Chapter 31 - Girl-Making Mana: the Cause of and Solution to All of Life's Problems

It was worth trying. But I’d just had those corn dogs. I’d had a crappy version some years ago which was like cornmeal mash lumps on a hot dog. To be fair, the normal version wasn’t impressive either as it thrashed in my stomach.

“I guess so. I just…there’s been no connection. I just had one meal and the…whatever it is…hasn’t changed from then…”

Brian rocked his guitar and remarked, “It could be like a switch. You eat wheat and it’s just on after that.”

A worrying notion. But I did point out that I’d kinda cheated on the wheat thing from time to time. I had rice with wheat bits a few times at a steak place. I’d had things with wheat or gluten stuff to hold things together, like my angrily-digesting corn dogs, which I placated a little with that fruit dessert.

Each time I’d done that I’d had a reaction, usually waves of coughing and a sick feeling in my stomach. In retrospect, those reactions were likely psychological as the doctor concluded my allergy had been gone for a long time.

I rubbed my neck through my hair and said softly, “But there’s nothing strange about wheat. It’s not like eating a magic potion or anything.”

At the same time, Cody’s hair spilled over his shoulders. Liz noticed and commented, “Weird. I didn’t even see it grow.”

Cody soon realized what was different and brushed it back as he remarked in an even lighter, younger tone, “I really need a haircut.”

Liz’s comment made me bite a little at my finger. The shifting. It progressed. People changed but it was strange. Not a fluid transformation like some visual effect but like a flutter you couldn’t quite catch. It had been like that with everyone. Sure, I’d watched Ben revert quickly, but it was like catching snapshots of change.

For instance, I caught that his jawline seemed to sink into his smiles instead of being accented by them. His chin was a fainter bump than before. Liz was the next after me to notice. She leaned towards us but only briefly before she straightened back. Turning around, Cody used the safety glass in the gym door behind him to get a faint reflection of himself. He stuck out his tongue, puffed at a mouth full of hair, and responded, “Can’t see much. Do I look really different?”

Setting his guitar over her...his...HIS dammit... shoulder with the strap, Brian fished out a small, rectangular hand mirror and brought it over to Cody before commenting, “No homo, but you already look pretty.”

Raising a thinning eyebrow at him, Cody answered, “Yeaaaah…gotcha. But thanks. I suppose.” He surveyed himself in the little mirror and resolved, “I don’t look too much like my older sister or my mom. Kinda like my aunt. Voice is total mom though.”

I’d never met any of them. I told him, “I can get up and move at any time…”

He gave a half-chuckle and said, “Nah. I’ll leave if it gets too weird. Besides, I think I can win this game. OH! That just gave me an idea. Maybe…you’re a Planeswalker…?”

My blank look lingered on his cute expression of excitement. At this point, it would’ve been challenging with a quick glance to tell if Cody was a guy or a girl. I hadn't grasped the previous allusion, but I wanted to understand this one. 

Brian and Cody worked together to simply explain (and this is the summation of my best understanding of the concept) that a Planeswalker was basically the player (but also a card being which could be summoned). And a Planeswalker had a spark which could be activated to unleash a great power. It kinda broke down from there, but he admitted the lore had recently been revised with a lot of stuff invalidated.

Also, this spark activating apparently related to some traumatic, near-death event. Getting a chance to eat wheat didn’t really fit that label. Cody’s clothes were looser than before but it didn’t seem like they were falling off of him yet.

Liz fidgeted and urged, “Maybe you should get up. This is really freaky.” By her drifting glance, I couldn’t be sure if she was addressing that to me, Cody, or her brother. I shifted my legs and looked to the others. Brian crouched by his guitar. He’d stopped playing and he was half watching the game and half watching the changes as they slipped from one to the next.

I shut my already tired and twitching eyes for a long moment. When I opened them, Cody was fussing with the front of his checkered flannel shirt. Liz leaned over and scolded him, her mouth dangling, “Are you....feeling yourself up?!”

Cody announced, in a voice close in shape and tone to my own, “So? They’re mine. Bitty boobies. Not much yet. Maybe I should make them dance...”

Liz touched her forehead with a groan, but Cody didn’t make good on his threat. I held my tongue. I could imagine him doing that, but I was glad he didn’t. They weren’t much, and they didn’t seem to expand significantly, but they were substantial enough to be unambiguous. Cody did wiggle his legs, which made other things wiggle as well. Kenny’s eyes slipped over to his opponent and stayed there no matter how many open-mouthed scoffs, throat clearings, and glares his sister gave.

Kenny soon lost the game and received a victory raspberry and giggle from Cody, whose fingernails appeared longer, with a shift from bitten short to crescent pearls, as he picked up his cards. It wasn’t long after that Cody got a weird look on his face and pulled at his waistband.

Raising a finger and pausing a moment, he pronounced, “Now…uh, that’s a feeling…well…that’s a feeling. I’m now part of the Tampon Brigade. That is so weird. Yet, not freaking out. Just a little…antsy…”

Liz urged, “You or Kenzie have gotta make sure it’s not permanent. This is like totally…Ugggg…I’m freaking out! Please don’t touch my brother…”

I was going to point out that I hadn’t seen it spread like that but I also hadn’t yet been in a situation exactly like this, so I didn’t know. Cody gave her a look and posed, “So, you’re saying Kenzie has cooties? Seriously?” I’d half-joked about that the other day.

Clutching her chin, Liz shook her head and told us, “I’m very serious. Not cooties but like…she just said she doesn’t know how this works. Kenny is only allowed to be a boy. He’s my big brother and that’s just how it is. End of story.”

Brian had been a quiet observer to all this, but his hands slipped back to the strings on his guitar and he played a slow, almost-tender melody. Kenny scratched at his elbows and declared, “I’m not afraid. She’s just sitting there, and I’ve been completely fine…”

Liz leveled a finger and said, “That! That is totally one of those last words things in movies before like a dinosaur snaps your face off.”  

Kenny’s slow, annoyed groan was a sound I knew well. For a fleeting moment, my mind slipped into devious rebellion. What if I turned Kenny into a girl like his sister? Even more of one than her. Absolutely and utterly....

STOP!

I literally shouted that inside my head. I was angry at myself for letting that thought get so far. I was trembling but with only my legs twitching like Cody’s were, that I’d consider such a thing. It made all the sick, corn dog feelings bubble back to the surface.

The tension was broken by Cody lunging forward and tickling at Kenny’s armpits. He shot his arms back but gave the snorting, spasming laugh he always did when he thought he told a funny joke. They leaned away and then back again before settling sideways in their battle. Liz fumbled for words.

They’d done this kind of thing before like how I imagined brothers would. But appearances were much different. Cody’s breasts mashed into Kenny’s shoulder as she lay atop him and used her nimble little fingers to find his weak points.

Brian arched his eyebrows and slid his guitar around, so it covered his lap. I wondered about that later but thought nothing of it then. Liz fumbled for words until she finally managed to blurt out, “Chill! Like…what the fuck are you doing?!”

One last back and forth offensive ended with Cody slipping down close to touch Kenny’s face. Quick, like any of her strikes, I saw her leave a little kiss behind on his cheek before she pulled herself up and adjusted her slipping clothes and scrambled hair.

Kenny pushed up with his elbows from the ground and asked, “Huh…hoo…hoo…uhh…what was that?”

Cody clutched her cheeks. They looked a little flush from the tickle war as she cleared her throat and explained, “Must be Kenzie’s girly mana leak. I feel warm all over…”

Brian finally chimed in, “Man, it might be time to get some air…”

Rubbing her eyes and blinking, Cody turned to look at me and said, “Yeah…mana leak…that’s a theory too.”

It felt weird as Cody curled in her bright lips to moisten them. I leaned my head back and asked, thinking of recent things overheard, “Green mana?”

Cody shook her head as she made her way closer to me. “Nah, green hates making changes. Blue is closer but not quite. You should play a game….it’s fun.”

He was…She was getting really close now. I felt my heart thundering and tried to find words. But I just held myself there as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me right on the side of my mouth.

It was a longer, more obvious kiss than Kenny’s. My lips tickled with the warmth of her breath over them. There was really no difference between it and any other kiss I’d shared (we’re not talking a huge sample size). But I wasn’t thinking of any of those other kisses right then.

My body was hot but shivering. My mind was sludgy but racing. Cody had just kissed me but as a girl full of my girl-making mana or whatever. All I could do was sit as I looked in her sly eyes, and she plopped on the ground with a long breath and another giggle.

Somehow, I got up first. I crumpled my white foam food tray in my hands and clung to my backpack as I put enough distance between myself and everyone else.

Slowly, with that slideshow of states slipping past my awareness one at a time, Cody returned to his familiar shape. He adjusted his clothes and mulled with amusement, “I wonder if that was…like being a little tipsy…”  

The spot where she…he’d kissed still had the shadow of being warm and wet. I couldn’t make words, no matter how I tried. Thoughts were challenging as well. But I remembered how Heather had gotten cozy too, like she was drunk.

Art by Alexis Rillera/Anirhapsodist