Chapter 9

The group was stuffed with good food and tired after a full day, leaving Gabe some precious time to himself. Or at least peace and quiet on the twenty-ish minute trek back to the hotel. The girl who was obviously trying to make an effort to be friends, something that was not going to happen, was sleeping like she didn’t have a care in the world. Her little jean jacket had been taken off, exposing the spaghetti straps of her dress and the pale skin of her petite shoulders before she turned the jacket around to use it as a blanket. Becky was slumped in her seat, head lulled to the side with a bit of drool coming down the side of her mouth. Her being asleep was the base case scenario after her crude jokes about a blow job, but one thing did bother him. The hem of her not so long dress had ridden up and he didn’t dare touch her to correct it, nor did he want to risk waking her up and having any type of conversation resume.

At night looking out the window with small flecks of rain splashing on the glass the world seemed so peaceful. It was the kind of night he would love to be out on the town, sitting in a bar with a pretty gal on his side, or sides. Instead he had to play a part like he was an actor in a play. Horrible as it was, it seemed very much like that, his controlling sister the director and if he missed his lines too many times or broke character at the wrong moment his life as he knew it would end. So he endured cool air from the bus on his shaven legs, the pain that throbbed through his calf muscles and feet from the heels.

He called them… thought of them as come fuck me heels when he saw woman wearing them and while this nightmare wasn’t bad enough to bring something like that about, it did seem to encourage behavior he was not fond of to say the least. ‘Why did she…’ His thought drifted off as he started thinking of Maria and what she was making him do, wear, say. The issue with how he started the thought is that it started an avalanche of how many people he was interacting with he could be about to think about, not for the first time. ‘Maldita conspiración’ He mentally declared it a fucking conspiracy.

Back at the hotel, walking barefoot with the stupid heels in hand Gabriel followed his sister to get ready for bed. Maria **** him into the bathroom with her to get some semi-privacy from the students in the room she was sharing with them. “Okay, hija, let’s get you into something for the night.” The offered garment might have been the girlish thing she had him wear yet. Not the most feminine, just the most girlish. It was a pink two piece garment that looked like it could be a runners jogging suit. Baby doll pink with white piping. “This? Really?”

“Gabriella, I didn’t know you were going to want to act like a trollop, so I got you something to hide.” Maria emphasized the word hide. “If I knew the kind of girl you were I would have got something different.” The comment only made him groan.

“Maria…” The hard look he got kept him from saying what was on his mind. “You want me to call you Mama, don’t you?”

The older woman pointed to the door and whispered. “The doors are not so thick.”

Taking the offered clothes he looked them over closely. They were not something he would want to wear, but considering what his sister was saying, messing with him about some of the not so great events of the night he had to be thankful. “If you are going to stay, can you help?” He asked, putting his back to his sister so she could unzip the dress and help him with the stupid gloves. The things had been a pain the entire night, making holding just about anything a bit of a challenge. to change into this horribly pink set of pajamas before the rest of the kids could change. It was so humiliating.

He considered getting fully naked to make her regret some of her actions, but he wasn’t immune to shame, the act of being nude in front of his sister not being one he could handle with the mental load he was already dealing with. So with both stuffed bra and panties still in place he put the outfit on. The entire thing felt like being hugged by something soft, feeling nice on his skin. The pants were loose and just baggy enough to not show anything, while the jacket-like top was big enough that unless he pulled the sleeves up, his hands would stay hidden.

He couldn’t look at himself, or so he thought before he felt his sister's hand on his shoulders before she turned him so he could. In the mirror he saw something that looked more like a child, it was like another gut punch to his ego, it was disgusting. Other than walking from the bus into the hotel it was the first time in roughly twelve hours that he was able to walk around without one type of heel. Making the absurd garment the closest thing to being happy since the night before.

The fluffy pink socks on his feet felt so comfortable, that wasn’t a comparison to the heels, just something he could acknowledge on his own. Gabe just wished they weren’t barbie doll pink, but still his feet were happy. “You think this is okay, don’t you?” He asked Maria, looking at her reflection in the mirror, annoyed by her self satisfied smile.

Leaning in closer, Maria put one hand on either shoulder once more. “Depends, who am I talking to? My lovely little girl that I love and have missed, or my arrogant twerp of a brother?

The question itself was a trap, tired as he was he could see through that. Any answer would come with a slight in one form or another, or so he thought. “Doesn't matter, I’m ready for bed. Which of the beds is mine?” His back ached, along with his legs from the tortuous things Maira made him wear.

It felt so odd that female clothing was so soft and light and yet they had extra pieces that seemed made to be a pain. His sister and fake mother insisted he still wear the stuffed bra because she couldn’t let others see her endowed daughter now had a chest as flat as a boys. It would be like she was a middle schooler instead of a pretty girl in highschool. Gabe mostly agreed, not wanting to give anyone a reason to look closer, but still all the fluffy pink made him feel like some sort of sissy.

Maria gave her sibling a sincere smile, he was the type to get cold easily and was sure the practicality of the pajamas she got him would prove to be comfortable throughout the night. “That can be answered when Sam and I talk to the rest of the students. I’m just going to say, you better be on your best behavior. I don’t have a choice other than to trust you right now. Understand?”

“Not really, but…” It wasn’t lost on him that she was including him in the word students. He also thought she might be wanting another one of those I will be a good girl replies, but he wasn’t going to sink back down there. Gabe figured he had done more than enough of that. “Sure, I get it.” He almost replied in his normal less feminine voice, but didn’t push it.

Not long from then, Gabe found out exactly where he would be staying. “Ok, class! Seniors will go in this room, the rest of the boys will be in my room and the girls will go with Miss DeLeon. Don’t make a ruckus.” Mr Banks shouted as he rounded up the younger boys to head over to his hotel room.

As Maria attempted to gather the girls, Gabe moved to slip in with them. The idea of being included with the girls not appealing, only for Maria to stop him. “Oh, no, little miss turns 18 in the spring, you’re going with the Seniors”

“By myself? In this? You can’t!” The Senior group was not only made up of two boys and two girls, but one of those two girls had been making his life miserable this whole trip.

“I’m not having you sleep in here, we’re already packed. You were supposed to sleep in that room anyway, to chaperone the Seniors for us. So you’ll just have to make do. Now be a good girl, don’t make a fuss, and play well with the others. You’ll only cause more problems if you try to stick by yourself. Just don’t make up any more sob stories about the Cartels or I’ll call the real ones to fuck you up after we’re all done. Now you have fun with your peers, I trust you and love you, hija.”

With that, Maria ushered her girls into the room and Gabe was left alone in the hall with the only room he was allowed in still ajar. Memories of telling his bossy sister that she wasn’t his mother grinding into his soul. With little other choice he sucked in his pride and wandered in, closing the door behind him. Like the room he stayed in the night before there were only two beds of course, and the boys and girls had already taken opposite sides.

“Oh, high Gabby! We’re just setting up. Do you wanna sleep in the middle or do you need the edge in case you gotta go in the night?” The other girl in the group, Jennifer, the red head, seemed a lot more welcoming. While Sarah was grumpily trying to avoid eye contact. Maria had really taken her down a peg back at the white house, as she hadn’t bothered Gabe since that incident. Still he made a mental note to be extra critical of her work once he was back in his place at the head of his class room.

Rubbing the back of his thin neck, Gabe looked at the beds and considered his options. Sleeping in the bed with the girls was an absolute no-no, since he was still an adult man under this get-up. The issue with that was because of this get-up there was no way he could sleep in the same bed as the boys. Even if all these kids were eighteen or would be in a few months, they were still kids in Gabe’s eyes.

Hesitantly grabbing one of the pillows and a spare blanket in the closet he made a spot for himself by the radiator. “Cómo se dice… sleep here.” The pink wearing man said trying to play up the outsider theme of being Gabby.

Sarah scoffed, “Of course she doesn’t wanna be with us.” Only for Jennifer to push her onto the bed, before picking up one of the pillows and dropping it on her friend. The pair then giggled, Sarah not bothering to push the pillow away causing her laugh to be muffled.

Turning her attention back to the hispanic girl Jennifer leaned on Sarah as if she was a piece of furniture, though the blonde struggled to free herself. “We were just trying to figure out what to do to pass the time before we get sleepy.”

Escaping out from under the redhead’s weight, Sarah tucked a few stray hairs behind her ears. She gave Jennifer a mock glare before adding to the conversation. “Yeah, the boys over there…” She waved her hand at the two male teens, Gabe recalled were named Bryan and Jake, on the other bed. “...wanna play Spin the Bottle, while we wanna play Truth or Dare. What do you want?”

Gabe didn’t want to play anything with them, the day was exhausting and yet he was still wide awake due to all the anxiety. Being caught was a big one, despite it being the original plan for him to stay in this room, doing it while pretending to be a teen girl compounded the anxiety he was feeling. A proper game would be the card game ring of fire like he played in college, but the lack of **** made it a non-suggestion, even if he had the slightest inkling to spend time with his supposed peers.

When the cute new girl didn’t speak up Bryan snapped his fingers, having an idea. “What about a compromise? Kiss or Dare. We spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on gives us a dare. We have to either do it, or kiss them.”

Jennifer scoffed at this. “Oh come on! You two will just take ‘kiss’ every time!”

Sarah was quick to interject when her friend protested. “Not if the bottle lands on one of them.” This caused a devilish grin to grow on both girl’s faces. Sarah thinking how funny that would be and Jennifer scheming to make it happy, both now on board with Bryan’s idea. The girl who had made a point of talking bad about Gabe, or specifically Gabby, seemed to be acting dramatically nicer as she focused on the new girl. “C’mon Gab~bee, join us.” The blonde girl said in an overly cutesy voice.

Gabe was not going to be joining their little kids game, it could have been something fun when he was their age or at frat party. No matter what the kids saw when they looked at him, he was not one of them. Kissing one of his students even just the possibility of it was not something he wanted any part of. His intentions or at least the surface level of giving them a no seemed to be read on his face, because only a heartbeat later Bryan started to chant his new feminine nickname. “Gabby! Gabby!”

The second iteration of the name had all four of the students joining in, they weren’t really his peers so peer pressure sure wasn’t going to work, but they were doing a bang up job of annoying him. The more they chanted the louder they got, that is until the sound of the door opening pulled all of their attention as Maria came into the room.

“Kids.” Maria said, one hand resting on her hip as she looked at each of the five people in the room. “Please keep it down. I know this can be exciting, far away from home with no adults in the room, but you have to remember there are other people here too, y’know.”

“Sorry Miss DeLeon, we were just trying to get your daughter to play a game with us.” Jennifer said, the first to and smooth things over with their teacher.

Maria turned her full focus to her disguised brother who was sitting on a blanket in the corner. “