colonel Hughes motioned to the dress they'd borrowed from her. "Young Keith and I were just in competition to see who could master this damnable game. With your permission, whoever gets you the best prize, should have your hand in marriage." Charlotte rolled her eyes, "That would be lovely." "She's game!" Colonel Hughes called to Lyle. Before too long, the pair was hurling baseballs. Georgia wanted in on it too, and she stepped up beside them. Keith stayed back and chatted with Charlotte. "This is going to take a while..." "Why do you say that?" Charlotte asked as the game attendant barely dodged a baseball. "None of them are into any sports. And as fun as it would be for them to win you something, I don't think it's going to happen." "Are you any good at sports?" "I ran some track. But I'm no good at throwing baseballs. We could be here all night." They watched as Georgia lost grip on a baseball, and it went sailing backwards. The attendant didn't notice, and there weren't any sounds of screaming or shattering glass. "This is going to get ugly, expensive too.." Charlotte took out a twenty, unclipped her ponytail, put it in her purse and handed it to Keith. She went to the attendant and bought ten throws. Baseballs started smashing through cups like an iceberg through the titanic, and five minutes later, she was holding a three foot teddy bear with a red bow around its neck. The "boys" stood speechless, until Colonel Hughes quipped, "Well yes, I guess I could have done that. If I'd thought of it." * * * The next day, things were more or less back to normal. A large number of guests were coming in for the street fair that weekend, so Lilly and Charlotte had to make up most of the rooms. As they went between each house, Charlotte was pleasantly surprised to feel the warm breeze of the day encircling her legs. She even caught herself skipping a few times. Lilly noticed this, raised an eyebrow and skipped with her to the next house. They were done by early afternoon, and had most of the rest of the day to themselves. Charlotte turned back into Charles. He thought it strange to hear Lilly fumbling around in the next room, as she usually wandered around the house, striking up conversations with whomever she could find. There was a knock on the bathroom door, and Lilly called out, "Hey Charlie, could you come in here for a second?" He opened the door and saw someone he didn't immediately recognize. Lilly was wearing regular street clothes, a loose white t-shirt and cargo pants. Her face had a strange grey tone, like she had five o'clock shadow, and it looked like she had some sort of fake sideburns. Her hair was held back in a loose ponytail, the front messy and swept over to the side. Her breasts didn't show at all. She looked like a pretty, rail-thin boy. "So what do you think?" "Why are you dressed like that?" "I was just thinking, maybe you could put on some of your old clothes, and we could get out of the district and do some boy stuff. I was also kind of hoping that we could avoid telling anyone about it?" It didn't take long for Charles to slip into his old clothes. They snuck out the side door and started down the street, headed for the regular part of town. "Do you think Lyle is a good name? I was thinking I might rather be called Leon, if that's okay with you?" "Sure. But why did you want to try this anyway?" "It's just that I saw you were having a lot of fun being a girl, and I thought it's a shame boys don't get that experience. Then I thought I've never really had the experience of being a boy, and maybe I was missing out on a lot of things too. I had a lot of fun at the carnival, so I thought I'd try it again, a little more seriously this time. I was going to sneak out by myself, but you were up in the room. I hope you don't mind. " "No, not at all. I'm a little surprised, but I'm happy to help." "Do you think I look like a guy?" "A really skinny one, yes. Just don't go around starting any fights." "Do guys do that?" "Only the jerks. And not so much after Junior high." "Have you ever been in any fights?" Leon, tried to pretend punch Charles in the shoulder. It came out too hard. "Oww! Not so hard." "Oh my god, I'm sorry." "Look, guys punch each other. But only the jerks do it hard like that." "How do the good ones do it?" "Here, like this..." Charles nudged Leon on the shoulder. "Oh, that's more like a really quick hug." "Exactly. Only jerk wads try to make it hurt." "Sorry, about being a jerk wad." "That's okay. You're learning." "Anything else I should be doing?" Charles thought about it. "Try spreading your legs out a little when you walk. If guys walk with their legs together, it hurts their balls." "Like this? I feel like I'm running to the bathroom." "Yeah that's about right." "So, I guess I hadn't thought this through very far. What should we do now?" "I dunno." "What do guys do?" "Whatever... Play games I guess, talk about cars, watch movies, throw rocks at things... Whatever." "Throw rocks at things?" "I was just kidding." "No, it's like that baseball game at the carnival. Let's go throw rocks at things." They walked to the other side of the lake where they found some glass bottles down by the water. Leon set them up on a log and they took turns throwing rocks at them. Charles shattered all but one. He started missing intentionally so Leon could have a chance of hitting it. "You throw like a girl." "Yeah well, I didn't think this would be so hard." "Just relax. Put your whole body into it, and try to throw through the bottle, not at it." Leon still managed to miss three more times. But his forth throw grazed the bottle and knocked it off the log. "Good job." "Thanks. Boy stuff is weird." "Do you like it?" "I guess so. It's different anyway. I still don't think I know much about it." "Just keep throwing rocks at stuff. You'll get the hang of it." "Do boys do anything else?" "There's always sports, and if we were a little older there's shaving and beer. That and video games." "There's a bowling alley down the way with an arcade, want to go?" Leon was a little better at video games. They stayed at the bowling alley for forty-five minutes playing an old Teenage-Mutant-Ninja Turtles game, before Leon looked at the clock and decided it was time to go. They hadn't quite made it to the end boss, and they resolved to come back and try it again. Leon punched Charles in the arm. "Oww! I thought I told you to do that gently." "Oh, come on it didn't hurt that much. Here, punch me in the arm you big baby," Leon turned his shoulder to Charles who smacked him. They both smiled, clutched their arms, and left. When they got to their rooms, back at home, and they were putting on their frilly girlie dresses, white stockings, and makeup, they paused for a moment to compare the bruises on their arms, then covered it up with makeup and went downstairs. * * * Friday evening, Charles wandered in after running some errands in town. The house was quiet, and he wasn't sure where everyone was, but he found them all out in back, on the gazebo, drinking lemonade. They hadn't seen him, and he found himself eavesdropping on their conversation. "You know what would be really funny? We should get Charles to do it." "Come on, they might find him out. And then we'd all be in trouble." "How are they going to do that? I mean unless they check in his underwear, which they're not going to do. I swear Georgia, sometimes you worry too much." Charles stepped in, "You should get me to do what?" The girls all started giggling, except for Lilly; Ms. Hughes coughed on her lemonade. "Oh nothing Charlie, we were all just joking," Kate said. "Joking about me?" He said red faced. "A little, but mostly we were laughing at Ma'dam Bowman. See every summer she runs a little beauty pageant, and we thought it would be hilarious if a boy won it. On account that she hates men." Ms. Hughes spoke up, "But I don't see the point, because we could never tell her that Charlie, Charlotte, is a boy." "What could she do about it?" "Well, nothing to you girls. But I could get in a lot of trouble." "Alright, fine let's just forget about the pageant then." Kate raised her hand, "But I still want to be in it. I don't care if I win. Do you want to do it with me Charlie?" "When is it?" Ms. Hughes jumped in again. "It's Sunday Charlie. It's a lot of fun if you want to do it, but let's not tick off my Boss shall we?" "What would I have to do?" "Stand around and look pretty. Answer some questions about Galeton history. That sort of thing." "I don't know anything about Galeton history." "They're all easy questions. There's even a cheat sheet. It takes about twenty minutes to memorize. It's probably the only time you'll ever get the opportunity to be in a beauty pageant. Plus you get a thousand dollars if you win. Three hundred for second." "Really? How many people enter it?" "It depends. Sometimes tourists enter. That's why there's the history questions. The judges like it when local girls win. There's also a talent contest. Do you have any talents?" "None that I can think of..." Lilly raised her hand. "You can throw rocks and baseballs at things, really well." Georgia raised her hand. "I'd love to see her win with that." "Come on, I'm not that good." "You seem pretty good to me. See that'd be hilarious right there. A girl winning a beauty pageant with rock throwing." "That would be pretty funny," Charles started cracking up. "See, now you have to do it. But if you do, we'd need a certain amount of shock factor." "What do you mean?" "You can't look like a tomboy at all. You need to look as girlie girl as possible. It'll make it funnier." "I'm not sure I'm up for that." "Oh come on. Even you think it's funny. Plus you'd get to wear a super fancy dress." "What dress?" "I could make one tomorrow," Ms. Hughes raised her hand. "You can make a fancy dress in a day?" Georgia asked. Ms. Hughes looked at her sideways. "Yes... I can sew. Besides I know a few tricks. We'll have to get her hair done, and her nails." "What about Kate, doesn't she need a dress?" Charles asked. "Don't worry. I've got one. It's a big puffy pink one, I haven't had a chance to wear it. And also, unless anyone has any objection, I can take care of Charlotte's makeup." "Fine, you're better at it anyway," Georgia said, but seemed disappointed. That evening Ms. Hughes measured Charles for Charlotte's new dress. She had several adjustable dress dummies and went through each one until she could get his shape just right. After that, they hardly saw anything of her, but they could hear the sounds of an electric sewing machine coming from her office whenever they passed by. (Hand stitching was preferred, and the Judges would take note of the dress. However, Justine Hughes was a master of sewing trickery. She'd double over the seams, so the machine's stitches wouldn't show, and then do a few choice parts by hand. She also had a sewing machine that 'faked' hand stitching quite well. No one in town was aware that she had it, or that such a thing even existed.) (Light pastel colors were too usual for the pageant. There would be dozens of yellow dresses, and even more pink ones. A deeper color was sure to get noticed, but green would make Charlotte look like a leprechaun, and red would make her look like a slut. Instead she went with the translucent blue fabric she'd bought when she went to Whitebell. She'd intended to use it for herself, but she couldn't resist, and the color would work better on someone more youthful anyway.) Kate and Charlotte walked to the town hall to register. Thankfully, when Charlotte said she forgot her id, they let Kate vouch for her. Kate borrowed Ms. Hughes car and they drove over to the next town, where Kate's sister worked at a salon. Charles's hair was a light sandy brown color, and the salon tinted it into a dark reddish blond for Charlotte. They added hair extensions and curled it neatly so that two great blonde trusses fell from either side of her head without hanging in front of her face. The salon glued false nails to her hands. But kept them short, trying to relay on shape rather than size so as to not interfere with her 'talent'. Kate insisted on keeping Charlotte's makeup clean and simple. She knew that any strong colors would clash with the blue of the dress. So they went with muted pink tones. Of course, the competition wasn't until tomorrow, so they sold the girls the products they needed, and because Kate's sister worked there, they sold them at cost. During the makeover, Kate quizzed Charlotte from her cheat sheet on Galeton history. The next day, when the outfit was complete, Charlotte looked remarkably like an elegant version of Alice in Wonderland. Kate's dress, which she had described as puffy pink, turned out to be a dark pink, almost mauve gown. It was distinctly Victorian, with bustles up the back of the skirt. She wore dark makeup that matched her dark brown hair. The competition was a strange mix of tourists and local girls. It wasn't how Charlotte had imagined it at all. She felt poked and prodded and generally uncomfortable. She felt like Charles, a skinny little awkward boy standing in front of everyone in a dress. And she probably wouldn't have even gotten to the second round if it hadn't been for her getting the history questions right. Ms. Hughes and the girls were watching from the audience. And despite their comforting smiles, Charlotte could see a strained look of pain behind their eyes whenever she messed up. Kate was doing much better. She seemed unfazed by the pressure, like she enjoyed it. Not only did she always say the right thing, but she said it in the right way. Once the time came for the talent competition, the idea of throwing rocks just seemed stupid, and clumsy, and something a boy would do. So Charlotte snuck out the back door, and sat in back of the town hall next to an apple cart. The pageant was used to this sort of thing and her name wasn't called. No one seemed to notice. She overheard the winner's ceremony. Kate got second runner up; the mayor's daughter first runner up; and a Japanese tourist (who happened to be a piano virtuoso) took first. The winners exited through the back and were making their way around to a horse drawn carriage in the front. Charlotte watched unseen from behind the apple cart when something unexpected happened. Two dark figures crept out of an alcove and surrounded the girls on either side. One man, messed with the door, so it wouldn't open. Apparently Ma'dam Bowman was crazy, because she'd awarded the winners as soon as they were announced and she awarded them in cash. The men grabbed the envelopes and started going through the girl's things. It was like Charlotte was watching the whole thing on television. The men started tearing at Kate's dress, not to get at her, it didn't look like, but to see if she had anything valuable. An apple exploded against one of the men's heads. Then another and another. He turned to see where they were coming from just in time for another to strike him right in the eyes. The other man grabbed the prize envelopes. Charlotte remembered she still had the rocks she was going to throw in the competition, and one nailed the man in the back of the head, knocking him out. The other man saw this and left the envelopes and the girls alone. He pulled his shirt up over his head and ran for the lake. He jumped in and started swimming away. A minute later, a police cruiser showed up. A very modern looking cop put one of the men in handcuffs, and they could see the red and blue lights of another cruiser waiting for the other man as he came up on shore. Charlotte was shy about talking to the policeman. She wasn't sure if she should tell them "his" real name, and she was worried that throwing the rock would get her into trouble. When the man did ask her name, she told them "Charlie," as that could go either way. When the other girls told the policeman about the barrage of apples, he laughed and congratulated Charlie on her handwork. Interestingly enough, he also used a little flip camcorder to record statements from each of the girls. Kate was more angry then traumatized about the incident, but she came by Charlotte's room after nights out to ask if she could sleep there. They grabbed some cushions off of a nearby couch and Kate slept on the floor. Originally Posted on Fictionmania (Review it if you like it. It makes me happy.) [email protected]