The Party

 

“Please tell me Yvonne’s not gonna be there,” I said.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Stacy said with a smirk.

I glared at her reflection in the mirror. “Don’t have so much fun with this.”

She patted me on the head. “Please, this was your idea in the first place.”

She wasn’t wrong. After last year's terrible Halloween and the (thankfully now dying down) humiliation I'd endured because of it, I'd decided that this year, I'd be the one deciding how I'd go to the annual party at Drake's house. I knew I'd never get Stacy or Kelly to completely agree to it, so I decided to throw them a bone and let Stacy use magic on me.

And of course, the little detail that I'd be going as a girl.

That was actually my own choice, as well. It wasn’t the first time I’d been turned into a girl, though it was the first time I’d specifically asked to be. I figured there was no better costume to wear to a Halloween party than a different form entirely. At least then I could have fun without people getting on my ass for dressing like a sissy, like the last time.

I stood up and looked at my reflection in her mirror. I looked ridiculous, of course, wearing a corset, a miniskirt and thigh-high boots with a two-inch heel. The customary witch's hat on my head looked very out of place, but it was also a little too small for my head. The outfit was a little too small, but I'd managed it without much discomfort. Besides, it would fit when Stacy was done with me, anyway.

"Alright," she said, "you know how this works. Keep extremely still."

I nodded. She held out her spellbook and made it levitate in front of her, then started chanting magic words I could barely understand. Whatever language sorceresses used, it had never been a common one. Mom had even had trouble teaching it because witches don't use that same language. In fact, I wasn’t sure witches and warlocks even used a language. I’d never heard Mom or Kelly say any sort of words when they used magic, and Dad used magic so rarely that for the longest time, I thought he was actually normal.

I felt the now familiar tingle from the start of the change. It began, as it always did, from the bottom first. My feet were no longer stuffed into shoes that were too small, and the same became true of my legs in short order. I heard a strange, gooey shloop sounding noise when Little Josh disappeared into my groin and was replaced with the female equivalent I’d have the rest of the night.

The tingling moved upward even further. My hips widened, my waist shrunk. My stomach flattened while my chest grew. I swear I grew a new cup size per second until I stopped at either a C or a D. That annoyed me, but I knew it was thanks to the fact that Mom's side of the family was practically famous for larger breast sizes. Stacy had topped out at a double D when she hit seventeen.

My arms shrank, my hands slimmed, the ruby red polish on my fingernails suddenly looked perfect capping my dainty fingers. Finally, the tingling reached my head and I braced myself. I knew what I'd look like, as I always looked the same every time I became a girl. High cheekbones, pouty lips, a little button nose, wide green eyes. The only real difference this time was a touch I'd asked Stacy to make, so when my brown hair grew long enough to reach my mid-back, it changed shade to an almost orange kind of red. My eyebrows followed suit, and I was almost curious to see if the carpet matched the curtains, but I had no intention of finding out.

The tingling disappeared and my sensations returned to me, mostly the feeling of the weight on my chest, but that quickly became familiar. The heels made me feel off kilter a bit, but I hadn't worn any in awhile. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and let the changes settle for a few moments, and then re-opened my eyes. The twin sister I'd never had was reflected in the mirror, and had a very surprised look on her face.

"Holy shit," I said in my new voice.

Stacy put an arm around my waist. "Holy shit, indeed, Sis."

"I don't remember looking like this the last time you changed me into a girl."

"Because you didn't. It's been over a year since last time, you've grown -- specifically up top -- since then. Plus, that costume flatters your figure beautifully."

I turned redder than the blush I was wearing could match. "That's… Not the kind of compliment I was expecting, though I guess I should get used to it. I bet a lot of drunk, horny guys are gonna hit on me."

She nodded. "That is almost a certainty. Either way, you'll get plenty of oogles because of the corset alone."

I looked down and she had a very good point. All the cleavage I was showing off would likely draw more attention than I actually wanted, but I also doubted I'd be the only scantily clad girl there. At the very least, I hoped I wouldn't be the only scantily clad girl there. I greatly hoped. I hoped beyond hope.

I was about to ask Stacy what her costume would be, but as soon as I turned around I saw she'd already changed. Her yoga pants and tank top replaced by a sexy nurse costume she was practically spilling out of. I blinked twice not really sure if that was my mostly modest sister I was really seeing.

She rolled her eyes. "Please, your costume shows way more skin than mine."

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, but… You don't normally wear outfits like that."

"Duh, it's Halloween. Nobody wears normal stuff on Halloween."

---

Immediately after we left Stacy's bedroom, we were greeted by Mom standing there with her phone out, taking a picture of the two of us in our costumes. I knew she was only doing this because I had asked to be a girl for Halloween, but I was plenty embarrassed by it all the same.

"Mom!" I nearly screamed.

"Oh, sweetie, calm down. It's not every day I can say my only son asked to be my middle daughter for the evening. And though the costume is a bit too showy, you do fill it out well."

Stacy put an arm around my shoulder. "Josh here just isn't used to her natural beauty, Mom."

Mom put her phone down on the small table that occupied wall space between Stacy's room and mine. "Y'know, Josh is a little out of place as a girl's name."

I cleared my throat. "I have a name I'm gonna use tonight."

Stacy looked surprised, Mom looked amused. "Oh?" Mom asked. "Do tell."

I braced myself for their teasing. "Jenna."

Much to my surprise, neither of them laughed or made fun of me for my choice of name. Instead, Stacy said, "Jenna's a really pretty name, Sis."

I blushed. "Thanks."

Mom clapped her hands. "Jenna it is, for one night only. Make sure none of the boys use your actual phone number when they scratch For a good time, call… into a bathroom stall."

I was sure I blushed harder. "Mom!"

She shrugged slightly. "I'm just saying, you just had a break-up, I wouldn't blame you for finding comfort in someone's arms."

"That's… Mom, please, I don't need to be thinking about that."

She reached into her back pocket. “Well, just make sure you remember this.” She tossed whatever it was at me and I just barely caught it. I was never good at catching when I was a guy, either. It looked like a Harry Potter wand. “Every good witch needs a magic wand," she said with a smirk.

---

As Stacy and I walked to the party, the more comfortable I was in my new form. The heels became more bearable, the bouncing of my breasts in spite of the corset became more natural, I even afforded myself a little sway to my walk, which was more or less just copying how Stacy was moving.

The whole trip to Drake's was more or less uneventful. Other than the obvious cat calls and other comments, we got no more attention than anyone else walking around in a costume on Halloween. I was more than grateful that most of the horny guys paid more attention to Stacy than they did me, although I couldn't help but notice my eyes often drifted to some of the better looking ones. I knew that was a side effect of the change in forms, so I just went with the flow. By tomorrow morning, I'd be back to normal, so I could afford to let Jenna enjoy the view for one night.

Drake’s house was lit up and loud even from the street, and people were outside doing stupid teenager shit like trying to climb the side of the house or doing skateboard tricks in costume. I was sure that just like last year, the “punch” would be at least 60% alcohol, and I already knew from a previous drinking experience as a girl that my alcohol tolerance was lowered almost too much, so I made plans to stay way the hell away from the punch. Drake always had sodas for people who didn’t want to get drunk or designated drivers.

Stacy knocked on the door and we were greeted by Drake wearing what he considered a costume, which was just a Dracula cape, swim trunks and Crocs. He looked almost obnoxiously stupid, and I couldn’t deny he was shredded. I was going to make damn sure I didn’t drink tonight, otherwise I might end up dragging a guy home or something. I was going to make sure the only one of us spending any alone time with the opposite sex was Stacy.

“Well, if it isn’t the Shepard sisters!” Drake exclaimed. How the hell he knew who I was was a question I’d have asked if I wasn’t too busy staring at his muscular chest. “You didn’t bring Kelly along?”

Stacy walked right inside and I followed her. She answered, “Uh, no, it’s not a party for eight year olds.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself, I think she’d have fun here.”

"Whatever. We're just here to have fun in costume."

He looked at me. "Although, Jenna's not in much of a costume."

I blinked. How'd he know my name? I didn't tell him and he'd never seen me in my female form. The only answer I could think of was that Stacy had called him ahead of time. She'd hung back to go to the bathroom before we left, so maybe she called him while she was taking a piss. Either way, not much of a costume? Was he saying I was showing too much skin?

Then again, my arms were bare, I was showing as much cleavage as possible without being obnoxious about it and the corset left my stomach completely exposed, so if he was saying I was showing too much skin, he actually had a decent point. The part of me that showed the least skin was my legs, thanks to the boots.

Stacy and I split almost immediately, with her wading into the sea of people like a fish being introduced to a new tank that had the perfect temperature water. I mostly stayed away from people, though I didn't act like some nervous wallflower, either. I mingled with a few people, mostly guys who were doing their best to hit on me, but I managed to avoid getting into any hairy situations.

As the party wore on, the crowd started to thin. There were still something like a hundred people wandering between each of the rooms of Drake’s house, but it was less a building-wide mosh pit and more a legitimate party. The music was also starting to repeat, so I knew Drake was just going through his MP3 collection, which was mostly just illegally downloaded stuff he heard on the radio on the bus to school.

I wandered over to the “punch” table and, despite my every intention not to drink, I poured myself some and gulped it down almost in one chug. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be much more alcohol than I thought it would be. Hell, I could barely tell if Drake had even left any punch in this “punch”. I coughed a bit, then poured myself some more.

“You knock that back like a guy I knew back home,” a voice said behind me. I spun around and found a tall, well-built Mexican guy my age standing there wearing a T-rex costume. "You're much cuter than he is, though."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. He was at least trying to be funny with his flirting. Most of them had just been flirty-flirting. The way I put that sounded either Valley Girl or Prom Queen, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know which one Jenna would end up being if she lasted too long. Good thing I’d be changing back at midnight. Being this way was screwing with my head. Or, well, maybe the alcohol was screwing with my head. Either way, really.

“Name’s Hector,” he said, taking a mock bow, “Tyrannosaur of Southern Indiana. What about you?”

I had to admit, that was kinda charming. “Jenna, the Teenage Witch."

He laughed. "Man, that reference is old enough to be my mom!"

I shrugged. "I watched a lot of reruns on Freeform when I was little." It actually wasn't a lie, even. Reruns of 90s shows were kinda my thing, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch had always been a favorite of mine. Now that I thought of it, that was a weird favorite to have when my parents and sisters could do real magic.

He nodded. "Yeah, I did, too. My dad's Cuban, so he made me watch I Love Lucy all the time." He motioned to my costume. "I just met you and I already think that look suits you."

I giggled nervously. "So does yours."

He laughed again. "Last second buy. My folks and I just got here yesterday, and I didn't have a costume for the party. My cousin kept talking about how this dude Drake's parties are the shit, so I figured I'd come along with her and see if she was right." He gulped down a cup of alcohol. "She was very right about it, too."

I had to admit, I was curious now. "Who's your cousin?"

"Gabriella Menendez, just graduated last year."

I knew her. Most of the boys' locker room knew her, some a little more than others. I was not one of the some.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure I saw you come in with that girl in the sexy nurse costume. Is that your sister?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Stacy. She and Gabi used to hang out all the time."

"She told me about Stacy. Said she had a pretty cute sister my age, too. Would that happen to be you?"

Wait, what? Why would Gabi be telling her cousin about me when "I" didn't exist until tonight? "Um… Yeah…" I said, then bit my lip. That couldn't be a side effect of Stacy's magic, could it?

No, that was stupid. Stacy was a sorceress, and there were clear rules about what kind of things she could do with her magic. Manipulating reality was not one of the things she could do, the three of us had always been taught that. Sure, she could have placed a spell on him that could limit his speech, but I'd see some sign of him being manipulated. It wouldn't just be effortlessly flowing out of his mouth like it was.

Plus, why would she do it? There had been plenty of guys who'd hit on me with less charm than Hector, certainly she'd rather play with one of them, because even I knew that'd be funnier.

I looked around for Stacy. I had to talk to her, had to ask her what could be happening, but more importantly had to tell her I was leaving. I didn't want any more situations like Hector happening with other people. If others recognized Jenna, who knew what kind of history I didn't know I had? I could be just as much a talk of the locker room as Gabi was, though I hoped since I was the "cute" sister that I wasn't one to sleep around.

I finally found my sister flirting with her current crush, Derek Henderson, who had on an Aquaman costume and carried a fake trident. Stacy was trying her “bashful” routine, where she acted all innocent and shy, hoping to break a guy’s defenses and move in on him. She had the method down pat, but she didn’t always stick the landing.

When it came to Derek, however, it was pretty obvious she had him on the ropes and was just about to hook him… Until I came up to them. Stacy had what I can only describe as the face you never want to see on a nurse, sexy or otherwise.

“Jo--Jenna, what the hell?!” she nearly screamed.

I grabbed her by the arm. “C’mon, I’ve gotta talk to you in private right now.” I then turned to Derek. “Hi, Derek.”

“Hey, Jenna, how’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since you quit the school paper. The team really liked it when you interviewed us.”

Stacy looked back at him. “Wait, what?”

I answered her, “Yeah, we need to talk.” I then said to Derek, “She’s trying to get you to ask her out, by the way.”

He smirked. "I guess I'll cut to the chase, you wanna get something to eat later?"

Stacy's eyes lit up. "Wait, really?"

I yanked on her arm, probably almost hard enough to rip it out of the socket. "Sister now, boy later," I said.

---

We found a room that surprisingly wasn't occupied and I quickly shut and locked the door behind us. Stacy found a folding chair propped up against the wall, unfolded it and sat down. She had a very impatient look in her eyes, very likely because I'd just screwed up her game and got her a date at the same time.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, anxiously. "I just met Gabi's cousin Hector, who says he's heard about me -- and I mean Jenna me, not Josh me -- and then you just saw Derek know me, and Drake knew me and… And I don't understand what's happening because you're a sorceress and not a witch and…"

She stood back up and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Calm down, sis, seriously. I don't know what's going on, but I know my spell ends at midnight because I made the incantation very precisely. Even witch magic can't screw with wording like that, and I know that because Mom taught me that. Maybe… Hey, where's that wand Mom gave you?"

I thought for a second and realized I had no idea what had happened to it since we got to Drake's house. I'd forgotten it completely after all the innocent "I'm not here to flirt" talking I'd done with any guy that tried to flirt with me.

“Um… I have no idea…” I said.

Almost immediately, there was a knock on the door, which made me jump almost a foot off the ground. Stacy walked over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it to reveal Drake standing there, holding a purse by the strap like it was discarded underwear.

Sticking out of it was the wand Mom had given me.

Cheerfully, he said, "Jenna! You left this by the door and Kelsey Perkins almost took it by mistake."

I took the purse from him and then he gave me a puzzled look before walking away. Stacy just shut and locked the door again and grabbed the wand out of the purse.

I looked over and through the purse. It was a simple bag, though both sides had a design of an anime cat doing something goofy. I rooted around inside and found a wallet with all of "Jenna's" stuff inside -- driver's license, school ID, that fake credit card Mom had made for me when I was little and I kept because I was a stupid kid who latched onto something the grown-ups had and it still held sentimental value to me. There were the usual things most girls had in their purses, like makeup and feminine hygiene things. Why the hell I had condoms in there, I’d never know. That worried me that Jenna really did have the kind of reputation I didn’t want to have.

Stacy was still checking out the wand. “Maybe Mom put some sort of enchantment on this thing to augment my spell. We both know you didn’t bring a purse, but I still remember you as Josh, so not all of reality is changed.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “So long as this goes away at midnight, I think I can deal with any weird crap when it comes to people knowing Jenna. I'll ask Mom what she did when I get home."

Stacy nodded. "Good, now I am going to do whatever the hell it is Derek wants to do, since my little foreplay was rudely interrupted." She patted me on the back. "From the sound of things, you should go spend some time with a certain Jose -- "

"Hector," I corrected, and then wanted to smack myself for saying. Great, I was already acting all nervous and defensive about him. Maybe asking to be Jenna for the evening was a mistake.

Stacy caught that, too, and smirked. "Hector," she repeated, almost giggling. "Hang out with him for the evening. Remember, whatever you do tonight won't matter in the morning. Maybe, oh, I dunno… Open up one of those condoms."

I knew my face was solid red. "Shut up!"

---

I decided that the best thing to do was go home. Stacy immediately went back to Derek and the two of them left to go do whatever it was they were going to do (I think I heard something about seeing the new James Bond movie or something), so I decided I didn't really have much reason to stick around.

Not that I was surprised in the least, but as I walked home, my thoughts turned to Hector. I could only assume he left some kind of impression on me because he was genuinely nice and seemed interested in me. Part of me (the Josh part) was annoyed that I was so flustered about him. Another part of me (the Jenna part) was annoyed that I didn't at least ask for his number. Not like I had any intentions of calling him when I changed back, and the Jenna part of me knew that.

I should have also seen it coming that some guy would pique my interest. I knew from the other times I'd been changed into a girl that the Jenna part of me, not that she had a name then, was just as straight as the Josh part. According to Dad, it was because a lot of the time when people were magically changed, their preferences shifted along with their appearance. He also said he knew plenty of people where that wasn't the case, but it seemed more often than not, straight as one meant straight as the other.

I needed something to clear Hector out of my mind, though. I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone. The case I used to have on it was a Super Mario Bros case I'd bought for fifty cents at a yard sale, but now it had pink flowers on a white background, no doubt pink was one of Jenna's favorite colors. It wouldn't be all that weird, since Stacy liked baby blue and Kelly liked yellow. Maybe the three of us just had a preference for light colors.

I poked around Jenna's text messages to see what sorts of things "I" talked about. Apparently Yvonne and Jenna had had a falling out recently, just as Josh and Jenna had, only this time it was over Yvonne stealing Jenna's boyfriend rather than her falsely assuming Josh had been cheating on her. That was probably also the story behind Jenna's Facebook status of "Unfortunately Single". Also, I don't know when, but Stacy and I had taken a selfie in our Halloween costumes, apparently before we left the house. I looked much happier than when we'd actually left for the party.

Part of me was a little sad that Jenna would just be gone after tonight. She had her own life that I was looking at right on her phone, a life that had had just as many ups and downs, twists and turns, heartaches and heartwarms (is that a word? I don't know) as any other teenager. Whatever caused her to "exist" like this, it almost felt wrong to just let her fade away just because she wasn't "real".

My train of thought derailed when somebody grabbed me and yanked me backward. The speeding car that had nearly hit me told me I was grateful somebody had decided to invade my privacy, but at the same time I was a little upset that someone had taken it upon themselves to grab the defenseless sixteen year old without her permission.

And then I saw that the somebody in question was Hector and I nearly died of shock.

"Jenna? Girl, you should be more careful."

I stood up, not even realizing I'd landed on my ass. "Yeah…" I picked up my purse, which had also fallen to the ground. Nothing fell out of it, though, so I didn't need to worry about him seeing the tampons or condoms that I kept in there. The only thing thing I'd legitimately dropped was my phone, and thankfully that sonuvabitch was practically indestructible. I'd dropped it on pavement I didn't know how many times and it had never once suffered even a scratch.

I saw that Hector had changed out of his T-rex costume and into normal clothes. He looked pretty good in a tee-shirt and jeans. "You walking home?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Not much to do after my sister left the party. I'm… Kinda shy."

He raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call you shy. Aloof, maybe, but not shy. You're a little too perky to be shy."

I blinked. Perky? Me? On the one hand, maybe Jenna was perky, but he shouldn't know that, because he'd only just met me and I sure as hell couldn't act perky because I'd never been that way before. God, how in the hell had I gotten this far?

I could tell I was blushing. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I… Y'see, I think Gabi's been trying to hook us up ever since she found out my family and I were moving up here, because she likes to tell me all kinds of stories about you."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I had just gotten dumped by my girl a couple months ago, and she told me your ex-BFF stole your last boyfriend out from under you."

Oh, wonderful, that was public information. I don't know why I was hoping that was just something Yvonne did that only me, her and the guy I referred to as "Trey" in all the texts I read. I don't even know anyone named Trey, and yet he'd broken up with me for Yvonne.

I honestly think knowing she fucked over both of my lives made me hate her more.

Whatever you do tonight won't matter in the morning.

Stacy's words played back in my mind. She had a point, too. I could have a fun night just being Jenna and letting go for a bit before I went back to being Josh in the morning. Sure, it might make me feel a little awkward the next time I saw Hector, but I did have a sister who could turn me into a girl any time I asked her. Besides, Gabi was apparently trying to help me rebound after Trey, and doing the same for Hector. She slept around with a lot of guys, but apparently she had more of a heart than Yvonne ever had.

I asked him, "Hey, you wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm starving."

He smiled. "I was gonna ask you that."

---

Two and a half hours later, I couldn't believe what had just happened.

I'd had a terrific night just being the girl to another guy.

We'd gone to a simple little meal at Burger King (chicken fries, bitches!), we went to this cool retro games store that for whatever reason had special Halloween hours where they stayed open later (bought a copy of The Legend of Dragoon, which was on my mind because my favorite streamers had been playing it recently), and then we just walked around the local park and talked most of the rest of the time. It was just so different from any other time I'd been on a date.

Not that this was a date, of course. No. This was Jenna's private One Night Only talking to someone she was mildly interested in.

The two of us were almost to my house when he asked me, "So what do you look like in normal clothes?"

For whatever reason, I looked down and remembered that I was still dressed in my witch costume. "Oh, just… I'm kinda tomboyish. It's not that I don't like wearing skirts or that sorta thing, because I do, but I don't really… Y'know… I'm not like your cousin." I then quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with her or how she dresses!"

He laughed. "No worries. She's kinda the black sheep of the family. Still love her, though. She's the only cousin my age."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want to accidentally say something that pissed him off on the off-chance that whatever I said to him changed to some equivalent when I changed back. Hector was nice, and I wouldn’t mind having him as a friend when I was Josh again. I wondered what his memory of tonight would be when midnight came along.

We finally got to my house and I stopped and said, “Well, thanks for walking me home.”

He patted me on the shoulder. “No problem. Hey, you’re my first friend since moving here, it was nice to get to know you.”

I smiled. "It's been nice to talk to somebody like this again. Ever since my last breakup, I've been kinda… Down on myself, y'know?"

He chuckled. "I know what ya mean. I've been the same way."

"So, do you start at our school tomorrow?"

He shook his head. "Naw, Tuesday. We're finishing up the move tomorrow. Lemme tell you, getting shit out of all those boxes is a pain."

I giggled. "I can imagine." I started for the porch. “I’ll see ya Tuesday, then.” No I wouldn’t. Well, I would, but I wouldn’t. I mean… Oh screw it, I mean Josh will see him and Jenna won’t. God, this is still weird.

“No problem, girl.”

All of a sudden, my dad’s voice asked, “Aren’t you going to give the nice young man a kiss?”

I turned back to the porch and saw Dad standing there, arms folded over his chest, and a great big smile on his face.

“Dad!” I nearly squealed, about a hundred percent certain my face was so red that I’d given myself a tan.

Hector was smirking. "It's okay, really."

Dad stepped down off the porch and held out his hand for Hector. "John Shepard. Nice to meet you. Tell me, do you like my daughter?"

I was seriously reconsidering every decision I'd made today and probably most of them for the past sixteen years. I was ten when Stacy brought her first boyfriend home, and I remember that being funny as hell when Dad embarrassed her. Now I knew how she felt, and I hated it. How had I not managed to feel this way any time I brought a girl over or went to one's house?

Hector was taking it better than I was. "She's a nice girl, pretty, and fun. That's a great combination for your first friend in a new town."

Dad patted him on the shoulder. "Good answer. Now make sure any other times the two of you hang out, she sticks to two drinks or less. She has a habit of passing out if she goes too far."

Now I knew I wanted to die. "DAD!"

He smiled. "You need a ride home? I'm sure I can drop you off."

Hector shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I only live a block away."

Dad turned to me. "Hear that, sweet pea? You two should have no problem spending time together."

I seriously wanted to end this terrifying stretch of years that were occurring between 10:43 and 10:44PM. "I know, Dad, we stopped off at his house a little bit ago." His parents were actually pretty nice, too.

"That's good. Well…" Dad trailed off.

"Hector," Hector answered.

"Hector," Dad repeated, "don't be a stranger." He then mock-whispered, "I think she likes you."

"DAD!" I shouted again.

Hector laughed, then waved and left for home. I, meanwhile, practically fell apart and crawled inside. I didn’t really, of course. I walked inside, like a normal person, but I felt like I had fallen to pieces and those pieces were moving on their own. Dad still had a smirk on his face.

“He seems nice,” Dad said.

“How has Stacy ever survived that?!” I nearly screamed.

He chuckled. “Not easily. I’ll be honest, I’ve been worried I’d have to wait until Kelly was old enough to start dating.” He patted me on the back. “Thanks for the opportunity, kiddo.”

I groaned. “Thanks for embarrassing me…”

“That’s my job.” He scratched at his chin. “Actually, my job is being a realtor, but you know what I mean.”

I sighed and started up the stairs. “Whatever, I’m going to bed so that I can wake up back to normal.”

“Hold on!” He stood at the base of the stairs. “I don’t even get to know my temporary middle daughter’s name?”

I turned around. “Mom didn’t tell you? It’s Jenna.”

He smiled. “Jenna, huh? That’s a good name. Y’know, your mother and I were going to name our daughter Jenna, if we ever had one.” He scratched at his chin. “Wait, we had two of those. Wonder why we never used that name…”

I turned back around and continued up the stairs. “Good night, Dad!”

---

I wasn’t completely surprised that some of my clothes had changed. Most of it was the same, but my underwear drawer suddenly had bras in it. I just sighed and changed into a tank top and a pair of pink pajama pants with white stripes that had the word “Cute” repeated along the stripes. I assumed that was just what Jenna would wear to bed. I had to admit, that “perky” thing that Hector said was starting to make more sense.

I grabbed my laptop and plopped down on my bed. I looked around my usual sites to see if being Jenna changed anything significant. I noticed my avatars on some sites were different, occasionally a username would have a number instead of a letter, and naturally some of what I said leaned more toward the feminine, but otherwise, I was the same person online as either Jenna or Josh.

Suddenly, someone was tugging on my hair. At some point when I was distracted, Mom had slipped into my room and was tying my hair into a ponytail without my consent. “What the hell?” I asked.

She gave me an annoyed look. “You know from the last time you were Jenna that you nearly choked on your hair when you went to bed.”

I looked at the clock on the wall. “I’m only going to have this hair for another forty minutes.”

“Still, better safe than sorry.”

I sighed. “I guess.”

“Your father told me you met a nice boy.”

Dammit, there was the blushing again. “His name’s Hector,” I said with a noticeable hint of nervousness in my voice. “He’s Gabriella Menendez’s cousin, and just moved here.”

“Oh? And how did you two meet?”

“He was wearing a T-rex costume at the party.”

She smiled. “That’s adorable.”

I groaned. “Please don’t turn this into a big thing like Dad was.”

She laughed. “You used to think it was funny when we teased your sister over her boyfriends.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I exclaimed almost too defensively. Dammit.

“Not in thirty-four minutes, anyway.”

“Not now!” There it was again. Being a flustered teenage girl was almost too natural now. “I mean…”

“You’ll figure yourself out sometime, sweetheart.” She stood up from my bed and walked to the door. “So, you planning on sleeping through the change back or staying awake?”

I shut off my laptop and slipped it under my bed. “I’m just going to bed. I’m sorta buzzed, and I’m a little worried about my morning headache, so I really don’t wanna be awake when I change back to Josh.”

“Well, sleep well, baby.”

I nodded. “Good night, Mom.”

I laid down and then reached up to shut my lamp off. I could only assume it was the walk around the park then the walk home, but I was way more tired than I thought I should be. Of course, it could also have been the alcohol. Either way, I was ready to sleep.

About two minutes into trying to fall asleep, I realized I completely forgot to ask Mom what she did to the wand she gave me. As the sleep started to overtake me, I decided I’d just ask her tomorrow, when I was male again. After all, it wouldn’t matter in a little under a half an hour...

 

The Morning After

 

"The House of the Rising Sun" started playing in my dreams, which told me my alarm was going off. I reached over onto my nightstand and grabbed my phone to silence the alarm. Happy November, just one more month until there's just one more month left of the year. As this was clearly where my thoughts chose to drift when I was mildly hungover (apparently four cups of "punch" may not have been enough to get me drunk but was enough to screw me up in the morning), I decided I needed to crawl out of bed and take a shower.

The first out of place thing I noticed, despite my throbbing headache and irresistible urge to punt something a great distance just to feel better, was that my room had suddenly gained a vanity. That didn't seem right, but I figured it was just Stacy or Kelly having a little fun, making sure I never forgot the night I chose to be a girl for Halloween. There was even a framed photo of the three of "us" -- Stacy, Jenna and Kelly -- from the time we went to Miami Beach a few years ago. Stacy had threatened to turn me into a girl that day, but never went through with it.

The second out of place thing was that my phone, the one I had just grabbed to silence the alarm, still had the protective case that had pink flowers on a white background, which worryingly matched the wall my bed was on. That was just taking the joke too far, and even Stacy or Kelly wouldn't want to go that far.

Nor would either of them know that I told Hector I bought the phone case because it matched my wall…

I sat up and my suspicions were confirmed at the sensation of my breasts almost moving on their own. I was still Jenna, and for some reason had a bedroom to match. Not that it was uber-feminine, or anything, and everything I'd had as a boy was still there, except, most likely, my clothes. I had to assume those had changed along with everything else. Oh, and the pin-ups I had of hot Playboy models. Curiously, nothing replaced those, they were merely gone.

I stood up and immediately checked my dresser drawers. My headache was still killing me, but it was suddenly not a concern, all thanks to whatever was going on. My assumption had been correct, and my clothes had been swapped out for Jenna's clothes. Jesus, I was apparently a clothes nut as a girl. I could probably go two weeks without doing laundry with the amount of underthings and the sheer variety of outfits I had, and that was just what I found in my dresser. Looking in my closet genuinely scared me, so I avoided it.

As I took stock of the changes in my room, I saw one particular difference that almost shattered me. Mom and Dad had taken an interest in charting our growth as we grew, and that was done by making chips in the door frames of our bedrooms. The chips in my door frame now corresponded to Jenna's height, not Josh's. For all intents and purposes, Josh was gone.

This led me to the realization that whatever had happened, Stacy hadn't done it. First of all, the wall being the way it was could have come from exactly one person -- me. Second, a sorceress just couldn't do the level of changes done here and still be walking afterward. Sorceresses and witches were about on the same magical tier, but witches could manipulate past reality while sorceresses could only affect present reality. A witch could change everything about you and you'd never know, but a sorceress could only change you from that moment onward and you'd still remember who and what you were before.

I quickly went from my room to Stacy's. I needed to wake her up and see what was going on. I noticed that all the family pictures on the walls had Josh replaced with Jenna and I felt a sickening sense of pain that everything about me could just be swapped out with this girl I'd only meant to be for a few hours. I put that out of my mind, though, I needed to talk to my sister immediately.

Stacy was, of course, already awake and quite pissed off that I just barged into her room while she was getting dressed. "Jen, what the… What the hell?! Why are you still Jenna?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine. My room changed, too."

"Uh, that's not something I can do."

I folded my arms under my breasts. "No shit. And Kelly didn't do it either."

"How do you know?"

"Because…" I stopped short. Stacy didn't officially know I'd spent half the party flirting with Hector, but I was pretty sure she suspected it. "I just know, that's all." I watched her smirk and wanted to smack her. "How can we fix this?"

She hooked her bra on and quickly pulled a polo shirt over her head. "We need to ask Mom or Dad, but if your room changed, reality around us probably has, too."

I sighed. "The pictures on the wall sure did."

She was suddenly holding her phone. "Yep, same with mine. Oh my god, how did I talk you into wearing that?"

"Wearing what?"

She quickly hid her phone behind her. "Nothing! Let's just… Uh… Let's go talk to Mom."

As if summoned from the ether, Mom's voice came from behind me. "Talk to Mom about what?" she asked. As soon as I turned around, she seemed to piece everything together pretty quickly, though she'd also probably heard at least a little of our conversation. "Sweetie, why are you still like this?"

I sighed. "I really wanna know, too…"

---

Stacy, Kelly and I sat on the couch while Mom poured us each a cup of coffee and Dad paced and read his magical tome. Mom poured Dad a cup as well, but he just gulped it down and then handed it back to Mom. He chugged coffee like an alcoholic chugs beer. Holy crap, that was pretty much exactly why I was talking to Hector last night. I hoped I hadn't passed out while we were talking, but I doubt he did anything. Maybe played with my tits or something.

Kelly leaned over and whispered, "Am I gonna look as pretty as you when I get older?"

I smirked. "Hey, we both have Stacy to compare ourselves to."

"And Mom," Stacy added.

There was much more pacing and at least five more cups of coffee while Dad continued to read. After a good hour and a half of us sitting there, during which the school bus didn't pick Stacy and I up because Mom had called the school and explained we both had stomach poisoning, Dad finally fell into his arm chair and said, "I think I've got it."

Everybody looked around at everybody else. "Um… Okay?" I said.

"Now, understand that what I'm about to tell you is very, very speculative. It's also a little complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"Well, when you were born, you were supposed to be a twin."

I looked over at Mom. "I was?"

She nodded. "A boy and a girl. That's what the doctors said I was going to have."

Dad carried on. "But your sister was stillborn. We later found out it was because if the both of you had been born with magic, your mother would have died in childbirth."

I raised an eyebrow. "But I don't have magic."

He nodded. "Well, Josh didn't. But a look at your new aura says Jenna very much does."

Stacy elbowed me. "Hey, you're in with the rest of us now!"

I gave her a sheepish look. "Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that, even if it means I can get even with you when you try to embarrass me."

Dad continued, "And, Stacy, she can get you back harder. That's witch magic flowing in her veins."

She slumped into the couch. "Great. Now I'm the odd one out."

Mom lightly smacked her knee. "Oh, shush, honey. Odd one out makes you the most special in this family."

Dad cleared his throat. "Now, back to what's going on with Jenna." He looked straight at me. "So, it seems when your twin died, their aura merged with yours. This is why you've never been all that uncomfortable whenever you switched forms, because both were technically correct."

"So, I've basically been Josh and Jenna my whole life? So why haven't my witch powers kicked in any other times I've been a girl? What was different this time?"

He shook his head. "That I can't figure out. Something about you changed this time, something that altered your sense of self to the point that Jenna became your default being." He closed his tome and set it on the coffee table. "But whatever it was, you've got a road ahead of you. You're going to havta learn all the same magical lessons your sisters learned, now. And you're going to havta learn how to control yourself as much as you do your powers. No worse thing out there than a temperamental witch."

I sighed. "So, there's no changing me back?"

Stacy sat up. "What? Why would you wanna change back? You're a witch now, you're not the lone muggle in the house anymore. You don't need to use your powers, or anything, just control them, and make sure you don't accidentally turn the football team into the cheer squad just because you're PMS'ing."

I was sure I had an incredulous look on my face. "Why? I just became a witch yesterday. Give me one reason I shouldn't be terrified of what I can do by accident considering I apparently erased myself and replaced myself with myself."

"You think you did that?"

I nodded. "Now that I know what I now am, yeah, considering the only person who could've known some of the details that have become true is me."

Mom nodded. "That would make sense. Plus, none of us were affected. You probably made us immune to the changes subconsciously."

Stacy asked, "Wouldn't we be immune anyway?"

"Not necessarily," Dad answered, "one of the major drawbacks of this tier is that immunities are only guaranteed for higher tiers. That's why witches and warlocks are one of the rarer magical classes."

I gestured to Dad. "See? I could be a walking time bomb of reality changes and I'd be the only one who knew."

Mom reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. "Now, sweetheart, you know we'll teach you.” She smiled. “I bet you’ll take to it like a fish to water.”

I sighed. They were adamant, at least, that I could do this. I couldn’t really tell if I had a choice, but I very much doubted it. “I just hope I can.”

---

I sat on my bed and reached along the side closest to the wall. Nobody knew this, but I kept a journal there between the wall and the bed. I wrote in it almost every day, usually just to take my mind off something. It was usually a form of catharsis, and I saw that even in Jenna's life, that was the same.

Of course, the insides of the notebook were very different. The girl's handwriting was nothing like what mine had been as Josh, even though a lot of the words within were the same. There were changes, of course, mostly those relating to "that time of the month" or boys I used to date. Jenna, however, seems to have avoided the mistake Josh made last summer and was still a virgin. That was good. Clearly I was a smarter girl than I was a boy.

I read through so many of the entries. The notebook I had right now was just the last year and a half, including last year's terrible Halloween. Jenna's Halloween was significantly better than Josh's, as she countered Stacy's spell with one of her own to make Stacy walk around on all fours for an hour or two. My guess is I said something cool like "If you're gonna be a bitch, walk around on the floor!" or something like that. I guarantee Jenna was just as good at that sort of thing as Josh was.

I flipped the pages back and forth, looking through everything. At some point, I'd need to look through most of my other journals and see what other life events changed or remained. Maybe I'd written some desire to be an actress or a tennis star or something in one of them, and one of my friends would bring it up in conversation. At least then I'd know what they were talking about. Relearning my own life was already looking to be a weird experience.

There was a knock on my door, and then Mom walked right in, carrying a photo album. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to my notebook.

"Just a journal. I was looking to see what all's changed in the last year and a half." I slipped it back into its hiding spot. That cat was out of the bag now. "What's with the photo album?"

She smirked. "I was taking a look at all the memories none of us have." She sat down beside me and opened the album. "Someone was just as rambunctious as a little girl as she was when she was a little boy."

I sighed. "I'm not surprised. I was probably worse, because I was probably trying to compete with the boys."

"Probably." She stopped at a picture of little Jenna at about age nine wearing a two piece bathing suit and cannonballing into a mud-filled ditch, which I had done as Josh, but I was fully clothed then. Clearly Jenna had less shame than Josh did, or something. I wasn't really sure. "Looks like you didn't try to drag Stacy along with you this time."

I slipped the photo out of the album. She was right, Stacy was nowhere to be seen in the new Jenna reality of the memory. As Josh I'd made her and one of our old friends, Keith, stick around and magic the mud off of me. She'd naturally decided to miss a few spots, so of course I had to explain what happened as soon as Mom and Dad saw me. "Huh. I wonder if I got away with it this time."

Mom nodded. "I bet you did. The first thing your father taught Kelly was a cleaning spell. I'm sure he did the same with you."

"Too bad I don't know any of what I'm supposed to know."

She gave me an amused look. "Says the girl who wanted to be changed back not an hour and a half ago."

"Yeah, and I still wanna change back, but how's that even gonna work? I know from all the stuff you guys taught us about auras and the magical hierarchy that because the Jenna part of me has a magical aura, she's the dominant one. Not that being Jenna is a problem, but all this magical stuff scares me."

"So you don't mind being a girl, but being a witch is your problem?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's…. Weird." I slipped the photo back into its spot and then took the album from Mom. "I suppose I'm okay with being Jenna because, like Dad said, I've kinda always been Jenna. And Josh. Man, that's weird all on its own knowing I've been two people my whole life." I turned the page back and found some pictures of Stacy and me holding Kelly up for her first baby pictures. Josh hadn't been able to do that because he'd also been in the hospital with a broken leg after failing to do bike tricks. "Plus, all these photos and reading my journal, Jenna's had basically the same life as Josh, just with some minor differences."

Mom laughed. "Maybe a little more tomboyish than Josh was."

I gave her an unamused glare. "Yeah, a 'little'. Even being a tomboy, I've got like five pairs of heels and a dozen dresses in my closet. Either I really like prettying myself up for dates, or the only thing tomboyish about me is how I act and what I like."

"Well, if it's the magic part of being a girl that you're so worried about, have you looked for your spellbook?"

I reached down and opened my nightstand drawer. I pulled out the spellbook, which was covered in stickers displaying the logos of anime, games and groups that Jenna liked -- or, well, they were anime, games and groups Josh liked, too, but you get the meaning -- and it was filled with notes and other small writings on sticky notes like I tended to do with textbooks and things I was reading for an assignment at school. Clearly, Jenna took witchcraft seriously.

Mom took the book and flipped through it. She smirked at me as she read some of the notes I left, which ranged from things like Must try on Tiffany to Great when bloated after cheeseburger. Others were very simple, very useful statements. I saw that I kept track of every important kind of reality altering spell, and even used different color sticky notes to mark off different kinds of spells.

That almost made it amazing that I'd managed to use a significant reality warping spell by complete accident last night.

I shut the photo album and set it off to the side. "How am I gonna get through this, Mom?"

She put an arm around me. "By knowing that you have people to turn to. Your father and I both know what it was like being confused teens with magic, Stacy's got some similar problems and everything you learn is something you'll be able to help Kelly through when she gets to be your age." She hugged me closer, something she hadn't done since I was little but sure felt like I needed now. "You're not alone, that's how you're gonna get through this."

I hugged her back. "You really mean that?"

"Of course."

"But, I mean… I accidentally created a new me just by being… Well, me, apparently. I don't even know how it happened or even when it happened."

She grabbed my spellbook again. "I've actually got an idea about that." She turned to the part of the book I had labeled as Magical History. "Remember when your dad said that how you saw yourself was what unlocked your aura? Well, all witches and warlocks learn pretty early on about a sorcerer from eons ago who became a witch just by casting a spell on himself that prohibited him from using his own male name." She found the page she was looking for. "Ah, here we go. Tiresias, that was the male name. He was asked by his king to pose as a woman and get information about one of the king's enemies. Tiresias performed the spell to change himself, then cast another spell that took away his ability to use his original name, probably so he didn't end up using it by accident. The newly minted Theresa was, similar to you, two auras in one body, and so she then unlocked her power in witchcraft by giving her female form a true name, one she had to use because she cast that spell on herself."

I blinked. "Okay, but… I never did that."

She shook her head. "Not exactly, no. You never took away your ability to say your old name, but you did give your female form a name for the first time. She finally became real because she finally had a name all her own, which unlocked her aura."

"I changed reality just by naming myself?"

She shook her head. "No, you merely unlocked your aura by naming yourself." She patted the book. "Tiresias became Theresa permanently by naming herself, but she never altered reality. Her King knew who she had once been, and kept her in service as his witch, even ended up marrying her, but everyone knew who she had once been." She flipped to another page. "There was something else you did that changed reality, localized around you at first and then outward, but still skipping over us." She scanned the page. "I think you may have altered your own perception first, which then began the spiral that affected reality."

I blinked again. "How?"

She closed the book. "Remember how I said last night that you might look for comfort after your breakup with Yvonne?"

I nodded.

"Well, I think a part of you -- the Jenna part of you who's been waiting inside you all this time -- actually was looking for companionship. Perhaps, subconsciously, you thought it would be easier to find someone if everybody thought you were Jenna the whole time, maybe you thought no one would want to ask out the new girl and thus became the recently-broke-up girl."

"So, I wanted a boyfriend, and decided reality needed to change so I could get one?"

She shrugged. "Basically. Hey, look at it from… Well, technically your perspective, but, Josh had several girlfriends and Jenna never had a boyfriend. She made up a reality where she had a life, where she had just broken up with someone and needed someone else to spend time with."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, I'm a desperate girl."

Mom patted me on the shoulder. "You had a bad breakup, baby, you're a very vulnerable young woman."

I sighed. "Vulnerable, yeah…"

---

I decided to clear my head with a little walk. That was something I used to do as Josh and, from a few more looks at my journal, I also did as Jenna. Then again, nearly everything I did as Josh was something I did as Jenna as well. Clearly, when I cast a spell on myself, I made sure my old life and my new life were basically the same, just with the addition of putting a bra on every morning.

I didn't live that far from town, and in fact, there was a paved bike trail that led almost directly from my neighborhood straight to downtown. It wasn't a very scenic path, and I'm pretty sure I passed a homeless man hiding in a bush that was ogling me the whole time, but I was definitely more interested in getting to town than I was in the route I took to get there. Luckily, there were something like five different paths I could take home, so I could avoid that homeless guy. Or, y'know, it might have been a squirrel, now that I thought about it.

Last night had been cool, but not uncomfortably so -- hell, I'd even worn a skirt out and not gotten cold -- but today was almost unbelievably cold, to the point I had to bundle up when going out. "Bundling up" as Josh had just meant a jacket, but Mom wouldn't let Jenna get away with anything less than a fleece-lined coat, a scarf, a knit cap and a pair of winter boots. I should've known that ahead of time, too, because that's what she made Stacy and Kelly wear. You'd think I'd actually have paid attention to what my mom forced my sisters to do, but before today, I never knew I'd become the middle daughter.

I stopped by that retro game store that Hector and I went to last night. It was very well-stocked for a small town store. I mostly hung around the Nintendo section in hopes I'd find something rare, but it was not to be, so I just bought a Lego game instead. I didn't play my 3DS much anymore, but I could stand to dust it off for some brick smashing and stud collecting.

My next stop was a bookstore just down Main street. I liked to stop there from time to time and poke through the sci-fi/fantasy section. Heh. The irony that I now was basically a fantasy character and wanted to look for fantasy books wasn't lost on me. Made me wonder what that bitch Rowling would say if she knew witches and wizards were real and not one thing like what she created. Hell, I was almost tempted to buy one of her books and mail it to her with notes from a real witch, but the international mailing alone would be a damned nightmare.

The bookstore was practically empty when I got there. The clerk was sitting at the register with his own book in hand, and two other customers were sitting on the couch just at the front of the store. It was only as I made my way to the middle of the store, where the sci-fi/fantasy section was, that I heard one voice Josh wouldn't want to hear, and two voices Jenna wouldn't want to hear. Or one Josh wouldn't want and at least one Jenna wouldn't and y'know what, the gist of it was that I heard Yvonne and who I could only assume was this Trey guy I'd just broken up with.

I was more than a little annoyed. I'd skipped school because I learned I was a witch, what the hell were they doing there? Well, specifically Yvonne. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure I'd ever seen Trey, so why I'd dated him was beyond me. Well no, it really wasn't. He wasn't bad looking. I could actually understand both why I'd dated him and why that bitch had stolen him from me and now I wanted to smack myself for sending my own thoughts on a tangent.

My tangential thoughts were dashed when I heard Yvonne giggle as the guy kissed her neck. "Brett, stop!" she exclaimed in what I could only assume was some erotic excitement she was ready for but didn't quite want now. I was just grateful neither of them was looking at me, otherwise they'd have seen a very annoyed redhead watching them commit a grievous act of PDA in a bookstore.

I hurriedly slipped around the bookshelf and out of their sight. I hadn't anticipated seeing Yvonne on literally my first day as Jenna. She was such a goddamn straight A student that I assumed she'd never skip a single day at school. Least of all to spend time with a boyfriend she had apparently jumped to after abandoning the one she stole from "me". Holy crap, that was a weird sentence. I was very positive Ms. Barclay would smack me for that sentence.

I peeked out around the shelf and saw Brett was still hugging on her like he needed to keep his balance or something. She always hated it when I did things like that, and yet here she was letting him do it. I mean, I’d probably let him do it, too, but I also hadn’t dumped a boyfriend I stole from my best friend just to let him do that. I was pretty sure my head was going places I didn’t want to go to just yet.

Although…

As far as Yvonne knew, I was the girl who used to be her friend and who’s boyfriend she had stolen from me just a few days ago. And little did she know, I was watching her fuck around with somebody completely different. Maybe, I could get out there and try my hand at stealing her new boyfriend away from her…

But what would that mean about me and Hector? Was there a me and Hector? I mean, he was nice, and he seemed to like me, plus Dad seemed to like him. I couldn't deny that I kinda warmed up when thinking about him, despite only hanging out with him for a few hours. Was it because he called me the cute sister? Great, I was kinda vain.

I decided against the boyfriend-stealing thing just for the fact that I was relatively inexperienced when it came to flirting as a girl and even more so when it came to trying to piss off an ex… Whatever she was to me now. Girls called their best friends "girlfriends" sometimes, so technically I could still call her an ex-girlfriend, I supposed. This would be a long road of figuring out what to call the people around me now that they all remembered Jenna instead of Josh.

Instead, I walked around to their side of the shelf and pretended like I didn't see them. If they saw me, I'd be polite and act like I didn't really care that Yvonne was with another guy, even though she was supposed to be with the one she stole from me. I could be the bigger person here, or something.

Not like I couldn't do some spell casting later when I knew what I was doing, after all.

That made me curious about whether or not this Yvonne knew I was a witch. Based on the idea that she’d be super confident she could steal my boyfriend, my guess would have to be that she didn’t, because why in the hell would you steal away somebody’s boyfriend if that somebody could screw your ass up without you ever even knowing? Granted, if you knew you’d never know what you did, that might actually make the victory all the sweeter and dammit, I was doing it again. I needed to stop running off on wild tangents when--

“Hey Jenna,” Brett said as he finally turned around and saw me. Yvonne also turned around, but instead of the look of anger or amusement that I assumed she’d have, she wore a look of absolute confusion. “You skip today, too?”

I smirked. “Yeah, last night’s party at Drake’s screwed me up this morning.”

He laughed. “No kidding. I don’t think he watered down the booze this time. Hey, who was that guy in the dinosaur costume you were talking to?”

Oh, somebody noticed. I saw Yvonne’s confusion grow and grow. I was starting to wonder if she was actually immune to the changes. “Hector. He’s Gabi Menendez’s cousin. Just moved here from the southern part of the state.” I decided to have some fun. “So, where’s Trey?”

Yvonne asked, “Trey? Wha--”

Brett cut her off. “Oh, that dipshit?” He hugged Yvonne closer. “I stole Yvonne out from under him almost right away.”

Yvonne slipped out from his grasp. “Hey, babe, can. .. Uh, Jenna? And I talk alone for a minute?”

He smiled. “Yeah. I’ll be outside. Remember, we were going to that Indian place for lunch.”

She nodded. “I know. Be there in a bit, babe.” After he disappeared, she turned back to me and the look on her face turned to one of absolute disgust. “Who the hell are you and what do you have to do with anything that’s happened today?”

I smirked. “And what’s happened today, Yvonne? Did you dump Trey for Brett just this morning?”

She threw her arms in the air. “Who the hell is Trey?!”

I took a step closer and poked her right in the chest. “Trey happens to be the boyfriend you stole from me, in this version of reality.”

“This…” She had that confused look on her face again. “Who are you?”

“Just the guy you dumped last week because you’re a massive bitch.”

Her eyes lit up and I knew right then and there that the reality shift had skipped her over completely. “Josh?! No, no no no, no, no! That’s… You’re… What’s going on here?!”

I stepped around her. “Oh, not much. Just learning a few things about myself, most notably that Trey and I had a really good thing until you decided to be a massive bitch and screw that up.” I had absolutely no idea if that was true, but dammit I was gonna make her think that it was. “And now I see you’ve thrown Trey out the door for Brett, which means you weren’t just a bitch to your bestie, you were a bitch to the guy you stole from your bestie.” I leaned in on her. “And now that I know you’ll willingly hop from guy to guy, maybe you’ll start to get a bit of a reputation around school. As a bitch.”

“Look, whatever, so you had your sister turn you into a girl just so you could fuck around with me just because I dumped you, I don’t care. It’s not like anything you do as a girl will matter when you change back into a boy.”

“It’ll matter when I don’t change back into a boy, because this,” I pointed to myself, “isn’t just some limited time offer, oh no, this is what you're paying for from now on."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

I took a step closer. "Stacy or Kelly didn't do this to me, I did, because I'm a witch now." Not exactly the truth, but less of a lie than it could be. I was the reason Jenna was always on the outside, after all.

She clasped a hand over her mouth. "No way…"

I nodded. "Yep, and trust me, I could go on to make your life a living hell from now on, but I'll settle for giving you a shitty rep you'll need to work off somehow. But if you ever try to fuck with me, I'll make sure you remember every bit of what happens to you." The look on her face was priceless. She was terrified. Mom and Dad would frown on me using magic to do anything nasty to her, but they'd have very few problems with me screwing her life up for shitting on me. Shitting on both me's, actually. Jenna and Josh had about equal reason for hating her.

I turned away from her and waved. "Bye, Yvonne. See ya tomorrow when everybody in school knows what kind of girl you really are." I didn't even wait to see her reaction. That lunch date she and Brett had planned was about to be a little less romantic than she probably thought it'd be.

Speaking of Brett, he stared at my ass as I left the bookstore. I blew him a kiss just to piss Yvonne off.

---

I was nearly back home when I realized I’d taken a slight detour. I knew exactly where I was going, too, as I’d just been there last night for a little bit as I met his parents. Hector’s house was less than a block away from mine, and apparently I wanted to go there. It was kinda funny, last night I was sure Jenna would never see this house again and here it turned out Josh would never see it at all. That didn't feel as depressing as it probably should have. Maybe I was happy that Hector had never met Josh and only met Jenna.

It sorta made it more special that way.

I stepped up onto the porch and almost knocked on the door before Hector's mom, Isabella, opened it right up. She was wearing a dirty yet white apron over her yellow dress and had a bright smile on her face.

"Jenna!" she exclaimed, then said something in Spanish that I couldn't understand. "Just a moment, I'll get Hector down here right away." She then almost yanked me inside and shouted upstairs, "Héctor!" followed once again by something I had almost no hope of ever understanding.

Almost immediately, Hector appeared at the top of the stairs, struggling to get a pair of pants on. "Jenna?" he asked in surprise. He then muttered something in Spanish and I was starting to wonder why I hadn't taken that as an elective like I'd considered. Maybe I could find a spell or something that would help me. He descended the stairs carefully as he tried to get his pants zipped and buttoned. “I thought you were going to school today.”

I shrugged. “Decided to skip. Plus my head was throbbing after what little I drank last night.”

He finally got his pants under control just as he hit the bottom riser. “So what are you doing here?”

I shrugged again. “I was out and about, ran into my ex-BFF, basically told her to go fuck herself, and then ended up here as I was walking home.”

He smiled. “Well, I guess that’s a pretty good day so far.”

I nodded. “Yeah, kinda. So… I was wondering… Have you had lunch yet?”

He shook his head. “No, why?”

“Oh, there’s this Indian place I’ve heard is pretty good downtown.”

He smiled again. “Just so happens, I like Indian food a lot.” He pointed upstairs. “Lemme go get dressed.”

“That’s great! We just need to swing by my house really quick.”

“What for?”

I didn’t tell him I wanted to grab a spellbook, of course. “Just something I forgot when I left earlier. Trust me when I say lunch would be super dull if I didn’t grab it.”