“Look here,” Debi said, “this is just your style.”

She held a teal tanktop in front of me and was clearly judging how I’d look in it. I couldn’t actually see, as she was standing in between me and the mirror. I would have asked her how it was my “style”, when I didn’t even know what my style was supposed to be. Considering how much pink I now owned, I would have assumed that as my style.

Then again, all the clothes I owned were once Debi’s, so maybe she did know more about what my style was than I would.

Either way, I took the tanktop as it was handed to me and was about to swap shirts before I realized that Debi probably didn’t want to look at me topless. “I’ll go change in the bathroom,” I said, nervously.

“You don’t have to. It’s not like I’m not used to seeing the female body, after all.”

I shook my head. “It’s more for me than for you,” I semi-lied. Granted, I was still a little self-conscious about exposing myself in any way. Still, for all I knew, she would be jealous about my figure, or something. I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but it was a thing I maybe knew.

I changed quickly, then looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked… About the same. A little more tummy showing, but other than that, pretty much the same. I still looked like a girl in her late teens who should be either waiting tables or dancing on poles. I honestly didn’t know which of those prospects sounded most demeaning.

Lucky me, I was about to find out. “You look cute!” Debi squealed. “My boss’ll love seeing you in that outfit.”

I blinked twice. “Your boss?”

“I managed to get you an interview today, that way you have something to take your mind off of everything.”

“People looking at me in a skimpy waitress outfit is supposed to take my mind off my situation?”

She shrugged. “Okay, when you put it like that, it sounds worse, but c’mon, have an open mind about this!”

I rubbed at my arm. “I dunno. I mean… Shouldn’t I be looking for a job I’m qualified for? Or going to school?”

“You’re a Norse Goddess, name one job you’re actually qualified for?”

“Electrician?”

“I could see that. I really, really could.”

I stuck out my tongue, for whatever reason. “Kiss my ass, I’m just… I don’t wanna be demeaning, but being a waitress feels demeaning, if you get my drift.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Right, demeaning.”

I carefully tried to backstep. “I mean… I’m… I didn’t mean that about you…”

She giggled, then patted me on the head. “I’m kidding, Nora, jeez. Don’t be such a blonde. Besides, I’m a waitress and in college, so it’s not impossible to hold down a sub-minimum wage job and get a proper education.”

I wasn’t sure how I could not be more of a blonde than I was, but I think she meant the Earth stereotype about blondes being idiots rather than just the fact that my hair was blonde in color. Either way, I really did need to learn when people were merely joking. I had never been good at that. I’d never been good at much of anything aside from helping out with house building, really. Maybe that was why waitressing and school both scared the crap out of me.

I sat down on the bed. “Do you think I could ever be… Like you?” I asked.

“In what way?”

“Well, you got to the point that you liked being this way.”

“I had a boyfriend to help. And I realized my life wasn’t too different. Sure, people only remembered Debi when I had only been her for like a day, but I grew into this. And, I had that boyfriend to help.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want a boyfriend.”

“Not yet, you don’t. Give it time.”

“What if I never want a boyfriend?”

“Well, lesbianism creeps me out, but I don’t see why you couldn’t enjoy it.”

I really didn’t want to think about romantic prospects before I got all this fixed. The very idea of dating just wasn’t in my plans. Of course, I had very few actual plans and was mostly winging this whole thing. Hopefully, I’d stay on track and Dad would let Lucas change me back.

I needed to stay positive about that.

“Hey, Earth to Nora, you still here?” Debi asked.

I snapped back to the current situation. “Uh, yeah. Okay, so I’ll give the whole waitressing thing a try, since it’s probably my only real choice at this moment.”

She smirked. “Good. And then we’ll just need to get you enrolled in some courses at school.”

“How are we gonna do that when technically I never existed before yesterday?”

She shrugged. “If all else fails, your brother can warp reality.”

I rolled my eyes. “If this was supposed to be that simple, he could have done that from the start and I’d never remember being anything other than what I am now, but I get the feeling Dad made him take that off the table.”

She shrugged. “Well, it was a thought.” She grabbed her purse off her dresser and slung it over her shoulder. “We just need to find you the perfect shoes, and then we can go.”

I looked down at my sandal-encased feet. “Why do I need different shoes?”

“If I tell you my boss is a little…”

“You’re gonna tell me he wants to interview me in heels, aren’t you?”

“He’s really old-fashioned, but he keeps it on the down low, if you get what I mean. He’s not like totally sexist, but he just likes certain things when it comes to the girls he hires.”

“Is this really because of him or are you just taking advantage of the situation to make me play dress up?”

She smiled. “If I say yes to both, will you understand?”

I sighed. “If you weren’t one of my only two friends, I’d never agree to this. But nothing too high!”

* * *

“Nora Cooper?” asked the manager of the coffee shop Debi worked at. He was a pretty big guy, at least half of it muscle, though I saw a beer belly on him that even a blind man would notice. He sat down in his chair across his desk from me. “Debi recommended you, said you went to school together?”

I nodded. It was the backstory we’d agreed to. “Yeah, after that, I moved away, then moved back and I really kinda need a job.” I put on a weak smile. Not on purpose, it was the only kind of smile I could actually make when I was lying through my teeth.

He rubbed at his chin. “Well, have you ever been a barista before?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t actually held down a job, yet.”

“Nineteen year old girl who’s never had a job?”

I chuckled nervously. “I… Yeah…”

He coughed out a laugh. “Not the first one I’ve seen, not the last. You start tomorrow, Debi will be training you. It’s not a tough job, you just need to be able to be on your feet for six hours at a time.” He looked at me, standing there in those heels that Debi made me wear. “And because of our customer base, our girls’ posture needs to be, well… I think you get what I mean.”

Oh, I got exactly what he meant, and it was annoying. “I do, sir.”

He made a Stop motion with his hands. “No sirs, sweetie, you can just call me Arnold, like everybody else does.” He stuck his hand out for a handshake. “Welcome to the Coffee Grinder family, Nora!”

I actually felt a surge of excitement as I shook his hand, a real smile on my face this time.

I left Arnold’s office and found Debi standing there waiting for me, a smile about as wide as I figure mine had been just a few seconds ago. The look on her face told me that the look on my face probably said I’d gotten the job, which I also assume that she knew would happen anyway.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“A little weird having to stand up the whole time, but otherwise just fine.” I rubbed at one leg. “Is this what standing in heels for so long feels like?”

“Hey, just be happy Arnold doesn’t make you wear them on your shift.” She put her arm around my waist and pulled me along with her. “Now, it’s time for one of the most important parts of the female experience.”

I felt my eye twitch. “Why am I worried?”

“Makeovers!”

“I don’t need a makeover!”

“That is the wrong attitude, young lady, this is our first girl’s day out and we’re gonna have fun!”

I blinked twice. “Um, what exactly are we gonna do?”

The smile on her face widened to an almost disgusting degree. “Manicures, hair, clothes, shoes, the works!”

I was now in a state of semi-permanent fear for the masculinity I wanted to get back. But, if I needed to prove myself, maybe this was just the thing I needed to do. Or, it could be just the thing Dad wanted me to do in order to justify his decision to give me this punishment.

I really needed to figure out what I wanted to be. As much as I couldn’t deny that I was interested in the idea of a “girl’s day out”, I didn’t know if just accepting it was the right thing to do.

“And I’m not letting you get out of this,” Debi said, knocking me out of my momentary funk. “You need to let go of your self pity and enjoy this, or else you’ll never pass your dad’s little test.”

I sighed. Apparently, I had no choice.

* * *

The hair stylist at the mall was almost parody levels of flamboyant. Every sentence was punctuated with excitement, every snip of my hair was a dramatic production and when he started putting in the shampoo, I swore he was gonna start playing special music or something. I wanted to ask if I was a special case or if he did this for all his customers.

All of that wasn’t to say I wasn’t enjoying getting my hair done. Debi was honestly right about just letting go and enjoying myself. My nails looked perfect now, and my hair looked a lot better in waves instead of just being plain and straight. This whole thing wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it’d be.

The stylist finished up with me and clapped his hands together. “Look at you!” he damn near squealed. “I must say, I think you’ve become my best work!”

So help me, it was almost disgusting how strongly this guy was putting on the flamboyancy. Of course, that was just because I didn’t experience people like this often enough. Maybe it’d be different after I spent more time around them. Being a waitress at a coffee shop would probably show me all kinds of different people.

So, in the meantime, I merely smiled nervously and chuckled out a “Thanks,” that didn’t really sound sincere.

Debi was just finishing up her own styling when I paid for mine. She had her hair dyed some weird shade of brown that didn’t look brown so much as it did red, and her nails shone in a bright shade of blue. My own nails were now an almost glowing shade of pink.

“You look great, girl!” she squealed when she saw me. She threw her arms around me in a very sisterly hug. “See? Was that so bad?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t, I really liked it. The stylist was a little… Eccentric.”

“Oscar? Naw, he’s just gay, nothing weird. He likes to play up the stereotype.”

“Whatever. What’s next?”

“Hmmm… Next is…” She tapped at her chin with her index finger. “I really don’t know what to do next. We already bought new clothes, did the whole hair and manicure thing, we kinda knocked everything out in less than four hours.” She sighed. “Well, I’ve got nothin’.”

I couldn’t think of anything else, either. We’d already done all the stereotypical “girl” things, and I just wanted to go home.

That changed when the look in her eyes suddenly gained sparkles. “What are you looking at?” I asked.

“What every teenage girl needs to feel independent,” she answered, then started moving away. I followed her and nearly choked out a laugh when I saw what she was looking at. The stereotypes had come back in full force, as it was pink and small, almost tailor made for a girl my or Debi’s size. I wanted to smack her, but I really didn’t think smacking my only friend that wasn’t my brother was the smartest thing to do. “Nora Cooper, meet your second best friend!”

She knelt down in front of the moped and acted like she was showing it off at a car dealership or something. “Ain’t she a beaut?” she asked with a shit-eating smirk on her face.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked.

“Nope. Every girl needs a mode of transportation, and since you don’t have a driver’s license yet, you’ll havta go with this for the time being.”

“I’ve never ridden one of those before.”

“Have you ever ridden anything before? Y’know, aside from…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew full well what she was talking about.

“One of my dad’s horses. Once. And I fell off.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to help.”

I sighed. “You’re not gonna let me leave without it, are you?”

“Nope.”

A new voice entered the conversation. “She’s very insistent.” Lucas walked up from almost literally out of nowhere, his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. He was dressed in a green jacket and was wearing sunglasses. “Of course, I love her that way.”

“Hey, babe!” Debi said as she put her arms around him. “What’s up, where you been?”

“California. Helping an ex-girlfriend of mine. Totally screwed up situation, too.”

I asked, “You aren’t talking about Eve, are you?”

He sighed. “Yes, I’m talking about Eve.” He took off his sunglasses. “You didn’t havta bring up her name, did you?”

I joined in on the smirk brigade. “Yes, yes I did.”

Debi asked, “Who’s Eve? Other than your ex, I mean.”

“She’s a succubus,” I answered for him.

“You dated a sex demon and then you settled for me?” She smiled. “I think I love you even more.”

I patted her on the back. “Trust me, you’re a much better girlfriend for him than Eve ever was.”

Lucas nodded. “The best part of that relationship was that she could literally be anybody any day of the week.”

“Ooh,” Debi whistled, “sounds like fun.”

He coughed out a laugh. “Yeah, it… It really was…” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “So, ladies, it’s been awhile.”

“A day,” I said.

“And being away from my girlfriend has made it feel like a year. Regardless, what’s been going on? I see mountains of shopping has been done.” He picked up some of our bags, which really weren’t too much. I didn’t buy a whole lot when we were clothes shopping.

“Oh, please, babe, it hasn’t been mountains,” Debi said as she lightly jabbed him with her elbow. “Just convince your sister to buy the scooter, it’s just her style.”

He patted the seat of the moped. “It is your color, Nora.”

I folded my arms under my breasts. “How is pink suddenly my color?” I asked, using air quotes.

Lucas answered, “You’re a blonde. Blondes and pink mix like football and those fatass fans who feel the need to paint a single letter of their team’s name on their chests and sit in order with their friends.” He pointed to my hands. “You’re also wearing pink nail polish.”

I glanced at my fingernails and sighed. “Okay, you have a point there. But, honestly, just because I can’t use our actual names doesn’t mean I’m not a Norse God or anything, I can fly and don’t really need a moped.”

“Actually…” Lucas took a step back. “Dad sorta had me…”

I didn’t even let him finish. “Oh, you didn’t…”

“Not everything. Just, y’know… Nineteen year old girls don’t exactly fly here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? So you get to go around screwing with people all you want and I only get to thunder and lightning?”

He sighed. “You say that like I screw with people every day or something.” He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Look, the only thing you can’t do is fly. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with mopeds. I had one for a few years.”

“You did?” Debi asked.

“I had to. Dad forced me to stop using my powers for six months, and by the time I got them back, I’d already figured out every shortcut in Asgard.”

I added, “Plus, he knew where all the ramps were to do tricks. He treated it like he was playing Grand Theft Auto looking for stunt jumps.”

“You joined in,” he retorted.

“Yeah, that was the time I fell off the horse.”

Debi looked to be on the verge of falling over with laughter, so she asked, “Anyway, you gonna get the scooter or not? It’s cute and you need transportation that isn’t me or Lucas.”

I sighed, then sat down on it. “Well, I guess you’re probably right about that. Fine, I’ll get it. How much is it, anyway?”

Lucas put his hand around Debi’s mouth before she could answer. “Don’t worry about that. Aunt Helen told me to use her bank account.” He put on a nervous smile. “Let’s just… Let’s get this paid for.”

* * *

“Well, look at you,” Aunt Helen said as she looked up from the vegetables she was chopping for dinner, a smile on her face. “You look pretty as a picture, Nora!”

I felt myself blushing. I was standing across the kitchen counter from her. I assumed she’d been watching TV while chopping up food, or something. “Thanks, Helen.”

“So. How was your day?” she asked, taking a brief moment to pause her vegetable chopping.

“It was fun, after I got over my hangover. I’ve got a job at the coffee house Debi works at, and then came the shopping and the makeovers. Oh, and then I bought a moped.”

“I saw,” she giggled. “Pink is really your color.”

I blushed, again. “Thanks…” These damned compliments made me feel so weird. “So, yeah, now I just need to get into school and I’ll be all set to prove Dad wrong and win my manhood back.”

Aunt Helen walked over to my side of the counter. “I’m not trying to change your mind, sweetie, but when you do prove your dad wrong, give some thought to who you’ll actually want to be.”

I didn’t know why she was acting like I’d want to stay Nora when I could eventually go back to the real me. As much as I hadn’t felt disgusted by every feminine thing I’d done today, I knew I wouldn’t want to be like this for the rest of my eternity.

The Princess of Asgard eventually wanted to be the Prince again, and I’d keep to that.