Chapter 20 - Curious Her

Oh, don’t worry I’m not going to do anything crazy, like turn into an irrational optimist. Just looking back on that time.

And, besides, every shift Ben made in his seat reminded me of the invisible, intangible, and inexplicable girly force which seemed to emanate from me since I started eating wheat again.

My stomach and I had reached a tentative détente since Gym but it shifted a bit when I remembered that I’d learned the word “détente” from Wes. At the same time, I tried not to think about Wes because I wasn’t exactly sure what the trigger was for the massive, potentially permanent change I’d unleashed on him.

Then again, part of me wanted to reproduce it so then at least the cause and effect would make sense. Blame noticing a little note about the scientific method on the page of the textbook in front of us.

Above all else, it seemed impossible to get my mind focused on something resembling a lesson. But a section on mutation did catch my eye. The class giggled when it came to cell fertilization a chapter ago and I was sure that something crude had been sketched into someone’s textbook in the other room.

For this chapter, which I’d read part of, there was something we had to draw related to proteins then discuss sugars and why some are more densely packed than others. Ben worked on the terms.

So far as “group work” went, the case was always who was going to do it and who was going to copy and bide their time. With just the three of us, we kinda had things figured out in a fraction of the time of any of the groups in the other room.

That said, this wasn’t an advanced or honors Biology course. So just getting through basic cell biology took a long time.

This left our trio with plenty of downtime, which I took to watch the others. Were there signs yet? Yes.

I noticed that I couldn’t see Ben’s arm hair anymore. I pointed this out to him immediately. He held it up to his face and squinted as he noted, “Really?…Huh. It’s kinda sparse but it’s still there.”

As a test, he got up from his chair and walked over to an ancient projector in the back of the room. He bent his arm around to try to get a shaft of light across it to catch the most subtle version of The Wolfman.

Only after some straining did he catch it in its original, bushier version. With widened eyes, he gave a quick laugh and said, “Man…that’s weird. But it’s back. Huh…”

Rebecca pouted and turned her arms a few times as she noted, “I don’t see anything with me.”

I thought that perhaps her hair had gotten longer by a smidge but it wasn’t enough of a difference to be certain.

Stepping back towards me, Ben crept into his seat and said, “My watch has a timer. I should turn it on and then we can see how long it takes to do that again.”

It had been something like ten to fifteen minutes since they’d joined me and we’d finished up the work. In class on Tuesday, it had taken nearly the whole period for a full conversion. I asked, with a frown, “Are you sure? It could be dangerous…”

Rebecca chirped in, “I’m staying here. I wouldn’t mind seeing what happens to me. So long as I don’t grow a dick.”

Ben shrugged and offered, “If it gets weird, then I’m out, but it’s okay for now.”

That’s really all I could’ve asked for from anyone.

And then we waited. Ben did his best Bill Clinton voice and then we preoccupied ourselves with Simpsons quotes.

He chuckled, “Me fail English? That's unpossible!” Then the X-Files came up. This led to Rebecca positing to me, “Maybe you are an X-File…”

I could only shrug with my limited knowledge of the program. She offered up a few possibilities.

“Government experiments on you?”

The closest I got to the government most of the time was my mom’s job and I’d never even visited the base since she started working there. Of course, I could get all paranoid and ponder whether she was experimenting on me in my sleep. Unlikely though.

“Aliens!” She seized on that with glee.

I snorted a little in amusement as she concocted a theory. It was basically the government one but with aliens in their place.

Each new idea got even more ridiculous but still she pushed onward, “Unintentional magick with a ‘k’.”

I squinted tightly at that one and asked her to clarify, since I’d never heard of it. She brought up the local New Age stores she’d been to a few times even though her mom told her not to go because it was “evil witchcraft”.

“I’ve read some of the books though and there was one about like…Chaos magic and like a blue energy veil and stuff. It can transform people and it’s really powerful and you have to be very careful with it. And like, you can do it on your own if you’re really talented but the results can be wild.”

I felt skeptical but, with what had happened so far, it was worth giving as much consideration as anything else.

Carefully, I finally got around to asking them, “Do either of you know Wes Betancourt?”

Of course, they both did. Ben had him for history and Rebecca knew him from a health class. Without prompting, they both mentioned they hadn’t seen him this week. I wanted to stop there and not go onward.

But I did.

“There were people in uh…this class that changed and stuff. But they turned back. But Tuesday, I was in the Computer Lab in the library when I…thought about him and he started changing all of a sudden.”

They both listened intently. It was so quiet that the din of the other room sounded like the grinding of a far-off washing machine.

“He turned completely into a girl and he’s been one ever since. So far as I know…”

Ben leaned back and seemed about to say something, but he held his tongue. Rebecca had to ask what he looked like now. I did my best to describe the...effects.

Her ultimate assessment was, “Wow. I hope he...she...he...I hope Wes is holding up okay. Dang…”

I wanted to add something to that, but I just nodded. Ben finally offered, “Sooo…you’re not going to do that again, I hope, right?”

I grimaced and nodded as I said, “I’ll try not to. I don’t even know what happened. I got upset at him because well…we were together for a little while in freshman year…”

It was at this point that Ben’s eyes glossed over slightly and Rebecca leaned in and asked for more juicy details. I provided much the same version as I’ve often repeated. Rebecca noted, “That wasn’t cool of him to laugh at your writing but maybe he had an understandable reason for finding it funny too?”

That was a way of looking at it I hadn’t seriously considered but was entirely beside the point. “I guess but I didn’t want to do it to him. I just felt miffed at him.”

Ben chimed in and asked, “You’re cool with me…right?...Uh…” He cleared his throat as it shifted higher, like he was trying on a convincing falsetto.

Quickly, Ben hopped up from his chair and went back over to the old, stored projector as he read off the time. It hadn’t been as long compared to the time we spent studying. While he waited over there, Rebecca checked herself and mentioned, “I feel a little different…”

Thankfully, it wasn’t in her bust. She soon discovered, “I feel like I lost a little in my waist and got it in my hips. So weird. Not bad though. My skin looks really good too. Dang.”

We both turned to look as Ben checked his arms and tested his voice. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like his scrubs were a size too big for him. Still, they were quite loose to begin with. The shift back wasn’t immediate, but it also didn’t take long before he looked like himself again.

It was anecdotal but multiple exposures seemed like they compounded some effects. Maybe it was in a certain amount of time? I hoped so. I tried to think of if my dad had changed quicker in any of the times he’d been exposed to me after the restaurant, but I just wasn’t sure.

Ben crept back carefully and cleared his throat again with his normal register. “I uh…uh. So umm…”

His cheeks, even paler than mine, did nothing to disguise a warm and growing blush. He took a breath. Rebecca raised a sculpted eyebrow as she adjusted her clothes.

Eventually, Ben spat it out, “I want to see what happens…kinda…sorta.”

Rebecca and I both widened our eyes. I certainly didn’t expect that. Rebecca bluntly asked, her voice starting at a normal level then moving to a hush as she noticed Bledsoe was getting close to the side room, “You…do you wanna be a chick?”

I held on to the same question in my throat. Ben seemed to shrink in on himself without any further physical effects from me yet, as he muttered, “I dunno. It’s uhh…I mean wouldn’t either of you kinda…wanna see what being a guy is like…if it was temporary?”

Rebecca gave her answer first, “Hell no. I like being a girl. It would be so weird…for me.”

I could barely imagine what Rebecca as a boy would be like. I didn’t want to do that either, lest I somehow unlock a new aspect to my ability to do what I did to Wes but to girls. I still quipped, “You might be like a bodybuilder…”

She seemed to get the hint as she adjusted her shoulder straps, “Nah. I wouldn’t be good as a gay, buff guy. I’m used to who I am…”

And then I asked the question. It wasn’t so much for me, but it was still inside my head. “Do you think like…if it kinda happened to you that you would be able to get through it? Do you think like…I mean you wouldn’t want to hurt yourself or something bad like that…right?”

Rebecca wore a curious expression and pondered what I’d asked as I noticed her lashes had gotten just a little bit longer.

“I dunno. I don’t want to. I have a sister who has a lot of…well, she gets depressed a lot. I’m happy though. And that’s me. I don’t think I would not be me no matter what happened to me. I hope…” She finished that with a shrug and we both turned our attention to Ben.

He looked back and forth at us and grimaced as he said, “I like being me too. I just want to see what will happen. So long as I can turn back real fast. But if it were for keeps. I…shit…hmm. My mom would freak out. My dad would laugh his ass off because that’s him. Me…I’m just curious…”

Art by Alexis Rillera/Anirhapsodist

Original design for Kenzie Waller