I was finally back home after all of the things that had happened. I was pretty exhausted. I wondered how much longer I could keep this up. I really wasn’t liking having to lie to everybody but it’s not like any of them would actually believe the truth. To a normal person, this is something that could only happen in fiction. I immediately went to my room, sat down on my bed, and let out a heavy sigh. Not long after that, there was a knock on the door.

“Christina?” I heard my brother say.

“You can come in.” I responded.

Not long after that, the door opened and he sat next to me.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Rough day, huh?” he said.

“Not really.” I replied.

“I know you’re struggling with this,” said Sam, “but you’ve got plenty of time to figure things out.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“Well, do you want to keep living as a girl?”

“I… don’t know.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Why are you so concerned about this. Are you still upset that it couldn’t have been you?”

“Putting that aside, I wanted to tell you something.”

“What?”

My brother then took a deep breath, and started scratching the back of his neck.

“I didn’t always believe in any of this stuff.” he said.

“Really?” I replied.

“Well, remember when Dad told you?” asked Sam, “You thought it was all bullshit.”

“Right.” I said, “I guess that makes sense.”

“My fifteenth birthday came and went,” said Sam, “I didn’t transform so I thought Mom and Dad were making it all up.”

“So, when did you start believing?” I asked.

“It was when I was at a friend’s house.” answered Sam.

 

***

His name was Skylar. What stood out most about him was his purple eyes, which were usually covered by his glasses. On top of his head, he had crimson hair and a decent amount of it that went down to his neck. The two of us were put on an assignment together and because of that, the two of us ended up walking over to his house.

“Ugh,” he complained, “this is gonna be a lot of work.”

“Come on,” I said, “with both of us, it’s gonna go quicker.”

“I guess,” said Skylar, “but it’s still gonna be a pain.”

He had a habit of complaining a lot. As long as I had known him, he had always been a pretty lazy guy. 

“Well, things would be less of a pain if you did more of your work.” I suggested.

“Whatever.” he said, when we arrived at his house.

It didn’t take too much longer to get to his room. We got our notebooks out on the table he had next to his bed and started brainstorming for our project. 

“You’re fifteen now, right?” he said.

“Yeah.” I replied, “Why?”

“It’s nothing.” he said, “Forget I asked.”

“That reminds me.” I said, “My parents once told me something.”

“What?” he said.

“Oh, something stupid about aliens.” I answered.

“A-Aliens?” he said, snapping his pencil in half.

“Whoa, man.” I said, “Are you okay?”

He looked down at the floor.

“I’m fine.” he said.

“Oh.” I replied.

“Let’s get to work.” suggested Skylar.

“What?” I said, “You never want to work!”

“Hey,” said Skylar, “that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… let’s work.” I said.

The two of us got to work on our assignment and we made a pretty good amount of progress too. We must have gotten pretty into it, because I noticed it had gotten really late. It was almost midnight. When I called home, Mom and Dad were a little upset about not hearing from me for a while. I guess I had my phone silenced the whole time. 

“Why don’t you stay here tonight?” asked Skylar.

“O-Okay.” I replied.

I didn’t bring much, so his family set aside some clothes for me.

“Is this really okay?” I said.

“It’s fine.” his mother, who looked more like she could be his sister said.

She was about his height, had the same eyes and hair color, but her hair went down past her shoulders a bit. 

“After all, he might not be able to use these soon.” she said.

“What are you talking about?” I said.

“Should I put you two in different rooms?” the woman said, seeming to not being attention to me.

“I know Sam,” said Skylar, “we’ll be fine.”

I ended up being in a sleeping bag on the floor of his room, while he slept in his bed. I’ll never forget what he said to me after the lights went out.

“If something happens to me,” he said, “will we still be friends?”

“What’s this about?” I asked.

“Like, if I looked a lot different-” started Skylar.

“Do you really need to ask?” I said, “Of course we will.”

Not long after that, I went to sleep. But I was woken up by a scream. 

“Wh-What happened?” I said, sitting myself up and looking where Skylar was supposed to be.

However, I wasn’t looking at the guy I was working on the assignment with. In his bed, was this girl, with the same eye color and the same hair color. Her hair was slightly longer and she looked a bit smaller, but it didn’t take me that long to realize that this girl was the same person.

“Skylar…?” I said.

Not long after that, the door opened and Skylar’s mom came into the room.

“So you did transform…” she said.

“What happened?” I asked.

We had a bit of a talk about aliens and how this was something that could happen in Skylar’s family. I ended up talking about what our Mom and Dad told me and after all this, I couldn’t deny any of it. Things were a bit awkward, but we went back to bed and then when we woke up the next morning, I was kicked out of Skylar’s room. During breakfast, we discussed what was going to be done about the assignment. I finished the rest of it myself and ended up turning it in for both of us. Unfortunately, this was the last time I ever saw Skylar.

 

***

“And that’s what happened.” he said.

“I see.” I replied.

“Do you miss him, er, her?” I asked.

“Yeah.” replied Sam, “I told Skylar we’d be friends no matter what. I hope she hasn’t forgotten that.”