Part 76

Gabicon!

Dad starting the car woke me up and the sunlight streaming into the room ensured 
that sleep would not be returning. I glanced at the clock, urgh, half seven! I 
decided to go for a ride before the day warmed up too much and I didn't think 
the neighbours would appreciate me starting on the lawn at this hour either. 
I was at least in a better mood this morning and I was quickly into a pleasant 
mile-eating mode. Perhaps it's the weather but even the motorists are being more 
considerate this morning! It was just before nine when I got home, plenty early 
enough to shower, breakfast and cut the grass - not necessarily in that order. 
"What are you up to today?" Jules enquired joining me at the breakfast bar. 
"Cutting the grass this morning then going over to Rhod's this afternoon" I told 
her 
"You're not in for tea then?" 
"Nah. I'm staying over at Mad's, we're leaving for this costume thing pretty 
early" 
"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten you were away this weekend" 
"That's what I wanted the boots for remember?" 
"So that's what you wanted them for. I did wonder" 
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. 
"You doing anything much?" I enquired 
"I think a bunch of us are going into Worksop. Can you change your bed clothes 
before you leave, I'll do a big wash tomorrow" 
"Yes mum" I mocked, then had to dodge Jules swipe. 
This developed rapidly into several minutes of my sister chasing me around the 
house to exact her 'revenge'. 
"I give up" I panted 
"Right get that bed stripped" she ordered. 


I was still working on the lawn when Jules left to meet here friends at eleven 
thirty; this grass cutting was taking a lot longer than I thought it would! 
Still the day was pleasantly warm and I was enjoying the smell of the new mown 
grass, it made the day seem really, I dunno, fresh. I eventually finished the 
green swathe and set to cleaning the Flymo up before putting it away. 
My delayed shower was all the better as I washed a combination of grass cuttings 
and sweat from my scalp. I decided that my legs could do with a quick seeing to 
but looking at the clock I was now running decidedly late, the legs would have 
to wait. I dressed in shorts and a t, grabbed my phone charger and rucksack and 
after locking up, left for the Peters place. 
On one level I was really looking forward to this weekend, three whole days 
away, with my 'girlfriend'. Then there was the down side - three days of 
dressing up in stupid costumes and worse, girl costumes! I mused about all this 
as I walked over and realised it didn't bother me as much as I thought. What 
bothered me more was stuff like yesterday, the reactions of that Danny kid and 
Jess? Why did one think I was a girl and the other not? I suppose those two 
girls might have sicced Danny on to me, a boy wearing pink girls skates. And I 
guess Jess saw the skates and saw what she wanted to see; the guys didn't help 
naming me Gaby to her. 
"Hello! Anyone in?" Mad's voice broke my daydreaming. 
"Oh hi Mad" 
"I came looking for you, you said twelve and it's gone one now" she mentioned 
"Sorry, the grass took longer than I thought" 
"Come on, let's get back to my place, Mum said she'd drop us off at Sylv's" 
"Okay" I hadn't noticed that we were still a couple of streets away from the 
Peters residence. 
Aunt C dropped us outside the salon, promising to pick us up about five. 
We went into Sylv's where the woman herself was at work on someone's hair. 
"Hi you two, the others are already in back, go on through" 
"Thanks" Mad answered 
I always feel a bit uncomfortable in the salon although I've been in there 
hundreds of times. We joined the rest of our gang in the lounge where there was 
an all out PS2 battle going down. 
"Hi guys, who's winning?" I greeted them 
"Well it's not me" Rhod bemoaned 
Despite the pleasant day outside, everyone seemed content to be inside. Ally 
went to help out in the salon after a while leaving us to Bernie's tender 
mercies. I'd just been trounced for the second time and was idly inspecting my 
legs when Sylv came through. 
"Anything interesting Drew?" 
My head snapped up. 
"Anything interesting on there kiddo?" Sylv enquired 
"Er no, I was just checking for spots" I coloured up as I admitted what I was 
doing. 
"Looks like they need doing" everyone I know knows I shave my legs for my 
cycling. 
"I didn't have time when I showered" I told her 
"You'll need to do them later Drew" Mad advised, "you can't have hairy legs this 
weekend" 
"What's this weekend?" Sylv asked 
"Me and Drew are going to Obicon with my parents" 
"What's Obicon?" Rhod's Mum pursued 
"A sort of costuming convention" I supplied 
"Yeah and Drew is gonna be wearing skirts all weekend" Mad went on oblivious to 
the shade of crimson my face was assuming. 
Sylv looked thoughtful for a moment. 
"Come with me young man" she instructed 
"Where?" I said automatically getting up. 
"The salon silly, come on" 
I shrugged and followed her out into the shop. 
"Let's do those legs for you," she stated motioning me into the small curtained 
area she used for privacy. 
"Well if I can borrow a razor" I started 
"Don't be daft, I've got a gap in appointments, I'll give you a wax. Now pop 
those shorts off and lie on the table" 
I remembered last time, I had fallen asleep! 
"Well okay I s'pose" 
I should have run screaming, instead being conscious this time I just screamed 
as each strip ripped the hair from my legs. I was in so much shock I didn't 
realise she was spreading the gunk up my arms too. After the first strip I 
didn't have much choice but to let her finish, I mean I'd look totally stupid 
with just one hairless strip on one arm wouldn't I? 
"There you go Drew, all nice and hairless" 
"Remind me never to volunteer for a wax job" I mentioned as I pulled my shorts 
back up my now smooth legs, I shuddered at the delicious feel. 
"What was all that screaming about?" Rhod asked when I returned to the PS 
slaughterhouse. 
"Your Mum decided to wax my legs for me" 
"Oh cool!" Mad exclaimed 
"And my arms" I advised 
"You let her do that?" Bernie queried 
"Let is a very relative term" I stated 
"Yeah, give Mum an inch and she takes a mile" Rhod agreed 
"Well I wouldn't want to agree for her to do anything" Mad mentioned 
Ally rejoined us, followed in short order by Sylv. We all trooped out into the 
back yard for tea, which was a salad that Rhod and Ally had prepared earlier, 
when did Rhod start with the food bit? What with my 'beauty' treatment, the 
afternoon had flown by and we had barely finished eating when Mrs P arrived. Mad 
and I bade our farewells and departed the tea party. 


"Drew? You know how you'll be dressing as a girl most of the weekend?" Mad 
started 
"Yes and whatever it is no!" I stated 
"You haven't heard yet" she pouted 
"Alright, what?" 
"Well would you mind pretending to be a girl as well?" she asked with that 
slightly pleading inflection. 
"I s'pose not" I allowed 
"Great!" Mad enthused, "erm I don't suppose you'd let me stick your breast forms 
on" 
"Aren't your boobs big enough" I tried to deflect where she was going with this. 

"Not on me silly, on you" 
"What about travelling there?" that'll catch her out 
"What about it?" 
"Well they are sort of obvious, especially on a boy. Like me" I suggested 
"Dur, you'll travel dressed of course!" she threw at me 
Of course I knew that was what she was hinting at all along. 
"Please Drew, it would be so much easier too if you're a 'girl' all weekend" she 
begged 
Annoyingly I could actually see her logic; it would be less embarrassing if I 
was a girl wearing these costumes, and it's not as though I hadn't done it 
before. 
"I said I wasn't doing that stuff again, remember?" 
"I know but please Drew, pretty please" she fluttered her eyelashes and looked 
coyly at me. 
"If I do it, it's positively the last time" I asserted 
"You'll do it?" 
"Okay I'll do it" I agreed 
"Brill!" she enthused, grabbing me in a bear hug. 
"Give over" 
"Sorry Drew" 
"If I'm doing it lets get it sorted" I suggested 


An hour later I was sat watching telly with my cousin, aunt and uncle wearing a 
denim miniskirt and a silky pink top with spaghetti straps, fashionably showing 
my bra straps. Deep joy! The unfamiliar feeling of the breast forms tugging at 
my chest disturbed me just enough to put me off the Blackadder repeat we were 
supposedly watching. So much for no more Gabrielle Peters! The elder Peters 
family members were totally unfazed when I joined them; I got the feeling they 
were expecting my appearance as Gaby. 


Next morning we drove down to Dunstable where the 'con' is taking place, I was 
feeling more 'Gaby' like and with everyone referring to me as Gaby I was pretty 
relaxed. Instead of going straight to the con we drove up to Whipsnade Park, the 
country retreat for London Zoo. I'm not a great fan of Zoo's but Whipsnade is a 
very open place, neither a full cage affair nor safari park, rather somewhere in 
between concentrating on breeding rare animals. Mad and I walked round arm in 
arm like girlfriends, well I guess that's what we are! We had lunch there then 
took a circuitous route, well I think we got a bit lost actually, to the hotel 
hosting the con and where we are staying. 
We registered for our rooms and I joined Mad in lumping our luggage up to the 
eighth floor! I had forgotten what we were supposed to wear by way of costumes 
today, I was not a happy bunny when I realised it was Sailor Moon day! Bum! 
It was nearly three when we joined the now costumed Peters seniors to go and 
register for the con itself. Mrs P was wearing a long diaphanous white frock and 
pointy ears, I thought she was supposed to be from Lord of the Rings. Mad's Dad 
made a pretty convincing LOTR wizard; the Peters never do anything by half 
measures! With Mad and I in our Sailor Moon outfits we joined the short queue 
for registration in the hotel reception area. 
        

      Maddy got the blue costume while I got yellowThe girls doing the 
      registration used a mini Polaroid camera to get a passport sized picture, 
      which they laminated onto our con id cards. All weekend my id would show 
      me wearing Mad's long wig and a 'cute' hair bow. Yeagh! Once inside it was 
      an eye opener for me as a con virgin. Mad had tried to explain the format 
      to me but to be honest I hadn't really been paying attention. 
      "Okay you two, meet your Dad and I here at six and we'll go for dinner" 
      Aunt C suggested 
      "Kewl!" Mad agreed, I was still bewildered looking around the main hall. 
      "Come on Gab" Mad pulled me along into the hall proper. 
      "Where're we going?" I asked 
      "Lets have a look round the stalls first" 
      I was surprised and a bit embarrassed the first time someone stopped us 
      for a picture. Mad gleefully posed and I imitated her position much to the 
      delight of the David Bailey wannabe. What worried me most was that lots of 
      people would have pictures of Gaby by the end of the weekend, if this was 
      anything to go by. 
      "Does that happen a lot?" I asked my girlfriend 
      "Oh yeah, loads, " she told me, "sometimes you get like loads of people 
      taking pictures and sometimes you get pulled into group shots as well." 
      "I wish you'd said before" 
      "I thought you realised, you've seen all the pictures on the net" Mad 
      temporised 
      "You mean they could get on the internet too?" 
      "Course, I'd be surprised if someone hasn't got pictures posted by next 
      weekend" she advised me. 
      "Just what I need" I sighed 
      "There are spot prizes as well, so smile a lot" she advised 

I was less than keen on this aspect of the weekend but it was a bit late to wimp 
out now. We strolled around the sales stands; you could get some really cool 
stuff and some pretty weird stuff too! Comics, posters and all that sort of show 
spin off stuff was on offer next to costume accessories, even full costumes. One 
guy had a little booth where he was taking professional portraits of costumers. 
I was amazed at the range of costumes, just about everyone, including the 
stallholders, was in costume. I recognised some, others were a little more 
obscure, and the one thing that marked all of them was the enthusiasm and effort 
behind them. And everywhere people were taking photos! 
"Hey, they've got Final Fantasy running in five minutes" Mad pointed out 
"I need the toilet first" I mentioned 
"Come on then, they're over here" Mad led the way to one of the most bizarre 
sights I've ever seen. 
We joined the queue (there is always a queue at any ladies lav!), where we 
waited with a variety of elves, super heroes and anime characters. One girl drew 
my attention, her hair was dyed bright orange and it was not a wig! I then 
recalled the picture of Mad with green hair from the last one of these things 
she attended. 
"Hey Mad, you remember when you dyed your hair green?" 
"Of course, that was so cool!" she enthused 
"Well how come it wasn't green afterwards, I mean Pinkie's hair is taking an age 
to grow out." 
"Dur! I only used a temporary dye of course. You comb it in then it shampoos 
out." 
"Right!" 
"You thought I really dyed it? Mum would have a fit!" 
"I guess," I admitted 
"Tell you what, we'll get some this weekend and you can try it" 
"I don't think so" 
"Come on we can just get the start of the film." 
Indeed we did get back to the film room just as they started the tape. I like 
that film, you are often not sure if it's real or animation, Mad gave me a prod 
when she saw my FF costume, it looked real nice on the screen, I'm not so sure 
about with me wearing it though! 
We got back to the entrance just before six to find Mad's parents waiting. 
"Enjoy yourselves?" Aunt Carol asked 
"Yeah, we've just been watching Final Fantasy" Mad told her 
"Come on then girls, lets go eat" Mr P suggested. 
We trooped through to the hotel restaurant where we joined several other 
conventioners who were already seated. I had almost gotten used to my brief 
costume but was reminded of it when the waiter seated us. We must have looked a 
strange sight, an elf, two Sailor girls and a wizard sat eating breadsticks. 
"So what do you think Gaby?" Mrs P asked over the main course 
"It's certainly different" I allowed 
"Tomorrow is a lot better, more people, more events and the competitions 
tomorrow night" Mr Peters mentioned 
"Great" I tried to sound more enthusiastic than I felt 
By the time we finished eating, the con had shut down for the night, me and Mad 
went back up to our room while the Peters senior joined a crowd of conventioners 
in the hotel bar. 
Back in our room, (two single beds!), we stripped off our Sailor Moon outfits 
and replaced them with shortie pyjamas. We spent the rest of the evening 
watching MTV and stuffing our faces with chocolate and crisps! Mad insisted on 
painting all my nails with a pale pink varnish 'ready for tomorrow night'. At 
least for most of Saturday I would be dressed a lot less showy; Mad on the other 
hand was going to be hard to miss! 
We finally collapsed into bed about midnight after a smoochie goodnight kiss. 
How odd can you get - here I am wearing girls pj's, with falsies sharing a room 
with my girlfriend who is more than happy to smooch me looking like this. 
Perhaps Mum's suggestion holds some water; perhaps Mad does fancy girls! I can 
live with that as long as I'm the girl. Hang on what am I saying? I glanced over 
to where Mad was softly snoring in the gloom of our room. How many boys my age 
get to share a room with their girlfriend? Precisely none. With that thought I 
dropped off. 
Maddy Bell 09.01.04  © 2004
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