As she led them into the living room, Kenny was met with the sight of a bunch
of pretty teenaged girls engaged in a flurry of feminine activity, doing their hair,
painting each others’ nails, and speaking a mile a minute. A few of them gave
Kenny suspicious looks, but the majority of them were happy to finally have a
“gay best friend” in their midst, and immediately began asking him for his
opinion on various outfits and hairstyles. Kenny, of course, had very little
knowledge of fashion, but he gave his honest opinions and the girls seemed to
be paying good attention to it. Before long, he found himself having his nails
painted a glittery pink shade, reasoning that he could take it off later, while he
listened in on the latest gossip and high school who’s who. The girls were
growing increasingly giggly, and Kenny was hoping for some sort of
underwear-clad pillow-fight, when Stephanie teasingly held up a dress to him.
“Ooh, have you ever thought about doing drag?” she demanded. “You have
great bone structure and you’re so skinny, I bet you’d make a really hot girl!”
“No, I’ve never had that particular urge,” Kenny said delicately, blushing
slightly at the backhanded compliment. Just because he was fake-gay didn’t
make him a fake-cross-dresser, too!
“You’ve never worn girls’ clothes before?” Brenda asked, looking skeptical.
“But I thought gay guys loved dressing up!”
Remembering Principal Buckley’s warning that he was to maintain the
appearance of his being gay at all times, Kenny gritted his teeth. He came up
with the one memory that applied to this situation. “Well, there was this one
Halloween,” he admitted. “My costume got lost so my mom made me wear my
sister’s leftover from last year and go as a Disney princess.”
“Ooh, what princess?” the girls chorused. Kenny’s blush deepened.
“Um, the Little Mermaid,” he admitted. The girls burst into howls of laughter.
“Oh my god, I bet you were adorable!” Stephanie squealed. “Are there
pictures?”
“No way!” Kenny said. “I didn’t let her anywhere near the camera.”
“I bet you were scared your friends would tease you,” Brenda said
thoughtfully. “But now that you’re out of the closet, you don’t have to worry
about that kind of thing anymore! After all, our school is really diverse and
tolerant this year... At least, that’s what all the posters say... And now you have
us as your friends!”
“Hooray,” Kenny said weakly.
“Sooo...” Stephanie said, grinning as she trailed off.
“Sooo?” Kenny echoed, questioningly.