Chapter 5: 5: Complex Classes and Confused Comrades

Waking up to being spooned was an altogether different feeling to waking up spooning someone. I immediately decided that it was better and regretted never experiencing it with a partner. I let a smile flicker to existence on my face for a few moments before the previous night’s events rushed back into my memory. Today was going to be a long, busy day. If it weren’t enough that I had to figure out whatever changes Mel’s spell had wrought on me this time, I needed to track said illusive witch down, deal with my new voice pitch, and take a test. It all sounded so exhausting that I tried to hide from it by curling deeper into my best friend’s embrace. Not only was that not possible due to how much bigger than her I was, but the movement seemed to be the last straw needed to pull her from the realm of the dead. Normally I would have taken this as a good thing, but with wakefulness came stretching, which meant I lost my Backpack of Problem Avoidance+2. As Rachael pulled away from me, I realized my back was practically soaked with sweat. I guess having someone clinging to you all night in the middle of a heat wave wasn’t the best idea. I steeled myself as I made my first real movements of the day and sat up. “Oh hell, your shirt is practically see through” Rachael giggled unhelpfully. “I found a shirt in my laundry yesterday that will never see its onerous owner again if you don’t want to stay in that wet wear. I think it's about your size” she continued, snickering.

I groaned at her antics “How in the fuck are you saying fancy words and using wordplay this early Rach. it should be illegal to wake up as energized as you do.” Peeling off my uncomfortable shirt, I hesitated. “That being said, I wouldn’t mind not having to wear this back home, so yes please. I would love to borrow douchebag McGee’s shirt to burn later.” she stepped past me and rummaged through a laundry basket. “Maybe I can convince Mel to use it to place a hex on him or something for being such a tool,” I mused.

“If you’re going to try using it against him, I’m gonna have to retract my offer. You are not allowed to hurt him or use our magical friend to enact any sort of revenge. How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not allowed to punish my exes? Bad Natt-” she snapped her mouth shut as she turned around with the shirt. Her mouth moved without any sounds for a few seconds as she stared at me. Or more specifically at my chest. Following her gaze I looked down. “You have tits!” she blurted out helpfully. The declaration passed through my head, making very little impression as I stared blankly at my chest. It wasn’t flat. It used to be flat. I slowly poked the small mound of my left breast as if it might bite. It did not in fact bite, or react in any way other than to shift beneath the pressure of my finger as most soft materials are liable to do. I looked back up in confusion at my friend, who looked as if she was about to pounce on me if she spotted even a hint of panic cross my features. After a momentary standoff, she hesitantly broke the silence, “You’re taking this a lot better than I would have thought.” As I continued staring at her, she waved her hand between us. “Or maybe you’re broken from the shock” she sighed as I gave no sign of response.

I slowly shook my head and started speaking haltingly. “I'm not…broken. My mind’s just going all over. I guess…I guess this means that it really is working? I mean…I knew it was doing something. But this is the first definite proof that it’s actually, um, feminizing me?”

“Really? That’s what your brain is focusing on? Nathan, your body has been changing for days. Even with your shirt on, I could tell your clothes were baggy yesterday and your skin has looked clearer and softer than it has since we were in middle school. This is definitely not the first proof Nathan.” Her use of my actual name made me flinch.

“Are…are you mad at me right now?” I asked, feeling heat rush to my face, as I shrunk back a little.

“What? Of course not! Why would you think that?” she threw my accusation back at me with obvious confusion.

“You haven’t used my actual name without being upset in years, Rach” I murmured as I hung my head. I felt her rush across the few feet between us in an instant and her arms were around me.

“I just thought, I thought it would help keep you from panicking. I’m sorry. I won’t do that if it’s too weird and you’d prefer otherwise. I promise I’m just worried about you” she soothed, constricting her arms around me comfortably. “I just want to help and let you have space to talk about what’s going on in that thick head of yours.“ I relaxed into her hold and considered her comment on my reaction, or lack thereof, to this latest realization. I spoke my musings aloud for her benefit.

“I suppose I'm not too panicked since these,” I emphasized the word by placing my hands over my breasts, “don't really change anything? The spell is still causing me to pass out. That's by far the most dangerous aspect of it since I can't determine where or when it's going to happen. I mean I guess I technically could but I think if I had enough brain power to prepare for it, I would have enough to just not say whatever stupid shit would trigger it?" At Rachael's smirk, I got back on topic. "Anyway, I need to track down Mel either way. Hopefully I can catch her before her first class but if not, we share ethics again today so I can talk to her there." As if summoned by the talk of class, Rachael's phone went off to alert her that she only had an hour until her 9AM. We both flinched at the sudden noise and she used the momentum to jump to her feet.

"Crap! I can't believe we both slept through my alarm half an hour ago! I'm totally gonna be late at this rate! And I guess you're right that this doesn't change anything! I can pester you for more details later." She started bouncing around the room tossing things about as she tried to put together an outfit for the day. I snagged her ex's shirt from where she had dropped it during our conversation and slipped it over my head. A sound of disgust escaped my lips as I felt how abrasive the material was. Luckily, the basket it was pulled from must have been clean since it smelled like my friend’s normal flowery detergent. I heard a gasp of realization, followed by a giggle from over my left shoulder. "I didn't even consider that! Stay still momentarily" my friend commanded as she came into view. Suddenly I felt her hands assault my chest and I whimpered as a jolt of electricity ran through my body. I shoved Rachael's hands away and instinctively covered my chest. Before I could say anything, she cackled gleefully and all but sang "you're gonna need a bra!"

"Wh-what?! No-no, that's not necessary!" My stuttered protest was ignored as she once again was digging through drawers. "What if someone sees? And they're not big enough to need support! Why did you even do that? How'd you know I would be" I hesitated, whispering the last word "sensitive…" I noticed the strange feeling of tightness in my gut I last felt when Mel had cast the spell coiling up in my gut again.

A bra sailed towards my face and I deftly caught it out of the air without thinking as another landed next to me in a pile of clothes I hadn't noticed previously. "Put that and this on and you'll understand" she replied as a shirt landed in my lap. At my silence, she paused and looked over her shoulder, seeing the apprehension all over my face as I stared at the bra in my hand. She softened her voice, asking "just trust me, please? You hissed as you put on that shirt due to guy clothes not being very soft usually and if you don’t want your nipples chafing against fabric all day, you’ll want that old bra of mine. I even chose one that’s skin coloured so nobody should be able to see it. If you’re just embarrassed of what I might think, I can leave the room. I'll give you a few minutes alone as I go brush my teeth and wash my face. Nobody will have to know whether you even tried them on if you don’t agree with my assessment. Hell, you can even try only the shirt if you'd like too. It's the largest women's shirt I have and it should fit you, though I wouldn't be surprised if it's a little short.” With that, she grabbed the pile of clothes and her shower caddy and was on the other side of the door before I finally broke my staring contest with the bra.

As my mind warred with itself over why this didn't fit my 'clothes are just clothes' logic, I looked around the room. Rachael had never been one to have the tidiest living space, but this was chaotic even for her. The dresser across from me had 2 drawers open, clothes practically overflowing from them. In front of them, there was a veritable sea of clothes in small overlapping piles. I had never fully understood how she could sort through all her clothes but she always managed to wear a cute outfit, so she managed somehow. Her desk on the other side of the door was cluttered with papers. Most of them were filled with designs, but there were a handful with text on them. The walls were relatively bare, but she had put a few old posters she had brought from home adorning them.

My brain had finally made up its mind that the biggest reason not to try on the clothes was a deep seated fear of what others would think. As there was indeed nobody in the room with me, I sighed and resolved to get this over with. They were just clothes after all, I wasn’t going to have something life altering happen just by trying them on. Luckily, the bra I had been given was a sports bra so I could simply slide it over my head into place. It was a bit tight, but I supposed there was no avoiding that with how much larger than Rachael I was. Had it been a week earlier, I was sure the thing wouldn’t have even gotten past my shoulders, but I really had gotten quite a bit slimmer. I followed the bra with the shirt, which as predicted, felt a lot more comfortable. It clung to me more than I liked my clothing to, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I awkwardly sat there for a moment before shifting around experimentally. I found myself enjoying the sensation more than I thought I would. There was no expected discomfort and the constriction around my chest was mildly comforting, though I could see it fading into the background of my mind easily. There was also some corner of my mind that was enjoying wearing girl clothes. I shoved that part back into the recesses it came from; I had no wish to deal with what were likely depraved thoughts today with how much I already had going on. Standing up, I realized my pants were going to be a problem. My belt was already the tightest I could make it and yet I had to hold my pants to keep them from falling onto my hips. I sighed as I realized I’d have to find my slip-belt when I got home. There was no way in hell I would be able to fit any of my clothes at this rate. I'd have to go shopping, and I didn't have any idea what I would do. I had already been on the lower end of the waist racks. If my belts weren't handling me any more, was I going to have to shop for women's pants? Or maybe children's pants? I didn't know which one would get me more ridicule. I guess I could just give in to always having my pants hanging onto my hips, letting my boxers show. Not a great look, but that’s what oversized shirts were for I guess. That somehow sounded even worse though.

I collapsed back onto the bed, realizing I was going down the panic rabbithole again. Taking several breaths, I tried to clear my mind. It was going to be ok. I was going to talk to Mel today. She would fix this. This would all just be a…what? A strange, dreamlike memory? That didn't seem right. This felt so much bigger than that. Maybe a new beginning? The start of an exploration of magic sounded amazing, but something told me Mel wouldn't be too keen on that possibility. That would be an entertaining chall- "wow those shorts really do manage to look even worse than awful when paired with something decent." I nearly jumped out of my skin as Rachael interrupted my thoughts. As if oblivious to her sneak attack, she continued "oooh what I wouldn't do to get you into a properly cute outfit and record Mel's reaction to what she's done to you. A little makeup and I bet she wouldn't even recog-"

I cut her off as I felt my face heat up at the idea of leaning into this even more "Rachael stop! This isn’t some huge joke for you to use for a laugh! I mean hell I’ve been holding back panic whenever I think about it too much!" She flinched at my tone and I winced, feeling guilty. "Besides wouldn't that be kinda fucked up tricking her like that? Making her think I’m someone I’m not and then revealing it’s a joke. Wouldn’t that just be a form of manipulation," I continued quietly. The idea of lying to her like that made me feel really uncomfortable for some reason. I guess interfering with my friends' love lives was a boundary for me or something. Knowing that made me feel like maybe there was some hope of me not being an awful person after all.

"Oh right. Of course. Sorry, I just got," Rachael shrunk in on herself as she apologized, pausing as she looked for the right words, "carried away I guess." I stood back up and gave her a quick hug, reassuring her I wasn't mad at her, just on edge. Of course I forgot to grab my pants and as we pulled apart they fell a few inches, revealing my stomach, causing my friend to giggle so hard she snorted. I couldn't help but chuckle along in embarrassment at the sheer absurdity of this entire situation. "Ok, I'm sorry but I have one more thing for you; seems sorta needed" She said as she regained her composure. "I grabbed some jeans from Sarah since she's around your height. I didn't tell her any specifics, just mentioned you were a friend and spilled soda on your pants." She pulled a pair of black jeans from the pile of clothes she had piled on her shower caddy. "You don't have to try them on, but I figured more options couldn't hurt." She thrust them into my hands and continued "That being said, love ya, but please get outta here so I'm not late. Don't you have to get to class too, now that I think about it?" I tried not to think about the jeans as I realized she was absolutely right. Before I could think about it, I turned my back on her and changed into them, thanked her and started for the door. "Backpack, you squirrel" she reminded me before I could escape. “And I guess asking for high waisted jeans was a good idea. Those are adorable” Cursing my memory internally while I thanked her again, I ran out the room and sprinted across campus back home as quickly as one can while saddled with a backpack.

I dropped my bag in a bush next to my first class's building on the way, hoping no overzealous groundskeeper saw it in the next half hour.  Arriving home a few minutes later, I quickly brushed my teeth and hoped that some deodorant would be good enough to mask the scent of my sweat from the night. Pausing in my room, I agonized for more minutes than I could afford over whether or not I'd try to change. Eventually I decided to simply swap the shirt for the softest shirt of my own I could find. It wasn't quite as soft, but it didn't distract me either. Importantly, it also was long enough not to show off any of my stomach. While changing, I tried my best to ignore the fact that the jeans fit my newfound curves so comfortably they felt better than my shorts had despite the added heat. With that done, I sprinted back to campus, grabbed my bag from its hiding place, and managed to arrive for my test out of breath a whole two minutes early.

It wasn’t until an hour and a half later when I was heading to lunch that I realized I had forgotten to check if Mel was around this morning, so I sent her a quick message, hoping it might get a response where yesterday’s hadn’t. I headed to the cafeteria, hoping to grab some food before ethics. I saw Kyle and the guys as I walked and was about to call out to them when I remembered my voice had changed. Instead, I ducked down a convenient set of stairs to take the long way. As I went, I grabbed my headphones and turned some music on so that if anyone saw me, I could claim I was zoned out as opposed to purposefully ignoring them. I managed to get through lunch without any problems and headed to class a bit early, sending yet another text to my favorite witch in hopes that we might meet up while waiting for class to start.

The entire class passed with no sign of her. It also completely passed through my brain without sticking as my hand scribbled notes on autopilot. I cycled through possibilities, descending into panic until I was startled out of my spiral by Garth pulling me out with a firm shake of my shoulder. “Class has been over for like 5 minutes and you’ve just been sitting there scribbling like a madman” he said carefully when I looked up at him. “Seriously dude, you doing alright? You seemed a little off the other day, but this is a whole ‘nother level.” I looked past him and saw we were the only ones left in the room. The concern in his voice was making me feel uncomfortable; we had fun and joked around but I didn’t think he cared about me past that.

I sighed some of the tension out of my body as best I could and quietly spoke down at my feet. “I’m just going through some stuff. I was hoping to talk to Mel about something that happened at home the other day, but I haven’t seen her since Friday and I’m kinda freaking out.” I glanced up at him and saw confusion all over his face until it was replaced with an emotion I didn’t recognize.

“Oh. Well. I know we don’t normally talk or anything, but I hope you know I’m always here for anything you need to talk about. You’re a cool d-” he cleared his throat. “Person I think of as a friend, not just someone to shoot the shit with ya know?”

I gave him a half smile “I appreciate it, really. And I might take you up on that at some point. Sadly this specific thing is uh,” I tried to think of a polite way to say ‘secret’. “Something I can’t talk about?” I felt a bit guilty as I saw disappointment flicker across his face momentarily. It was gone by the time he nodded and held out his hand to help me get up. I knocked my notebook back into my backpack and grabbed the offered appendage, sliding out of the desk, and following my large friend out the room.

“Oh right. Dante, Garth and I were thinking of playing some more basketball if you’d like to join? I know you and Kyle have classes in the hour, but you’re usually better about having your homework done.” He stated hopefully. And correctly. It finally hit me that he was probably confused due to my voice and after agreeing to come, I slowly tried to work it back down to its normal pitch as he gave me the highlights of the class we were just in. I felt a little silly needing the immediate recap, but it really was an interesting class and we could talk about it without the awkwardness of our previous conversation. Win-win as far as I was concerned.

By the end of the hour, I had worked up a decent sweat, and more importantly, was sporting a rare ear to ear grin. I wasn’t sure if the others were simply off their game or going easy on me due to my mood, but I had practically run circles around them. There were many laughs to be had about broken ankles and most were meant as compliments for me instead of jokes about me for once. I would never admit it, but I might be enjoying the changes to my speed from this spell a bit too much. I found myself easily pivoting around my friends after the first few minutes of awkward movement. Even my shots felt a little more accurate once I got the hang of putting an extra iota of power behind them. I hadn’t felt so loose and relaxed in years.

You are reading story Yeetus Deletus at novel35.com

My last class of the day flew by on a high, which promptly crashed when I got home to find Melissa still missing. I even tried opening her door to check if she was simply not answering with no luck. When I checked with Amanda, she mentioned that they had briefly chatted the night before which at least allayed my fears that my friend had been murdered in the woods or something equally dramatic. Still didn't explain why she wasn't answering me, but some news was better than none. I ended my conversation with Amanda fairly quickly as she started to act the same way Richard after I accidentally let my voice go back to its new normal pitch. The same uncomfortable look that I could only describe as expectant? As if she was waiting for me to tell her something, but I kept avoiding it? I shrugged it off as an odd coincidence and decided to reward myself for getting through such a complicated day with an evening of gaming.

I rolled out of bed the next morning in a fugue state, finding myself cursing past me for signing up for a dreaded 8 AM class, which everyone knew should be illegal. I let myself run on autopilot through my usual morning routine. A quick shower and as I brushed my teeth, I spotted my razor on the edge of the sink. I couldn't remember the last day I had used it, which meant it was probably time to give myself a quick trim. With a sigh, I started to wipe the steam from the mirror, not looking forward to the arduous task of staring at my face as I attempted to avoid cutting it too poorly. Except the image that appeared on the cleared side of my towel made no sense. I rubbed my eyes and strained my brain to finish the job of waking up. Nope, still the same image of an androgynous brunette without a hint of facial hair. My mind snapped into focus and I peered at the reflection. Had I really changed so much in the past few days? Now that I was paying attention, I could recognize all the features of my face in the mirror, but most were softer. My eyes still held the same shape and yet seemed more expressive somehow. Maybe it had to do with my noticeable eyelashes that Jacob had pointed out what felt like ages ago. The stress lines I had developed in the past couple years of college had disappeared. My eyebrows looked as if I had just gotten them plucked. My hair had mysteriously grown a few inches in the past few days, putting it a little past my shoulder. Watching a smile grow on my face was yet another experience. It was so similar and yet the way it stretched my face was simultaneously novel. I had to admit it was almost cute. I shook my head and left the bathroom, feeling my confusion of the past few days grow even more. I couldn’t be mad at not having to shave at the very least though. Maybe I could convince Mel to let that part stay? I stopped in my tracks. If my face wasn’t creating hair, then…I scampered into my room and started inspecting my arms. The ever present layer of dark dark hair was practically non-existent. Checking my legs, I found the hair thinner but still present. I felt a strange sense of disappointment, which I promptly ignored. Shaking my head again, I finished getting ready for my day, trying to clear my swirling thoughts. I found myself wearing a very similar outfit to yesterday, with only my shirt and underwear changing. I didn't love the repeat but I didn't have many other options.

I tried my best to pay attention during class. You’d think with how much more awake I was, my first class would have been easier to sit through, but the professor must have had a rough night because she was pretty obviously phoning it in. Jacob seemed impressed by the fact that he didn’t need to nudge me awake a single time. As we were getting ready to leave, he asked if I needed anybody to talk to which added even more complexity to my mood. I brushed him off and went off to the library to hide for the hour until my next class rather than grabbing food. I set an alarm on my phone and tried to sort through my thoughts in hopes that I might avoid being a grouch all day. It was obvious that this entire spell was throwing me off but I couldn’t figure out why. I kept thinking it was due to something obvious like not wanting to be feminized but I had to admit I did enjoy some of the effects. The flexibility was an amazing perk, if for no other reason than being able to reach scratch spots on my back that were usually painful to even attempt to reach. Getting to skip over my least favorite grooming step was also awesome. Now that I was paying attention, my face felt so smooth all the time now even without a razor getting involved. Pretty much all of my skin felt that way too. Finding myself cute was a really strange experience. Was that normal for other people? I mean obviously straight people probably never felt that way about themselves, but what about gay folks? Maybe I could ask one of my friends while we were drunk or something so I could pass it off as a joke if it was too weird. Was it narcissistic to think you were becoming cute? Or was that — My alarm went off, surprising me out of my thoughts. I double checked the time in shock that so much time had passed, but even the library clock confirmed that I had only 5 minutes to get to my next class. As I made my way there, I couldn’t help but feel bone-tired. My body had plenty of energy, but I could feel the hamster that ran my brain panting with exhaustion at the energy that was required to traverse my emotions.

Half an hour into my next class, I realized what a huge mistake I had made skipping my meal. Firstly, I had totally spaced that I had a test today. Secondly, our teacher had decided using food in half the questions would be a fantastic idea. He even included detailed descriptions of meals, which made me develop the conspiracy theory that my teacher was torturing the class for being during the ideal lunch time. Finally, since I had back to back classes today, unless I managed to finish early, there was no chance I'd have enough time to grab lunch until 6 hours into my day.

By the time I was midway through my test, I could hear my stomach growling and I found myself writing pithy comments on the margins of the pages about how hungry I was. I knew it wasn't a good use of my limited time, but I found doodling while I worked through a problem mentally helped my thought process. Usually I would never do such a thing on a test, but the part of my brain that usually stopped me was too busy thinking about the tacos the latest question had mentioned. 

"10 minutes," a TA called out, making me accidentally create a scar across the eye of the burger I was drawing. I giggled as I realized I might have to claim it had been made from a former moo-sketeer. Someone coughed next to me and a blush bloomed across my face. The warning finally registered in my brain and I flipped to the next question, entering panic mode. As my brain parsed through it, I realized I was on the last page of the test. Even better, the only question on the page turned out to be one of the silly bonus questions the teacher sometimes added to see if students were paying attention during his lectures. I wracked my brain, trying to remember the arguably useless information which was the name of his pet dog. The hungry part of my brain started chanting taco very helpfully. I was about to shrug and write something basic down when I realized it wasn't just the hungry part saying taco, but also the correct part of my brain. I wrote down the silly name and rushed to the front of the room to drop off my test. No time for double checking, I needed food! "Don't forget your name hun" the TA pointed out with a hint of a smile. Luna, my brain filled in as I scribbled my name at the top of each page. "Oh! Were those cute little doodles why you kept smiling during the test?" She asked as I finished.

"I was smiling? You were watching me? I mean I guess? Maybe?" I rattled out, flustered and confused by the compliment.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say watching you," she started with a faint blush. "But I didn’t recognize you so I had to keep an eye on you until I found out your name.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper “Now that I know what it was, I’ve gotta say you really surprised me with how quickly you got cute. Especially with that blush of yours,” she finished with a wink. I froze for a moment. And then promptly bolted out of the room, just barely avoiding another student making their way to the front. I burst out the building a few moments later and made a beeline for the cafeteria. 

I used wolfing down a full meal as an excuse to talk to nobody and think as few thoughts as possible. Didn’t stop me from wondering what the hell had just happened though. Was she hitting on me? Who hits on a guy with words like cute? And why was my heart beating so much faster than normal? I added these questions to my mental list of shit to consider when I had time. I chugged a glass of water and then promptly made my way out to my next class. I felt a strange sort of pride at just how quickly I had managed to eat, even though I knew I was going to regret doing so within the hour most likely. I was proven partially correct a few minutes later when I began hiccupping after sitting down. It was about that time that I also realized I had abandoned my backpack when I escaped from Luna. Both classes were luckily in the same building so I scurried between the two rooms, hoping I wouldn’t be met by a specific TA’s wolfish smile. Traveling through the halls while hiccupping up a storm was sure to be an entertaining scene for those that passed me. I could swear I even caught one or two smiles as I rushed past. I snuck into the room, seeing that it was empty save for my bag and I rushed in, grabbed my target and made my escape. Or at least I was in the midst of it when an opening door very rudely interrupted me, causing me to trip over myself to avoid it. I landed on the floor with an eep. “Oh hell! I am so sorry!” a familiar voice exclaimed. As I looked up to see Luna standing above me, I felt my heart contract again. “Oh, it’s you! Sorry for scaring you earlier, it was outta line to tease you like that.” She held her hand out to help me up. I stared between her face and her hand for a few moments. My eyes were drawn to a little blue crescent moon she had drawn with makeup under one eye, followed by getting pulled down to a cute pink sun bracelet on the arm she was holding out to me. "You alright? I really hope I didn't hit you too hard…" She trailed off.

“I-it’s ok” I stuttered as I finally took the offered hand. “You’re cute; fine bracelet by the way. You hit didn't me. I need to go to my next class. Thanks for the hand!” And with that, I bolted again. As I got back to my class, only a few minutes late, I realized my hiccups had stopped at least. So that was something at least. Machine learning was usually a class that kept my attention very well due to an enthusiastic professor combined with my general interest in the topic. Today though, every time I began to get a grasp on what she was saying, my brain cut in with another topic. I tried my best to push the thoughts away but my list of things to deal with was so large it couldn’t properly fit in the corner I usually stored it. For whatever reason, the look Luna gave me as she helped me up kept coming back to the forefront of my mind. She had looked so…vulnerable? Almost as if she were the one knocked on her ass instead of me. I tried to work backwards through emotions that I had felt that might make me look at someone that way. The closest thing I could come up with was knowing exactly what someone was going through? But that seemed so out of place for the situation of simply helping someone up. I tried to focus on what she said. She had apologized for teasing me. So maybe it was because she had been in the position of being teased and running away for it? Seemed like uniquely me brand of stupid but I couldn't think of anything else it could be. I could try asking next time I saw her since hopefully things would be back to normal by then. That thought hit a sour note in my head for some reason. Normal meant going back to shaving every couple days for a clean face. That must be why the idea wasn't as exciting as it should be.

My thoughts continued to circle like that for the rest of my class and by the end I was absolutely exhausted. I made my way home and decided to lay down for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into a few hours and I woke up to knocking on my door. I grumbled out a “come in,” before realizing that my shirt had come off at some point, leaving me in just a bra and pants. Pants that were pretty obviously identifiable as women’s given the pairing. I watched as the door opened in bullet time and grabbed the closest thing I could think of as I bolted up to a seated position.

“Hey so we were- How the hell are you cuddling a stuffed shark in this heat?” Richard interrupted whatever he was going to say with a look of astonishment.

“Cuz I can transfer my heat to it instead of myself?”

He paused with a tilt of his head before responding, “I’ll admit that I didn’t do great in physics, but I don’t think that’s how that works? Whatever. I was going to ask if you’d be down to come out and take part in a house discussion? Minus Mel since nobody’s managed to get a hold of her.”

“Oh sure, just give me a minute to put on a shirt?” He just stood there, waiting for me to do so. “I’ll be out in a minute?” I tried, hoping he’d take the hint. He still didn’t move. Sighing, I added, “Can you close the door and I will join y’all in a minute,” which finally got him to leave with an awkward apology. I flopped back on my bed, hugging my shark for support. I wasn’t really sure what we needed a house meeting about, but it was bound to be stressful as most conflict resolution was. After a moment of laying there and having my brain finish rebooting, I sent an arm questing out for my missing shirt. I tossed it on and made my way to the living room, where the other three were waiting. “Alright so what’s this hoedown all about?” I tried using the silliest term I could come up with on short notice to lighten the palpable weight in the room. It didn’t seem to help much, since I was met with everyone simply trading glances at my words.

“So uh. We were actually kind of worried about you?” Jacob started hesitantly, “You’ve been really skittish recently and you’re obviously going through some uh” he looked at the others for confirmation, “changes.”

“Which is totally fine of course. We just wanted you to know that you didn’t have to hide anything from us.” Amanda cut in as Jacob trailed off. “And you seem really stressed so we figured having this come to a head instead of trying to talk to you on our own would be better?”

I felt my panic raise as they continued. This felt like an ambush. Or an intervention or something. And considering the only thing that I’d been dealing with was this spell, it felt completely out of my control. Richard cut in at this point, “we also wanted to apologize for provoking you so much over the weekend. It had been Mel’s idea as part of whatever punishment she had set up for you. With how off you’ve been acting the past few days though it just seems cruel though.” His confession set something off in me and while I tried to hold it back, it was the last straw and I felt everything that had built up crack through the dam I had created. It almost felt as if I was shaking. Or maybe I was actually shaking.

I interrupted before they could continue their awkward round robin. “Are you fucking kidding me? This is what the so-called house meeting is? Y'all throwing some sort of half baked intervention out of some misguided notion that you're somehow helping me? It’s bad enough that Mel decided to cast some spell on me and has since ghosted me. Now you’re telling me all of you have been assholes to me on purpose just so that it would get a rise out of me? Of course I’ve been stressed! All my friends have been either actively contriving reasons to upset me or acting generally weird towards me. I’ve had to deal with enough weird shit happening to manipulate me physically and now I find out my so-called friends have been emotionally manipulating me too? No wonder I’m skittish! Everyone I would normally talk to has essentially been betraying me!” Some of the rage I had done so well holding back for years poured out into my tirade.

“I’m sorry, she cast a spell on you? And you believed her?” Jacob cut in with an incredulous laugh. “You’re freaking out because you’re a gullible idiot? That’s kinda hilarious, I’m not gonna lie.” he looked at the other two but was met with dark looks.

I clenched my fist but resisted the urge to punch him. Barely. “It’s not bullshit, you piece of shit excuse for a friend. My entire body has changed. For fucks sake I’ve been wearing a bra for the past two days because I have honest to god tits.” I lifted my shirt to emphasize my point, even turning to the side to show that I wasn’t flat. I didn’t even know when that had happened, but I definitely had at least A cups at this point. Everyone now wore a dumbfounded face as they stared at me. “Given y’alls fucking reactions the past couple days, you’ve obviously been able to hear the change in my voice too. You think I’ve been what, pretending this whole fucking time? And what, you think ambushing me and demanding I talk things out will fix things? How are such smart people such absolute fuckwits when it comes to common sense?”

They all looked pretty guilty, especially Jacob. I couldn’t muster a single ounce of sympathy for them though. Richard was the one that spoke into my pause first, “fuck.” We all let the word just sit in the air for a few moments before he added “that’s kinda really fucked. No wonder she’s been hiding from everyone, you must be so pissed. I mean now that I know, I’m pissed at her too.”

“Is um, is that how you got shorter?” At my blank stare, Amanda continued “I mean I thought I was just imagining it last time we talked, but you used to be taller than me and now you’re a little shorter.” Now that she mentioned it, she had a point. I hadn’t noticed the change at all, but looking at the three, it hit me. I had always been shorter than Richard, but now he was almost a full head taller than me. Amanda was right about her now being the taller of the two of us. Where before, my eyes had met her forehead when level, now I found my eyes drawn to the tip of her nose. I was still a few inches taller than Jacob, but could no longer look over his head with ease.

“Hey we’re gonna undo what that bitch did to you!” Jacob exclaimed as I was noticing the new way he fit into my eyesight. I flinched at his words. “She can’t be out here turning dudes into chicks. It's totally fucked up! That seems like it should be, like, illegal in the magic world or whatever! And if she did this to you we should make sure she undoes it!” I flinched again as the others joined in his badmouthing. As they got revved up on my behalf, I found myself getting even angrier. they were completely missing my anger at them and only focusing on what Mel had done. On top of that, I could feel extra anger building, but this time on Mel’s behalf. Sure, I was still mad at her for making me pass out and suggesting my friends manipulate me. But I had to admit that I had deserved some sort of punishment. Hell I…I couldn’t say I hated all the changes that came from the spell. Most of my anger was about how my friends had been treating me. It felt like they had been actively poking at my weak spots recently. Even at her worst, it felt like Mel would usually go for surface level insults that we could laugh about after some verbal sparring. The few jabs I could remember her actually upsetting me with were related to Rachael or harsh truths about my family. More often than not, she would simply make me uncomfortable with comments about my body. With how her spell was changing me, I felt like I could see even those sliding off of me if she were to make them right now. What the hell did that say about me? Did I actually like — I felt the world begin to close in on me again and began to feel trapped; claustrophobic even. There was too much happening at once. Too much happening inside my head and the increasing noise my housemates were generating was making it even worse. As I had found myself doing so often over the past couple days, I found myself sprinting for the door.

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