It took a while for Ester to realize she was awake. She turned over and stuffed her face into her pillow, sighing happily. Ester had not had a good night like that in—

She sat up.

“I haven’t had a good night in nearly a month,” she realized, whining, “What happened? Oh God…”

She squeezed her legs together. There was still something down there, so the curse hadn’t finished in the night. That was good, wasn’t it?

“At least I’m not stuck with these small breasts,” she mumbled, feeling the little lumps that barely filled out an A cup.

It was early, so she was dressed and in the kitchen getting cereal before anyone else was down. The knock at the door surprised Ester and caused her to spill the box all over the place. Cursing to herself, she went up to the door and peaked out the peephole. Outside was a tall man with waxy skin and piercing red eyes, carrying a heavy-looking bag.

“Who’s at the door?”

Ester jumped. Stephanie was standing at the top of the stairs in her bathrobe, looking down at Ester with a confused expression. Without waiting for an answer, she started down the stairs.

“It’s my doctor,” Ester said slowly, not entirely sure herself why he had come.

She unlocked and opened the door. The doctor was already looking down at her when it opened, and only briefly glanced up at Stephanie with a blank expression. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered or surprised by what he was seeing.

“May I enter?” he asked.

Ester took a step back to give him room, but Stephanie asked, “You’re not… a vampire or something, are you?”

Dr. Rackar shook his head and—to Ester’s surprise—smirked a little.

“I’ve been monitoring you from afar,” he explained, crossing the house in few easy strides to get to the dining room table, “Nothing invasive, but enough that I was aware you made a major decision recently that has changed things.”

“I’m sorry!” Ester blurted out, “I wasn’t thinking! I didn’t mean to—”

“I don’t have much time,” the doctor interrupted, “You haven’t done anything wrong, but I’m in a hurry.” From his bag, he pulled out a vial of green liquid. “Drink this. When you decided to embrace a new image for yourself, it altered the way the curse was affecting you. I had to make this fast, but it should help protect you from being overwhelmed; think of it as an inoculation to slow the effect.”

Ester took the vial in her hands and held it in front of her, but Stephanie wasn’t satisfied.

“You can’t just come into my home and give my kids things to drink, sir!”

“Ma’am, please,” the doctor replied, raising a hand, “This is between me and my patient.”

But Ester just gulped and shook her head.

“I don’t… I don’t know if I want this,” she said in a small voice, “My life is a lot better right now, doctor. I don’t really want to keep fighting it.”

The doctor’s gaze bore into her. For a moment, Ester was afraid that she was going to burst into flames under his stare. Then he nodded.

“Estella,” he said, and she blinked in surprise, “Whatever you decide, I want it to be your decision whether or not to break the curse. That means that I need to find out how, and it’s very important that you do not succumb to its effects before I succeed. Trust me: this is something that you want to feel like you have control over.”

Ester thought about it for a moment, then nodded. She tipped the vial into her mouth, pinching her face at the bitter taste. The liquid burned her throat going down, and she started to cough.

“Thank you,” Dr. Rackar said, taking the vial away from Ester while she retched.

Stephanie stepped forward to put her arms around Ester and help her stand, then glared darkly at the doctor.

“If that’s all,” she said, “I’d appreciate it if you left my home now.”

The doctor nodded, then picked up his bag. He was gone by the time Ester finished wiping the tears from her eyes. Stephanie seemed as surprised as Ester was.

“How do you feel, hon?” Stephanie asked.

“Great,” Ester muttered, “Can’t wait for the bad dreams to continue. I need some cereal. I have got to get this taste out of my mouth.”

Ester didn’t tell April what happened, and didn’t think Stephanie would say anything about it either. They just said goodbye for the day as usual and Ester walked with April to the bus stop. She wasn’t feeling great, but wasn’t sure if that was because of the medicine or what she had to do today.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she muttered to April on the bus.

“You’ll do great,” April cooed.

Ester was still wearing the most boyish clothes she had in her wardrobe. At her insistence, they’d wait until tomorrow to tell the school administration, and then she could wear whatever she wanted. Today, all she wanted to do was tell her friends.

It took forever to get to lunch, and Ester’s stomach was roiling too much for her to eat anything. She felt queasy, and her heart was pounding in her ears. Her heart felt bloated and kept getting stuck to the top of her mouth.

“I can’t do it,” she whispered to April, “Please help.”

April cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright guys. Yesterday, El told me that she wants to be a girl from now on, and her name’s going to be Ester starting today. We got it?”

There were a few murmurs of agreement around the table before people started addressing Ester directly.

“Good for you, girl.”

“It’s cool that you figured that out.”

“Not surprising, but we’re happy for you.”

“I’m sorry, but no.”

There was an abrupt, tense silence as everyone turned to look at the girl who spoke.

“You can’t just choose something like that,” she insisted, folding her arms, “Being a girl is more than just a letter on your ID. He doesn’t have any of the experiences a real girl would have.”

“Um… I agree.”

Everyone turned to face the boy who had spoken.

“Sort of, I mean,” he added, “El’s been under the effects of magic for a while. How do we know it’s really what he wants and not just the magic making him say that?”

“Bullshit!” One girl, Duela, slammed her hands on the table. “You can’t judge her because of her past. If she wants to be a girl, she’s a girl. If she wants to be a boy tomorrow, so be it.”

Someone else muttered, “I would actually prefer if she would commit to one or the other.”

People started talking over each other, until the whole table had erupted into angry noise. After a few moments, Ester snapped back to reality. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and started walking away. She left her food where it was. She wasn’t hungry anyway.

This was a mistake. Her gut had known it was a mistake. Why didn’t she listen to it? Ester should have never tried to tell people at school. She should have just been happy wearing her dress and heels at home and never letting anybody see.

“Wait up!”

Several of the girls from the table, including April and Duela, had followed Ester.

“Leave me alone,” she told them, “I didn’t want people to fight over me.”

“El—sorry, Ester,” one of them said, “You can’t compromise with people like that. You have to be firm if you want people to respect you.”

“I don’t understand why everyone can’t just get along!” Ester cried, close to tears.

April came forward and grabbed Ester in a hug. Ester returned the gesture, and tears started flowing. She was shaking. Why was she so weak? What happened to the time when she could defend herself from anything?

“I’ll try,” she mumbled, “I’ll try to stand up for myself.”

“You don’t have to do it alone,” Duela insisted, placing a hand on her shoulder. The other girls agreed, nodding along and pledging their support. Ester finally pulled away from April and wiped away her tears.

“Thanks girls,” she said, grinning stupidly, “But what if they’re right? I really don’t know what it means to be a girl. No really.”

“Well then,” someone said, “We’re just going to have to teach you.”

The promise of help was enough to keep Ester motivated for the rest of the day. Officially, nobody else knew, but Ester could tell that people were staring at her more than usual. People had talked. Even when she got on the bus, it was to dozens of surprised, confused, and angry glares.

“I’m not looking forward to tomorrow,” Ester muttered to April when they sat down.

“You’ll be great,” April assured her, “And if you’re nervous, just focus on all the stuff we’re going to do together now.”

“Oh?”

April was grinning and buzzing with excitement.

She explained, “I’ve done a lot of thinking. I would love it if we could do each other’s nails, and I really want to help you practice your makeup.”

“You already helped me with my makeup,” Ester reminded her.

“Yeah, but you were a boy then. It’s different for girls. Now you actually get to have some fun with it. Have you ever been camping? I would love for us to go camping before it gets too late in the fall.”

“What does that have to do with being a girl?” Ester asked.

April blinked, then replied, “Nothing. I just thought it might be fun. You, me, mom and dad, as a family.”

Ester smiled sadly.

“You really wanted a sister,” she realized.

But April blushed and looked away, muttering, “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just going to make things awkward.”

Ester sighed. April didn’t even know what she’d done and she was already beating herself up. How was Ester going to broach the subject without hurting her?

“It’s not awkward,” Ester lied, “Honestly, I’m glad that I got to be your sister instead of anyone else.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“April, my life has gotten so much better since you let me into your home,” Ester reminded her, “I owe it to you to be the best sister you could possibly have.”

She couldn’t tell April the truth. April would just blame herself. Even if she was responsible for the wish, it wasn’t her who placed the curse. The last thing Ester wanted was for April to tear herself up over something that wasn’t her fault.

And as long as she kept telling herself that it wasn’t April’s fault, she’d eventually believe it, right?

“You’re too kind,” April insisted, “I’m really happy that you’re here with me, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.”

Ester smiled, but her heart wasn’t in it. April kept talking, listing off all the things that she wanted to do with Ester before the curse was broken. There was no way they’d be able to get to them all, but Ester was happy to let her dream. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

Once they got home, April hid in her room to work on homework and watch Netflix. Ester slid into her own room and pulled out her computer. Homework could wait. There were people she needed to talk to. Earlier that morning, she’d left a post on the site to update her little gender council about her decision. She wanted to see what they thought.

“Ahhh! So happy for you, girl!”

“Glad you’ve found what you want to be! Hoping this makes things easier for you.”

“Way to go! It’s great to have the chance to experiment when your young. We’re rooting for you.”

She’d also vented some of her fears.

“I’m sorry to hear that you’re afraid breaking the curse will mean you change your mind. It sucks to feel like you don’t really know what tomorrow is going to mean for you.”

“Just try to focus on enjoying the here and now, okay honey?”

“Ester, if you want to go back to being a boy, then you should do whatever is right for you. But you’ll be welcome here anyway. Part of the community means ALWAYS part of the community.”

Ester smiled, fresh tears in her eyes. She had no idea what tomorrow was going to bring. But it was comforting to know that, whatever happened, she’d found at least one place where she belonged.