Maya and Brielle slept in their old boy pajamas that night. Unfortunately, magically altering their bodies did not grant them a brand new wardrobe. The next morning, when they were done with their respective showers, they put on the outfits from the day before.

Brielle was downstairs poking at the eggs on her plate when Maya arrived. Their mother had already left for work, but the skillet was still warm. Maya turned up the heat and grabbed a few eggs and strips of bacon from the fridge. She was halfway through cooking when Brielle entered to drop off her plate. They shared a curt nod and Brielle left. Maya heard her run upstairs. Once again, she was left alone. 

“The perks of being an only child,” she muttered.

Brielle would be in their room, so after breakfast Maya just plopped on the couch in the living room. The much larger TV was better for watching anime anyway. She pulled up her latest show where she had left off and settled in for a long day of wasting away on the couch.

After a while, Maya started to feel a little bored without her phone. But Brielle had it upstairs. She could probably go ask for it, but Maya really didn’t want to see her sister again so soon. It was still a little much to take in.

“This is never going to work,” she realized. “We can’t both live here like this.”

What was she going to do? Brielle had nowhere else to go. Besides, it was her home too, wasn’t it? Even if Maya hadn’t asked for a sister, she was stuck with one now.

Shortly after noon, Maya heard a car pull into the driveway. A quick peek outside showed that it was her mother’s. She must have been stopping by during her lunch break for some reason.

When she got through the door, Maya’s mother told her, “Call… your sister down here for me.”

Maya walked over to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, “Brielle! Mom wants you for something!”

She felt a pang of anger. That was her name. People were supposed to be calling her Brielle, not her sister. Maya took a seat on the couch again while her sister thundered down the stairs.

“What is it?” she asked, phone still in hand.

“You and… your sister need to go to the store and buy some new clothes,” their mother said, pulling a thick wad of cash from her purse. She shoved the cash into Brielle’s hands. “At least enough for a week for each of you. Remember you’re spending for two now, so be wise about how much what you buy costs.”

Maya and Brielle shared a brief glance before looking away from each other.

Brielle asked, “Do we have to go together?”

"Yes. You only have the one car and I want this to be done today,” their mother replied. “Let’s just get it over with, okay?”

Brielle sighed and nodded. Maya groaned and turned the TV off, then stood up. Neither of them looked at each other.

“Let me go grab my wallet and keys,” Brielle said.

“And for the love of God,” their mother said, “Do not get pulled over; your old license isn’t going to cut it anymore. I do not want to have to bail my own child out of jail. Or worse.”

Brielle nodded, her own expression darkening.

Once again, Maya took the passenger seat while Brielle drove. They didn’t look at each other during the drive to the mall. Maya managed to get a hold of the phone to keep herself occupied, fortunately.

“So,” Brielle began, “I think we should get a sleeping bag if we can find one. That way we can trade off who gets the bed and nobody has to sleep on the couch. There’s no way we can both share the bed every night.”

“Okay.”

Brielle started drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. Maya glanced over at her briefly, but it was weird looking at a copy of herself. 

“Are you doing okay?” Brielle asked.

“I’m fine… You?”

“Uh-huh.”

Maya sighed. This trip was going to be difficult if they couldn’t even talk to each other. Never mind the rest of their high school years.

Brielle pulled the car into a mall parking spot and turned it off.

“We’re here.”

“Yeah…”

“We’ve never gone shopping for girls’ clothes before…”

“…Yeah.”

“This is gonna suck.”

“Oh yeah.”

Brielle took the lead once they were inside, scanning the mall map for stores to check out.

“I made a list of everything I think we need,” Maya said, holding up the phone to show Brielle. “Tops, bottoms, shoes… underwear, the whole nine yards.”

Brielle nodded, not taking her eyes off of the map.

“Alright,” she said. “I think we can make do with only three or four stores, not including the sleeping bag. We might need to make several trips back to the car.”

“Can’t wait…”

Maya was shaking as they entered the first store and headed to the girl’s section. Her breathing was shallow, and she wrapped her quivering arms around her stomach. She felt like someone was going to shout at her for being in the wrong section of the store.

Beside her, she could feel Brielle tense up when someone looked at them. Maya breathed out and relaxed a little. Knowing that they were both nervous helped make her the tiniest bit more comfortable.

“I’m actually glad you’re here,” she admitted, smiling softly. “This would be impossible if I were doing it alone.”

Brielle nodded, a smile flickering on her own lips.

Maya was the first of them to get into the dressing room. For a moment, she just stared at herself in the mirror, taking in the way she looked in a dress. This was everything she had ever dreamed of. She clasped her hands together and sighed contentedly.

When Maya was dressed in a cute top and denim skirt, she slid out of the dressing room and knocked on the adjacent door.

“Come on, let me see,” she pleaded.

“I don’t know about this, Maya.”

“What’s wrong?”

She heard Brielle sigh and unlock the door, opening it a crack before pulling Maya into the little room. It was cramped and Maya needed a few moments to get comfortable. Brielle turned so her outfit was fully visible in the mirror. She was wearing a colorful tank top and flowing knee-length skirt.

“It… I thought I wanted this,” Brielle said, shifting uncomfortably, “I mean, it looks okay, I guess. But it doesn’t feel like me. Is it just me? Am I not used to it yet?”

“Um… I don’t know,” Maya admitted, trying to rub the back of her neck in the limited space she had, “I like it. I kind of want that outfit, actually. If you do end up getting it, I might have to borrow it. Sorry.”

Brielle sighed.

“No, I don’t think I’m getting this. Let me get changed.”

Maya slid out of the dressing room and back to her own. She tried on a few more outfits, trying to narrow down her taste, which seemed to fall under “flagrantly feminine.” She’d picked out a lot of colorful and frilly tops, skirts, and dresses. Shorts and capris, but no regular pants. She’d been wearing pants her whole life, anyway; it was time to branch out and try something new.

She was in the middle of trying to pair a tunic with her new capris when she heard a knock on the door.

“Alright,” she heard Brielle say, “I think I’ve figured it out.”

Maya unlocked the door and opened it, then frowned. Brielle was wearing tight plain khakis, a black fitted tee shirt, and her hooded jacket. It was almost identical to the outfit she’d had on before.

“This feels right,” she said, beaming.

"Oh… I just thought… this was the first chance we had to really dress however we want.”

“Yeah, I know,” Brielle said, wringing her hands. “But I’m just not comfortable with those kinds of outfits yet. Maybe with time, but right now…”

She shrugged.

“Alright,” Maya said, folding her arms. “But you don’t get to borrow my clothes if you change your mind.”

Brielle chuckled and headed back into her dressing room to change. Maya followed suit, changing back into her strapless dress, and they paid for the clothes they’d picked out. They’d been there for over half an hour, and they still had several more stores to check out.

Once they had enough picked out that they had no choice but to drop their purchases off in the car, Maya suggested that they stop and get something to eat. Neither she nor Brielle had eaten anything since breakfast, and they were both starting to get hungry.

“It’s been over an hour and a half,” Maya moaned into her food court chicken sandwich, “and we still have two stores to go. I didn’t realize shopping could be so… exhausting.”

“We’re almost done,” Brielle assured her, poking at her Chinese food absentmindedly.

Maya nodded, but groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Brielle asked.

“It’s just… I’m worried,” Maya said. “Suddenly everything’s moving so fast. I don’t know how to be a real girl. None of my friends are going to believe this. Mom and Dad were right. I should have been more patient. I—”

Suddenly Brielle stood up and walked around the table, sitting down in the seat next to Maya. She hesitated for a moment, then wrapped an arm around Maya and pulled her in closer.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Brielle admitted. “But I promise we’re both going to be okay. Our friends still love us. Mom and Dad were wrong. And if they tell you otherwise, I’m going to protect you. I promise you, Maya, I’m going to be responsible for you.”

Maya could feel her face burning, but she leaned into the hug.

“Thank you. I think I needed that.”

This time, when they got home, Brielle just unlocked the door and walked right inside with Maya. Their mom and dad were already in the living room, sitting on the couch. Maya, struggling under the weight of the bags she was bringing in, managed to wave to them, but they didn’t seem to notice.

“There’s food in the fridge if you’re hungry,” their father finally said.

“Are you hungry?” Brielle asked Maya.

“Not yet,” Maya replied. “Oh, shoot. We forgot to buy the sleeping bag.”

“That’s fine. I’ll sleep on the couch if you want the bed.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch. You get the bed. It’s okay.”

“No, we can just share the bed again. It’s only fair we both get to sleep in our own room.”

Their parents exchanged a confused glance. Brielle went back outside to get the remaining bags from the car. Maya started upstairs, but stopped when she heard her mother speak.

“You’re getting along better, aren’t you?”

“Hm? Yeah, I guess we are.”

Her mother was staring right at her, like Maya was a puzzle she was trying to put together. Maya shifted uncomfortably and turned away. Her own mother couldn’t even look at her like she was a normal person.

Brielle brought the last of the bags into their room while Maya was still sorting through what they had bought. She’d separated everything onto two sides of the bed, one for her and one for Brielle. Brielle stepped around a pile of shoe boxes and placed the remaining bags at the foot of the bed.

“So we need to get rid of all our old clothes,” Brielle said. “We should donate them.”

“And we don’t have enough space for all of this,” Maya added.

“We’ll make do.”

Maya nodded, but she was frowning.

“Do you think…” she began, but trailed off.

“Go on,” Brielle said, starting to pull clothes out of the bags.

Maya sat down on the bed and bit her lip, then said, “Do you think that, maybe, one of us should have stayed with the witch instead of us both coming back?”

Brielle didn’t answer, but she did stop and turned to face Maya.

“Think about it,” Maya continued, “There’s only room here for one person. There wasn’t supposed to be two of us, and we’re trying to fit two people into one life. It isn’t going to work. So maybe one of us should have stayed behind.”

“And by one of us, you mean you, don’t you?”

Maya broke eye contact and nodded.

“Do you not want to be here?” Brielle asked.

“I do!” Maya insisted. “But… how? How are we supposed to pull this off? Mom and Dad can barely look at us. Our friends are expecting only one person to come back to school. We’d need a whole second room, with brand new furniture; Mom and Dad would have to sell the house—”

“Maya,” Brielle said softly, reaching out and touching her arm, “you want to be here. I want you to be here. You’re not sacrificing yourself for everybody. I’m not going to let you. It’s your life, too. We’re going to figure out how to make this work. Together.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Maya blinked, and tears started to stream down her cheeks.

“I feel so stupid,” she said. “I finally got what I wanted and I can’t handle it.”

Brielle told her, “You’re not stupid. And look, you can cry now. That’s not something we could do before, right?”

Maya giggled and wiped her cheeks dry.

“Right. It does feel weirdly good.”

Brielle bit her lip and continued, “I’ve never been anyone’s sister before, obviously, so I don’t really know if I’m doing this right, but… hug?”

Maya nodded and leaned forward, embracing Brielle.

“I’d be a wreck without you,” she said.

“Me too, probably,” Brielle admitted, “Knowing you’re here has given me something to focus on. Otherwise I’d feel totally lost right now.”

“I guess we’re pretty good for each other, then.”

Brielle pulled away from the hug and replied, “Well, it’s good to know that I get along well with myself.”

Maya giggled while Brielle picked up their phone.

“I think it’s time our friends saw what’s become of us,” she said.

Maya’s heart skipped a beat.

“Are you sure?”

“They’ll have to find out eventually.”

“Alright. Jeez, I don’t even have any makeup on.”

“Aww, shit!” Brielle cried, “I knew we forgot something important!”

Maya laughed and wiped her cheeks again, trying to get rid of any stray tears.

“Alright, I’m ready,” she said.

Brielle sat down on the bed beside her and held up her phone. It was a little difficult to get both of them into frame, but when they squeezed together they were able to pull it off. At the last second, Maya wrapped her arm around Brielle’s neck and grinned.

“They’re never going to believe this,” Brielle said as she uploaded the image and an explanation to Discord.

“I certainly wouldn’t,” Maya agreed, moving over to the desk chair so she could boot up a game.

After a few minutes, Brielle spoke up again.

“They don’t believe us.”

“Figures,” Maya replied, grinning.

“They want video.”

Maya’s heart sank.

“Video? I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“They aren’t gonna believe us otherwise.”

Maya sighed and stood up from the desk, then sat down on the bed next to where Brielle was lying.

“Let’s do this.”

Brielle entered the voice call where all their friends were.

“Jackson!” someone cried.

“What’s going on with this photo? Are you bullshitting us?”

“Guys, relax,” Brielle said. “I’m turning on video.”

She hit the button and Maya took a deep breath as their images popped up on screen.

“Bullshit!”

“No way!” 

“That’s not…!”

Brielle started chuckling.

“I told you I had something special planned, didn’t I?” she asked.

Maya added, “It didn’t exactly turn out the way we thought it would.”

“What happened?!”

Brielle was bouncing with excitement, so Maya let her take the lead. She explained finding a way to contact the renegade witch online and talking to her for months. She told them about taking a day to meet with Ilham and the ritual to transform her body, resulting in her being magically split into two people. At some point, Maya decided that Brielle was going to handle this and returned to her game.

“So,” someone began, once Brielle was finished, “you’re like twins now?”

“Exactly. I’m no longer an only child. It’s… something.”

“I’ll say,” Maya muttered, finally turning off her game. She told Brielle, “I’m going to grab something to eat. You want anything?”

“Can you bring me back a bag of chips?”

Maya chuckled.

“Can do, sis.”