Eli sat by the window and waited for Sue’s car to arrive. He had to adjust the camisole he was wearing under his short, safely invisible beneath the hoodie he was wearing. It would be a relief to no longer have to wear it.

He didn’t even say goodbye to his parents before grabbing his house key and ducking out. His father was still in the garage and his mother could be anywhere; he didn’t want to be a bother. Sue seemed glad to see him, at least.

“You need a car of your own,” she said, “It’s not cool that my boyfriend isn’t old enough to drive yet.”

“We’re in the same grade,” he reminded her.

“Still…” she muttered before driving away from the curb far too fast.

“I’m glad that you came,” Eli said softly.

“Oh?” Sue asked, glancing at him. When she pulled up to the stop sign, she turned her head to get a proper look at Eli, brushing her dyed red hair from her eyes.

Eli tried pulling himself up to sit even straighter, hoping it would make it harder to tell his height. Sue quickly turned to focus on the road again, but Eli caught her casting glances his way. He felt very boxed-in.

“I just really need someone to talk to right now.”

“Talk less,” Sue said, pulling off from the main road down a dirt road, “Make out more. There will be time for talking later.”

Eli watched the trees looming closer and gulped. Honestly, he wasn’t really interested. Not that he wasn’t straight; it was obvious how pretty Sue was. Her soft face, steely green eyes, and wolfish grin still melted his heart every time he looked at her. But he never felt like he was as turned on as he was supposed to be around her.

As they crossed the tree line, though, he remembered what she had said the other day. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like she was alone. Could he put aside his needs for a little bit to make her know she was wanted?

And if he couldn’t be there for her, would she really want to be there for him?

“Alright,” he said, as the car started to jerk in response to the bumpy road, “Let’s do this.”

Sue flashed him that grin he liked. Eli smiled in return, but pulled his legs up onto the seat and slouched over. He could fake it for a little while.

They didn’t get out of the car when Sue pulled to a stop next to the creek, but the trees were thick and cluttered, and the car itself was starting to feel cramped too. Sue turned the car off and undid her seatbelt before leaping over the cup holder and into Eli’s lap. He smiled as she adjusted herself, clearly trying to turn him on by pressing her body close up against his.

Eli let her kiss him, but then she started rubbing her hands over his body. Eli grabbed her by the wrists, but she just moved his hands to her breasts and made him give them a squeeze. This should have been really hot, but he didn’t feel anything even as she moaned with pleasure.

“I need you to take your shirt off,” she said, grabbing at his hoodie.

“No, Sue, really,” he said, trying to stop her.

She managed to get her hands on his shirt, though, and pulled up. He started flailing his arms the best he could, but Sue had paused. It seemed to take her a moment to find her voice.

“What are you wearing?” Sue asked.

Eli managed to wrest his clothes from her and pull his shirt back down. Sue retreated back to her own seat, looking at Eli with concern. The sight of the frilly camisole was clearly a lot for her to take in.

He wanted to say something. But all he could do was stare at her with wide eyes. After a moment, Eli became aware that he was trembling in fear.

“Eli,” Sue said slowly. She seemed to be chewing on her words before she continued, “If there’s something you want to say, you know that you can trust me, right?”

But she was glancing up and down, as if taking in for the first time the hat and hoodie he was wearing. Gears were turning in her head, but she didn’t seem to want to come to a conclusion until he’d said something. She was trying to smile, but failing.

“Sue, I want to tell you…” Eli said softly, “I really do—”

“Then tell me!” Sue cried, causing him to flinch.

He sighed, then took off his hat. The hair he’d carefully hidden beneath it came falling out. Even though he’d buzzed it short again the day before, it was falling down to his ears. Sue cocked her head to the side, as if not sure what that meant.

“I’m under some kind of spell,” he said.

“A spell?” Sue asked, scooting back until she was pressed up against the driver-side door.

He nodded, then in the smallest voice he could muster added, “It’s turning me into a girl.”

It was very quiet in the car. Sue didn’t say anything at all, and Eli could feel tears starting to well in his eyes. He choked down a sob, but when he closed his eyes the tears started to fall.

“That’s… that’s not a small thing!” Sue exclaimed, “Why would you hide that?!”

“My parents didn’t want anyone to know,” he replied. Then, realizing how weak-willed that made him sound, he added, “I didn’t either. I just wanted everything to go back to normal quickly when the doctor found a cure.”

“How do you know it’s not contagious?” she demanded.

“It’s not.”

“How do you know?” she repeated, more sternly.

He explained about the fountain, and how the doctor thought it might be faerie magic. That answer made Sue a little more tense, and she glanced around the woods outside as if they were suddenly being watched. It took her a few moments before she relaxed again.

“I’m just so worried,” Eli admitted, “I feel like I can’t trust my body anymore, and nobody will listen to me talk about it. All I want is to feel like I’m not alone. Why is that too much to ask for?”

Sue wouldn’t look at him at first. When she did, her expression was conflicted. Eli couldn’t help but whine a little. Finally, Sue nodded and took Eli’s hands in her own, smiling weakly.

“Eli,” she said, her voice shaking a little, “We’re going to get through this, I promise. I’ll be with you every step of the way, and then once you’re fixed everything can go back to normal. Alright?”

Eli didn’t even respond. He just reached over and pulled her into the tightest hug he could. They were both shaking a little, but Eli couldn’t see Sue bite her lip.

***

Eli was pacing in the hallway. Students milled about on their way to class, but nobody really paid him any attention. After a brief glance around to make sure he didn’t recognize anybody, Eli took his hat off to run his free hand through his hair.

“Oh, hey there,” someone said behind him.

Eli jumped, startled, and jammed his hat back onto his head without adjusting his hair. He had to push it out of his eyes to see who had found him. It was April, the girl with the sunny blue eyes he’d literally run into the week prior. When she saw how surprised Eli was to see her, she flashed him her toothy grin, showing off the gap in her incisors.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I promise I didn’t meant to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” Eli lied, trying to push his bangs fruitlessly behind his ears, “How are you?”

“Better than you look,” April said, now frowning, “Something going on? Because if you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, maybe it’s a sign that you really need a nap.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Eli said, struggling not to giggle.

Eli didn’t know April. Not really. But he wanted to trust her. The nurse was too much of an authority figure to trust, but April was practically a stranger.

“Something happened recently,” he admitted, “My girlfriend found something out that I wanted to keep to myself.” He self-consciously started fiddling with his hair again. “Even if she doesn’t tell anyone, it’s just going to get harder to hide.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, before biting her lip briefly and asking, “Is that going to hurt your relationship?”

He chuckled a little and rubbed the back of his neck, then told her, “No. She’s okay with it, thankfully. And it’s not going to be a problem for very long anyway.”

April got a thoughtful look on her face for a moment.

“Well,” she said, “If you don’t want to tell anyone, then I guess that’s your call. But maybe you should tell them that something is happening. At least that way they won’t be so worried that you’ve got a problem they don’t know about.”

“Yeah,” Eli said, “You may be right. I should think about that. But it’s kind of just a family thing.”

“Ah. Family is family; you gotta put them first,” she agreed, “But if it’s really going to get worse before it gets better, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to bring a few people in. It can be scary to trust people——believe me on that one——even if you know them well, but people are usually more understanding than you think they are.”

Eli nodded.

“I guess there is someone I can talk to about it,” he admitted.

April gave him another one of her wide toothy grins. They bid their goodbyes, then she seemed to move in for a hug before thinking better of herself and just giving Eli a light tap on the arm with her fist. Both of them laughed about it as they walked their separate ways.

Eli wasn’t laughing for long, though, before his nerves took over again. By the time lunch came and he knocked on the door to the counselor’s office, his palms were sweaty and his stomach was in knots. When he heard the guidance counselor call out for him to enter, Eli steeled himself and pushed the door open.

“Hello there, Elias,” Mr. Edwards said, looking pleasantly surprised at Eli’s presence, “Is there something I can do for you?”

Eli nodded and sat down, then took a deep breath. He started talking, about the fountain and about what the doctor said and about what was happening to his body and how his parents had reacted and about telling Sue in the woods. He cut himself off just when he started to mention Victoria, figuring that Mr. Edwards didn’t need to know about the girl who could appear in the boys’ toilets.

“Wow,” Mr. Edwards said when Eli had finished, “You’ve been going through a lot, Elias.”

Eli nodded.

“How do you feel?” the counselor asked.

“A little worried,” Eli said in a small voice, “It’s been over a week. It’s getting hard to ignore. And I haven’t heard from the doctor since he showed up at my house.”

“Have you talked to a… regular doctor about this?” Mr. Edwards asked.

Eli shook his head.

“In that case, I’m going to suggest you see the nurse and let her know what’s happening,” he said. Eli opened his mouth to protest, but Mr. Edwards continued, “It will be good to have someone with actual medical expertise nearby who at least knows what’s going on with you.”

Eli sighed and nodded.

It was a relief to be out of there. Sure, it probably had been a good idea to get an adult on his side, but even with April’s assurance the circle of people who knew what was going on was quickly swelling beyond what Eli was comfortable with.

He passed two people who were deep in hushed conversation. They glanced at him briefly, and Eli shivered. He adjusted his hat a little, but told himself that he was probably imagining things.

“Get your head in the game, El,” he told himself, pulling his books tighter to his chest.

To his surprise, one of the other kids walking through the hall toward him was Carla. She had definitely seen him, but once he noticed her she turned her gaze away and picked up her pace. He tried to say hi to her as she passed him by, but she didn’t even slow down.

Eli stopped and turned around, watching her retreat without so much as a glance back at him. His mouth was hanging open, but he didn’t close it. How could she just ignore him like that?

So he stormed off, trying to ignore the hot tears pooling in his eyes. He ducked into the library and quickly found an empty table to sit down at. Eli buried his head in his hands and struggled not to sob.

“It’s my fault,” he eventually whispered to himself, “I spent so long pushing her away. No wonder she hates me.”

He just wanted this to all be over. But eventually the bell rang and Eli had to pull himself together. There were still classes to get through, and he wasn’t going to let his grades slip just because of a little magic.

Chemistry was only half over, though, before a voice came over the intercom asking for Eli to go to the nurse. Eli could feel every eye on him, so he hunched his shoulders the best he could and kept his gaze down. He just wanted to stop being the center of attention.

The nurse seemed surprised to see Eli enter, but then smiled softly when she saw how nervous he was.

“Hey sweetie,” she said, “Didn’t think I’d see you again. How are you feeling?”

“Can we just get this over with?” Eli asked.

“Of course,” the nurse said, gesturing for Eli to sit on the little bed. “If you feel at all uncomfortable, let me know, alright. There’s no reason for you to feel uneasy.”

Eli nodded, but he felt like if he opened his mouth he was going to throw up. He was tense as the nurse took his vitals and inspected his body. She was kind enough not to ask him to remove any clothes, not that Eli thought he would have had the stomach to.

“Well, without drawing any blood, it seems to me that your body resembles a perfectly normal girl going through late-onset puberty.” She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. That’s probably not what you wanted to hear.”

“Not really, no,” Eli said, squirming a little.

“Since you’re here, though,” the nurse continued, “Are there any questions about what’s happening to your body? I’ve seen a lot of kids going through this.”

Eli raised an eyebrow.

“Puberty,” she clarified.

Eli looked away as he felt his face burning. He opened his mouth to ask something, then cleared his throat and said, “No, there’s nothing,” instead. The nurse seemed unconvinced.

“Alright, sweetie,” she said, “One last thing before you go. What would you prefer I call you?”

Eli bit his lip.

“Eli is fine,” he insisted, “So is El, if you want.”

“Alright, Eli,” the nurse said, “Out you go. Can’t skip class forever.”