A few days passed, and I got into a bit of a routine. I'd get ready for the day and have breakfast with Jordan, Alex, and Lane. Then we'd head to classes. The facility wasn't as big as Ravenwood, so the classes were more one-on-one than I was used to. It was a little more awkward at times, but when I did the work it was way more interesting. For the first time in my life, I didn't feel like I was behind in my classes.

I had first period pre-calc with Alex. He seemed to understand it as well as I did, so we helped each other out when the other needed it. I got to spend second period English and third period world history with Lane. He turned out to be a chill guy. We bonded quickly over our shared love of comic book movies. He would have sided with Kai in our fight over which company made better stories, but I liked the challenge. It felt familiar. Fourth period physics I had solo. It was all right since this had been one of my better subjects. Fifth period was the mandatory anatomy class, but fortunately, Jordan was in it too. It mostly consisted of a bit of rehash on sex-ed and some added personal hygiene. Jordan seemed to cringe through most of the class and I could tell he was more uncomfortable than even I was. My last class of the day was an elective. I had picked photography. It was a spur of moment choice, as I had no background in working with cameras. It was fun though, and close to the therapist's wing which was directly after sixth period.

Therapy had been going okay thus far. It was mostly surface level stuff as my therapist, Olivia, and I got to know each other. I was either too afraid to ask any real questions or I simply didn't have any.

Things started to feel normal again. Dad had been mostly right, as it was a lot like college but early. Of course, the second things felt normal everything had to change.

Between therapy and dinner, I had a few hours to kill that I usually spent wandering around taking pictures for my photography class. It was a nice way to get used to the grounds. I was really focusing on this one shot when I felt a pain in the center of my chest. At first, I thought I might be having a heart attack, but I came to my senses. I rushed back to my room and the pain had spread to my arms and a bit on my face. I looked long and hard in the mirror and while I couldn't discern any immediate change, I knew that it was coming.

Intellectually, I had been prepared for this. Since we went through what was essentially a second puberty in such a short span of time, what was not-so-affectionately named “bone ache” was common. The feeling wasn’t dissimilar from what you feel after a tetanus shot.

Dinner was drawing nearer, and I decided to head down and meet the guys. They had saved me a spot in line and we all went to sit down. I noticed that all three of them looked stiffer than usual. I figured that they were getting hit by the same bone ache I was. Lane started to stretch his arm to alleviate some of the soreness.

"Hitting you too?" said Alex.

Lane nodded reluctantly, "It’s weird that its finally getting us. Just when we were starting to feel normal again."

We all shook our heads in agreement. Dinner that night was eaten quietly and then we all headed up to our rooms.

Alex and I did our math homework and called it a night early. We both climbed into bed and because of our soreness, we both found it easy to drift off.

Around three in the morning, I woke up to noises coming from the bottom bunk. I dropped down to make sure everything was okay. Alex was tossing and turning in his bed, clearly in pain, but didn't ever wake up. After a couple of minutes, it seemed to mostly subside, and I climbed back in bed. Falling asleep this time was a bit harder, but I managed to drift off.

Usually, I woke up before Alex and got ready, but today Alex was already out the door before I could really get out of bed. I scrambled into some decent clothes and made my way to breakfast. The guys were already sitting down and had grabbed me a plate. I thanked them and dug in. The conversation proceeded as usual, and I sat back and watched as Jordan and Lane decided to go at it over some friendly disagreement. Alex was noticeably quiet, and I took a minute to look him over. The longer I looked the more I could see the subtle changes that had taken place last night.

The way they explained the process of the transition was targeted muscle atrophy coming from within the body. It deteriorated itself in certain very specific areas. It could be an incredibly painful process, but they said that once the change started they provided us with medication and physical therapy to dampen the pain.

After breakfast finished up, Alex and I headed to our class. We were around halfway there when I decided to probe him about last night.

"Dude, are you feeling okay? You had a rough night last night." I mentioned.

He took a moment and responded, "I'm good, nothing serious."

I let it sit in the air for a bit. "You know... It might be around time to go on those meds they offered us," I said carefully. I knew this was a sensitive thing. It was another step in acknowledging that what was happening to us was beginning to be real.

He nodded his head, "Yeah, probably."

Classes breezed by, as did lunch. Alex's lack of usual energy left the rest of us feeling a bit drained.

Fortunately, photography gave me a pick-me-up. Our professor had given us a longer-term project. The topic was something to encapsulate our headspace as we went through the transition. I left with something in mind, but I was too afraid to propose it out loud yet.

Therapy that day was more tense than usual. Olivia asked me the regular questions about my day and assignments. I told her about the photography project but regretted it pretty quickly.

"What do you think you'll focus on?" she asked.

I should have kept quiet. I'd given her something to capitalize on. I squirmed in my chair, as this was what I hated about our sessions: the uncomfortable moments like something out of a cringey tv show.

"I was thinking about..." She looked at me and I knew that nothing was going to be said until I spilled the beans, so to speak. "I was thinking about taking pictures of me," I said at last.

"Alright," she said carefully, "Explain."

"Well the assignment is to capture our headspace as we go through our transitions, and I figured how better than literally. A shot every day... of my head."

She took a moment to think and smiled. "Sounds like a perfect idea."

I felt embarrassed, but it did feel good to go out on a limb and be validated.

Olivia wasn't going to push any further, having already made some headway and changed the subject.

"You're about to finish up your first week. Have you given any more thought to your future?"

I had. "I think I'll stick with what I'd wanted before. I'm still gonna be me after all this is through right? I've always dreamed about going to Westchester, I don't see why any of that has to change."

Olivia nodded again and smiled even bigger than before, "I'm proud of you. You've been real mature today. Let’s finish up early and get you on your way."

Her words fell on slightly deaf ears. While ultimately unavoidable, this had been an especially rough session. Usually, I could find a way of working the conversation such that she didn't get enough info to use, as she had. Or at the very least I felt like I was always good enough at subtly changing the subject away from more sensitive topics. Whether she had been humoring me up to that point, or I had slipped up, the end result had been tiresome and stressful, to say the least.

We said our goodbyes for the day and I headed out.

I crashed hard on my bed and thought about the past week. I was coming to terms at least about the hypotheticals of my situation. I was far from happy about it and given the chance I'd quickly take an opportunity to return to my normal old life. I hated the idea of not knowing who I was or who I was going to be in two months. Whether or not I would like that person, or if I would even remember what it was like to be me right now. And yet, while I still wasn't prepared, I was slowly coming around to the idea that everything might actually be okay. Then, Alex burst in, looked like he was going to faint, and nearly fell on his face. I helped him to his bed and yelled for some help.