Strangely, I didn’t really mind that I was a girl. So if you thought I was going to freak out about my lost masculinity and ‘oh my god, my manhood, it’s gooooone!’ or whatever, you’re sorely mistaken. 

That being said, there were a couple things I felt a bit disappointed by, though:

1. All the years of effort I’d put in on getting my body to look a certain way ended up pretty much completely useless in a matter of, what, ten minutes? Maybe?
2. How was I supposed to get a girlfriend now?
3. Actually, wait, did I even want a girlfriend, now?
4. Oh god did I like boys now?
5. Thinking about Steve... No, nonono. I definitely didn’t like boys. The entire idea of being with one... Gross... please no. I could understand how other people could be into it, but... ugh.
6. No, and in fact, I still kinda liked the idea of dating Emma. Her pulling me into a hug, brushing long, soft locks out of my face... leaning against her, being kissed by her...
7. Oh god why was I so warm and tingly. 
8. Back to the issue at hand... Was I actually completely okay with being a girl? Was that... okay? Was I allowed to just... be a girl, now? Why had this even happened, though?
9. ...Actually, why am I even still counting right now?

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. My body from the run here, and maybe from the sudden transformation too? But my... very hyperactive brain needed to calm down even more than my body did. I supposed that it was probably a given that I’d be freaking out at this, but... honestly, I was probably freaking out for very different reasons than most people would be.

‘Cause, like, where most people would be freaking out at their body being weird and wrong, I was actually totally cool with this, it was just... Well, was I just... Was I just a gay girl now? But if that was the case, why did I feel... exactly the same, though? Like, I don’t mean that I felt the same, ‘cause obviously, like, my skin was softer and less hairy and stuff, and things moved differently... Yeah, no. I mean like, my feelings were the same. Why did I feel exactly the same, err, mentally going from being a straight dude to a gay girl?

Like... okay, I’ll rephrase. I was pretty sure that the only... part of me that had changed was my body. My mind hadn’t changed a bit. In other words, I was pretty sure that you could have taken me at any point in time in the past few years — probably my whole life, actually — and then, if this change had happened at any of those points, I would’ve had exactly the same reaction. 

So it wasn’t just that, like, whatever happened had changed the nebulous... me, you know?

So did that mean that I’d always just... been a girl? Just... one in a dude’s body? Or something? I don’t know. Was that possible?

Actually... Honestly, that would probably explain why I’d always hated everything I’d been doing. Which would mean that...

Wow. I was an idiot.

Suddenly everything I’d done seemed so, so stupid. I’d basically been doing the exact opposite of what I needed. I needed to make myself more comfortable in my own body, but... Like, for instance, I’d gotten all muscular, which I’d hated. Of course. ‘Cause, duh, I preferred arms like this — I poked my squishier upper arm — all thin and smooth and feminine. And like, I’d gone all out on making my hair the picture of masculinity, buzzed and shaped all cleanly... when I really had just always wanted to have long, soft and fluffy hair like this. I idly played with the light brown locks, curling one around my finger and watching it spring back into place. A pleasant tingle purred in my stomach, and I felt my slightly-embarrassed smile turn into a cheeky grin.

God, so much was different now. Before I’d been so obsessed about having a girlfriend, like I had some bizarre need for it — in hindsight, that might’ve even been a little bit creepy, but, well, you did crazy things when you needed something bad. And, anyway, I was totally sure I wasn’t going to be doing that anymore... because I didn’t need it anymore.

Although... why had I needed it, so bad?

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait. Was the entire reason I was so obsessed with getting a girlfriend... was it just that I just wanted to like, osmosis some femininity into my life, or something? Experience being a girl vicariously?

Wow I was an idiot.

I really had been doing literally the exact opposite of what I needed to make myself happy! Getting a girlfriend probably would’ve only made me jealous! I rubbed my temples, breathing a large sigh as the cute girl that was now my reflection did the same. The cute girl that was me, now. Or, the cute girl I’d always been... inside?

What had even happened? Why was I a girl... uhh... in the flesh, now? Had a deity taken pity on me, or something? If they existed?

Because, like, I loved this new body. Everything felt right, like... it fit me like a glove. From my soft skin to that light brown, wavy hair I already loved playing with, to my big eyes and small nose... Because I was still in my ill-fitting, huge guy clothes, I couldn’t tell how curvy I was in the mirror, or how... uhh, well-endowed I was, but I was pretty sure based on how I was feeling that no matter what they were, I’d be happy with my measurements, too.

But, yeah, I was still wearing all my old clothes — only my body had changed. It really was too bad that whatever had changed me hadn’t changed those, too. But I supposed I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, huh? Hmm. What was I supposed to do now, though? Maybe the office would be able to lend me something.

I made a couple faces in the mirror — yeah, definitely cute — then turned around and walked out the way I came. “Thanks, Steve,” I said to the guy. He’d been really nice, actually, offering to stand guard...

“Oh, of course,” he smiled. Wow, what a charming smile. Good thing I was completely gay and it had literally zero effect. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded. “I think I will be.” For the first time in my life, I added internally as my own smile grew.

~ 

When I arrived at the office, I walked up to the counter and waited patiently for the older woman, Mrs. Barrows, to stop tip-tapping at her keyboard with her long nails. 

Finally, she looked up, furrowing her brow. “Shouldn’t you be in class, Miss...?”

“Williams,” I filled in my last name, nodding at her suggestion. “I’ll go back, but I don’t have any clothes that fit me.” Wow, my voice... seriously, it was great now, so high and cute...

She looked me up and down. “Is this a prank? How’d you end up wearing those clothes? Those pants look like they’d fall off of two of you.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “They fit me earlier.” Wait, should I have lied? Most people wouldn’t believe that something so crazy had happened to me, right? I began to wring my hands, nervous. I’d never been put in situations like this before, not without a plan! Suddenly becoming a girl wasn’t going to suddenly make me an expert at improvisation!

The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, you broke rule #13, didn’t you?”

“Uhhh,” I started. “Wh-what rule is that?”

“No getting into relationships with a member of the opposite sex,” she said, looking me up and down a little more closely.

“M-maybe,” I mumbled. “Wait, is that why this happened?”

“I’ve never seen the curse go so well!” Mrs. Barrows abruptly exclaimed, bouncing to her feet rather sprightly for the old lady she was. She rushed around the counter to join me, looking at me from all angles. “You ended up so cute!”

I felt my face get really warm. “Well... thank you.”

“You’re not... upset, though?” she asked, suddenly confused. “Usually people freak out after this.”

“Oh, no, I feel great,” I smiled bashfully. “I was kinda dumb and never realised that I was supposed to be a girl this whole time.”

The woman opened and closed her mouth a couple times. “Ohh... you’re a transgender?”

“What does that mean?” I asked. 

The lady shook her head. “I don’t really know the details, but some girls are born in boys’ bodies and vice versa? Something like that. If you get a chance, later, you should consider paying our LGBTQ+ club a visit, they can probably explain better,” she smiled.

Oh! Wait! I knew that club! Emma went there! She talked to me about stuff they did sometimes, but I’d been too distracted by her being hot to remember any of it. Yeah, I could totally go there. And now I had a good reason, I wouldn’t just be going because Emma was there!

I felt another blush rise to my cheeks at the thought of Emma seeing me like this. Wow, I sure was blushy now.

The woman grabbed a pen and a pad of post-it notes, quickly jotting something down. “Do you know where the drama class is, Miss Williams?”

I nodded. Yeah, that room was just past the gymnasium/auditorium, they had a door between their room and backstage for when they were doing plays. I remembered well, because I’d actually really liked the drama class back when I’d had to take it the year before. Except, of course, for anything to do with improvisation. That never went very well for me, as you might’ve expected.

“If you head there, give this note to Miss Match, she’ll be able to loan you some clothes for while you’re at school,” Mrs. Barrows smiled again, ripping off the note and holding it out.

I took it and smiled back. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Barrows!”

“Of course, hon. Oh, and let me know if you want to change your nickname in the school system later, okay? We can make it a girl one!”

“Will do!” I waved, heading back out into the hall.

A name... I needed to pick a name... that was an issue, I didn’t have any names that stood out to me. I knew ‘Warner’ probably wouldn’t be a very good name for a girl, though.

Hmm.

Wait, a curse?!

~

A few minutes later, I’d crossed nearly the entire school building and was standing at the door to the drama class. Taking a deep breath, and letting it out, I poked my head in. It seemed like the students were currently in groups, doing some kind of activity. Charades, or something? Heh, I remembered doing that. Back in the day... Was always better at the guessing role than the acting one.

My eyes finally landed on the teacher, Miss Match, and I quickly beelined to her, nervous of any students that were seeing me in my awkward getup.

“Oh, hello,” the young woman said. I held out my note, looking at my feet, and she took it and spent a minute reading it over.

“So you need some clothes, then, mm? Miss Williams?” She looked up at me with a mischievous glint in her eye.

I nodded, suddenly even more nervous. What did that look mean?

“Class!” Miss Match said. “We’re going to end the activity a little early today, because we’ve got something special to do instead.”

Oh lord, what was I in for now? I nervously looked around at all the students of the class — ohmygod was that Emma? I watched her eyes go back and forth between Miss Match and I... her interest plain as day.

But she was seeing me in these stupid old clothes! Her first impression of me, in my fixed body, was this embarrassing sight! Why couldn’t it have been after I’d gotten some new clothes and learned makeup and stuff? I’d have tried my best to look good for her...

“This young lady here could use a change of clothes. How would you all like to try your hand at costume design?”

Oh lord. I wasn’t going to pick some stuff to wear... I was going to model for them?!

But with a whirlwind of activity, my qualms with the situation were quickly brushed to the side. Miss Match opened up the door to the gymnasium, pulling a few large racks of clothes into the excited throng of students buzzing around.

“Do you want to wear a dress?” a girl asked me, holding out a sparkly blue, soft dress. “We have this really pretty one from Cinderella last year, and I think it’s about your size?”

“Umm, sure,” I blushed, and she left it in my arms.

“You could dress up all Victorian-era,” a boy suggested. “Look at all this stuff I found.”

“O-okay...” I mumbled, and got another couple dresses dumped in my arms.

A second girl came up to me, holding a big pile of black clothes. “There’s a bunch of stuff from a few years ago when the seniors did a play on Halloween that I found. You could look all goth!”

“Hehe, that sounds... fun,” I tried to smile, starting to get a little overwhelmed. For my effort I got that pile of black clothing dumped in my arms as well. Dang, I was weak now, I could barely hold this stuff. Where had all that time spent on bulking up gone? Now I was such a wimp!

(Okay, yeah, I was actually happy about that, but... well, shush.)

But then again... more outfits kept materialising in my arms, more and more... I-I was starting to feel faint.

“Woah, there,” a familiar voice said as I staggered backwards, landing gently in her arms.

I looked up at the girl I’d asked out earlier, already blushing profusely. “E-emma,” I squeaked.

“Oh, do I know you?” My friend blinked a couple times.

“I... uhhh...” I mumbled. Why was I so bad at talking, now? I used to be good at this kind of thing! It was like all the training I’d put into this stuff was totally useless! All those videos, all those training lessons on how to make girls fall in love with you... but instead I was the one getting all melty.

Emma had a big grin across her face as she saw how flustered I was, and that only made me even more flustered. Stooop. Oh my god. “Seems like if I don’t yet, I should,” she smirked.

Oh my god was she flirting with me as a girl?!

Why did... was... She was gay? 

Well... Okay, yeah, that made sense. She had to be going to that BLT+ club or whatever for a reason, right? And, like, it made sense for as to why she’d rejected me, earlier, too — in all honesty I probably should have already known she was gay. But, to be fair, I’d been really distracted previously. Like, at the fact that she was hot, yeah, but also with my whole “need to get a girlfriend” thing. And, well, even with as crazy as everything had become... I was pretty sure there hadn’t been a time before where I’d had so much... clarity, if that made sense? So maybe it was understandable that I was only just now connecting these dots.

And, anyway, regardless of whether I had clarity in my head, I definitely didn’t sound that way; currently I was only capable of vague sputtering and gibberish, and being in possession of very red cheeks.

“Miss Williams! What outfit are you going to start with?” Miss Match asked, suddenly coming up behind me. “You have so many choices, don’t you? I do hope you’ll show us... Well, all of them.”

“Umm... o-okay...” I mumbled back, too overwhelmed to argue. I doubt she even heard me anyway, though, because she suddenly rushed off towards some kids that were getting rowdy about a rack of cheerleader outfits.

“Williams?” Emma murmured, suddenly looking at me a little more closely, fingers reaching up to tap her cheek as she did. 

Oh no. Nonono. I blanched, quickly looking to my feet — I wasn’t ready for her to know it was me! Ahhh! Why did she have to be in this drama class!

“Warner?” she blinked.