The costume party was mainly a dance party with a costume contest, in which boys and girls usually came with friends, in groups usually of the same sex. Rarely did any of the teens come with dates.
Tanya told Angelo that there would be a disc jockey by the name of Malcolm McKinley, one of the senior students. He was pretty well known around town as a DJ and he had an extensive collection of music ranging from EDM to sweet jazz to hip-hop.
"When the boys see you, looking like this, they are definitely gonna want to dance with you, Angela," she said, continuing to use his female name. "Don't let them make you feel like you have to dance with them. You can refuse, you know."
"No, I want to try to be friends. I think I wanna experience that. I actually hope you're right. I think I'm girl enough to pull it off, don't you?"
"Oh my yes. Even your voice is feminine enough that no one would ever suspect anything."
There were plenty of adult chaperones at the dance, and a strict admission policy was followed, to keep out trouble from other schools. Only students and their pre-registered guest were allowed to enter. Tanya had registered Angelo as "Angela Davies," a student from the Arts High School.
For the first half hour, as the kids began to fill the school gymnasium, only a handful ever tried to dance, in spite of much urging from DJ Malcolm, a chubby black boy with a sunny personality.
Tanya introduced Anglo to many of her girlfriends, all of who expressed astonishment at the marvelous costume. They all agreed that he really did look like the Disney Cinderella.
Tanya dressed up as Kim Kardashian, wearing butt padding that included a champagne glass on top of her butt just like Kim had on her's in her photo that "broke the Internet."
"Oh my God. Look who's here," Tanya exclaimed as she pointed to a group of kids gathered around the food table.
Angelo looked that way and immediately saw both Jason - the boy from his school, and his friend from the mall, Gary.
"The boys from the mall," Angelo said. "You know Jason goes to my school."
"Yes, I know that. And, Gary goes here. He's been pestering me, but I kept telling him I have a boyfriend."
"Let's go. I can't be seen here by Jason. He's the boyfriend of one of my friends. He sees me every day and tells me I remind him of a pretty girl he met in the mall. I'm afraid if he sees me again like this he'll figure it all out."
"No, Angela. We're not leaving. We've spent too much time making you into Cinderella. Besides, I think you've got the best costume here, and you might win."
Angelo nodded, and responded with a simple, "okay." As much as he wanted to, he knew it wouldn't be right to leave Tanya's party, since she had worked so hard on getting him here, looking this good.
Angelo got several dance invitations from boys, and they went off without incident. Angelo meekly accepted their request, usually with the boys being awkward and unable to think of anything more to say that they liked the costume and to ask
where he went to school.
Angelo replied shyly, not encouraging any further conversation. One of the dances was a slow ballad, encouraging his partner, a slender bespectacled boy, to try to hold him tightly. The boy's hand, he realized had wandered down to the small of his back. Angelo was saved by his wide dress that made it difficult for the boy to get too close.
"You're pretty and you dance good," the boy said as the dance ended. "Can I call you sometime?"
"My mom won't let me go out with boys yet," he said, shyly. He kept his voice soft, giving it a bit of a "little girl" character.
One of the boys had said he looked so "cute" when he gave the boy a shy expression. Angelo knew he was exuding feelings of vulnerability and defenselessness that would cause the boys to see him as nothing but a sweet feminine girl.
The boy, whose name was Kevin, took Angelo's hand in his and said, "Would you go with me to get some punch, Angela?"
Hesitantly accepting the boy's lead, Angelo followed him through the masses of costumed teens towards the punch bowl, his heart pounding in his chest.
It was unfortunate he did because it was at that moment that Jason, who was also near the punch bowl, noticed Angelo in his Cinderella costume.
Instinctively, Angelo nestled closer to the boy who held his hand, putting on the appearance that this slender boy might be his "boyfriend."
"Fancy meeting you here," Jason said, coming face-to-face with Angelo,
stopping the couple in their trek to the punch bowl.
Angelo quickly dropped his gaze, hoping he hadn't really been recognized as Angelo.
"Hi, Angela. Remember me? . . . Jason. We met last summer at the mall."
Angelo tried to keep his eyes lowered, projecting more shyness.
"Hi Jason," he said meekly, keeping his voice soft.
"Why didn't you call me? I felt sure you would."
"My mommy doesn't like me dating boys yet."
Jason looked over at Kevin and back at Angelo, with a look on his face that questioned what he appeared to be looking at, in contrast to that statement.
Kevin stood there silently, looking at the quiet game going on between Jason and the person he knew only as "Angela."
"Jason, this is my friend, Kevin. He goes to school here."
The two boys nodded to each other, but Jason continued to address Angelo, "I thought you were going to the Arts School; weren't you accepted?"
Angelo, instead of answering the question, moved closer to Kevin, and said, "Let's get some punch. Bye Jason."
Kevin took the hint and quickly moved, arm-in-arm with Angelo, away from Jason, who was left standing open-mouthed in the middle of the dance floor.
"I guess you don't like him," Kevin asked Angelo, as they waiting in line for punch.
"I hardly know him. He met me in the food court at the mall last summer, and seems to be after me."
Kevin smiled. "That's too bad. You're so pretty. And that's why he won't leave you alone. Maybe you'll let me call you, and I can meet your mom sometime. She might think I'm okay for you. Or, at least I would hope so."
"Oh I think you are, Kevin," Angelo said playfully, giving him a coy look.
Angelo and Kevin found a place to sit and finished their punch, just as Malcolm the DJ announced, "All female contestants for the costume contest gather at the front now."
Angelo continued to sit there. He knew Tanya had entered him in the contest, in the Female category, but now with Jason present, Angelo wasn't too keen on the idea of parading in front of everyone. The less Jason saw of him, the less likely be was to connect the dots.
"There you are, Angela," Tanya said, appearing suddenly. "Get up there."
"Do I have to? Jason's here."
Tanya persisted, finally grabbing Angelo by the hand and leading him to the contestant area. He squeezed Kevin's hand as he was being pulled away, and said, "I guess I have to go. Thank you. You were so nice."
Kevin held his hand firmly for a moment, saying, I'll find you, I wanna dance with you again, later."
By the time he lined up for his walk on stage, Angelo had regained the regal manner he had adopted in being Cinderella. He decided to own it, walking with his head held high, taking tiny steps and holding the lower part of his gown in one hand as he mounted the stairs to the stage.
There were fifteen girls, including himself, in the competition, wearing costumes that ranged from being a prairie peasant woman to a sexy female Captain America to Tanya's Kim Kardashian. Malcolm asked each contestant to introduce herself, say something about her costume and say her grade in school. Angelo merely said, "Angela Davies. Ninth Grade. I'm looking for Prince Charming."
After all were introduced, they were given huge numbers to hold in front of them. The audience was told to fill out ballots giving their first, second and third choices. Angelo was "Number 7," and he worried that the number would bring him luck and have him win.
He didn't want to win, since it would mean he'd have to be onstage even longer, giving Jason even more time to observe him and possibly figure out who he really was.
Before the votes were tallied and the winner announced, the guys were called forward and voted on.
Twenty minutes later, the results were in. Angelo stood by Tanya and Tanya's sometimes boyfriend, Joshua. Kevin joined them, taking Angelo's hand as he stepped up next to her from behind.
You got this," Kevin whispered in Angelo's ear, attempting to encourage the girl he was finding himself falling for.
Angelo smiled briefly, but remained silent, tense with concern that he might win, since many people other than just Kevin had praised his costume. One girl said, "You should win. You carry yourself with such elegance and daintiness, just like Cinderella."
Angelo was so worried about the results of the voting that he didn't even realize that Kevin was still holding his hand as they awaited the announcements.
The winners were announced beginning with third place.
Angelo was relieved when the third and second place awards went to a 1920's flapper girl and "Miss America," a very pretty, convincing boy from the male category, that Tanya had told Angelo earlier, was the star of the track team and played basketball.
Angelo exhaled. He tried to convince himself that both of these costumes were better than his and therefore, meant that he wouldn't win.
After sashes were placed over the shoulder of the third and second place winners, first place was announced.
"And the winner is . . . Cinderella, portrayed by Angela Davies, a guest from the Arts High School."
Angelo was mortified. Here he was, a boy, dressed as Cinderella and winning the contest while convincing everyone else that he was a girl. He stood there, frozen.
Tanya had to push him to get him moving, and he was greeted with large applause as he walked to take his place in the stage.
Even the girl dressed as the flapper, who finished third, whispered to him as he passed her to take his place, "You deserved to win, Angela."
Once he received his first place sash and photos were taken, Angelo thanked the flapper girl, as they exited the stage.
"How come I never see you at the Arts School?" Jason asked her as she stepped off the last step.
"Oh, I don't know," Angelo responded. For the moment, he was tongue-tied, not knowing how to answer Jason.
Luckily, he was saved from answering as Tanya, recognizing his situation, came to rescue him away.
Thanks to the win, Angelo was now the center of attention, particularly from other girls who wanted to know about his dress and hairdo. Kevin hung around but was only successful in getting one more dance with Angelo.
Kevin was an awkward boy, and he danced clumsily, but Angelo felt, well, comfortable with the boy.
Angelo also was happy that Kevin was a shy, somewhat naive, fifteen-year-old. He was happy that if he had to be with a boy it was someone like Kevin. Not only did this keep the other boys away, he feared that a boy who was more experienced with girls would be more likely to recognize that he was really a boy.
"I've never asked a girl out on a date," Kevin told Angelo haltingly after their dance. "Can I uh, . . . call you sometime?"
"I'm afraid not. You know what I said about my mom."
Angelo so enjoyed getting to be a girl now, and for a moment, he almost enjoyed being pursued by a boy. Regardless, he knew that this was the best night of his life, so far.
Angelo knew he still wasn't ready to start trying to deal with a relationship, especially not with a boy, and so he gave Kevin a fake phone number instead.
Kevin walked away, grinning from ear-to-ear, while Angelo stood there broken hearted that he had just had to do that to such a sweet boy.
*****
"Aren't you glad you went, Angela," Tanya asked as they were driven home by Tanya's mother.
"Oh I was worried, but I loved it. Your school is so nice, and the students are very friendly too, especially the boys."
"You should have seen her, Mom," Tanya said to her mother, Sharon. "Angela had to be the prettiest girl there. Everybody said so. And she won the costume contest too."
"Are you sure your foster mom will be pleased that you attended as a girl," the mother asked. "You are still supposed to be presenting as a boy, aren't you?"
"Oh, Mom. She's really a girl. You know that. Besides, she got some really good news from the foster care people. I'll tell you all about it when we get home."