‘HELP! GET OVER HERE ASAP’

‘Be there in 5’

I didn’t understand. No matter how I turned it over in my mind, I couldn’t figure out how something like this could possibly have happened. I mean… as far as I had known, I was a sixteen year old guy, attending high school as per normal. A regular, boring guy with short hair and a frankly bland-looking appearance, and yet now…

Standing in front of me was a strange girl I had never seen before. Her chestnut brown hair cascaded down behind her, until it abruptly stopped just a little bit past her shoulders, which were hunched forward as she stared wide-eyed at me. Her baggy pyjamas threatened to slide off at any moment, and her hand shot out to keep the ill-fitting clothes from falling down.

There was just one problem with this whole situation. One glaring, impossible-to-miss problem that I couldn’t figure out the why or how of.

I was looking at a mirror. The girl staring back at me was my own reflection.

 

The distinctive click of the front door unlocking brought me back to my senses, and I tore my eyes away from the unfamiliar image in my mirror, straining my ears to listen for the visitor.

“Is everything okay?” A familiar voice called out, echoing down the corridor. “You said you had a situation, but…”

The voice and the accompanying footsteps slowed to a halt on the other side of my bedroom door, and I hesitated, the first hints of panic setting in as I reached for the doorknob. How am I even supposed to explain this?! ‘Hey, I suddenly woke up as a girl this morning.’ There’s no way she’d believe– 

My frantic thoughts were cut off as two knocks resounded on my door, and my best friend’s voice rang out again. “Everything okay in there? What’s going on?”

“U-um–” I blurted out, backing away from the door. My hand shot up to my throat, brushing against some… soft thing on my chest as I recoiled from just how different it felt to speak. Everything was unfamiliar–my voice, the way my body felt, how the room looked at this height, my stride–and I stumbled backwards, falling flat on my butt with a yelp.

The moment I hit the floor, the door in front of me opened, and an energetic blonde girl burst inside. Her ponytail swung from side to side as she worriedly looked around the room, before her gaze settled on me, trembling as I stared up at her.

“...you okay? Who are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side a little.

I gulped, taking a deep breath before I tried to answer. “F-Felix.”

“...Felix?” She stared back at me, not making a single movement. 

I frantically nodded, trying and failing to scramble back upright. She’s not gonna believe me, is she… 

She sighed, mumbling as she leaned forward to peer further into the room. “Oh, what did he… no, someone else probably put you two up to this. Where is he?”

My heart dropped upon hearing her response. No, of course she doesn't! As my friend held her hand out, I shakily took it, lifting myself upright while holding onto my pyjamas with my other hand to make sure they wouldn’t fall. Who would believe something like this, anyway?! 

“I’m not joking, Em,” I said, my voice strange and shrill as I tried to figure out some way to convince her. “I’m Felix.”

She flinched at the mention of her name, looking down at me. She’s so much taller than me now. How much shorter did I get? Just how much did I change?! 

“No–but–he’s…” she held her hand out, just a little bit above my head. “He’s way taller than you. He was–”

“Yeah, I was taller than you!” I interjected, staring up indignantly at her. What am I supposed to do to get her to understand? “But now I’m–I don’t even know what height I am anymore. I just woke up like this!”

“You just–what? Who?” she sputtered, still scanning around the room as if she was expecting the old me to pop out at any time. “I don't…”

“I don't understand either!” I wailed right as the lights in my bedroom dimmed for a moment. “I have no idea how this happened!” What if she never believes me? What if no one believes me? 

The hints of panic that had set in before were digging their claws in further, and I struggled to keep my breathing steady, the anxiety I felt slowly turning into fear. I can’t… How am I supposed to explain this?!

“Hey… are you okay?” 

I briefly saw Emily looking down at me with concern before my vision blurred with tears, and I started blubbering in front of her. “Please… please believe me… Wh-what am I supposed to do… who do I talk to? What if no one believes me?” 

I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me, and I was pulled forward into a tight hug. A hand softly stroked my hair as Emily whispered in my ear, her voice soft. “Hey, it's okay. It'll be okay.”

“I’m scared,” I squeaked, completely not in control of my emotions anymore as tears streamed down my face and soaked into her shirt. “I-I don’t know what happened to me… a-and if you don’t believe me, I…” 

“It's okay, I believe you.” Emily squeezed me tighter in her arms, keeping her voice soft as I clung to her like a child that had a nightmare. “I… I don’t know what exactly is going on, but… I’ll trust you.”

She let go for a moment, gently rubbing my back as I cried into her shirt. What do I do… What am I supposed to do now?

“Okay, I…” she began, carefully guiding me towards my bed as she supported my back. “I’ll believe that you’re Felix, so… your fifth grade teacher was Ms. Hartworth, right?”

I nodded, trying to clear the tears from my eyes as I shakily sat down on my bed.

“And what sport did you always get first place in, back when we were in Primary School?” she continued, holding my left hand in both of hers as she sat down next to me.

“H-high jump,” I replied, still trying to stabilise my breathing. She knows all this, so why is she…

“And what was the reason you cried in the middle of class when we were in grade three?”

I squeaked, immediately stiffening as my shoulders tensed up. No, don’t bring–why do you remember that?!

“Oh–yep,” Emily giggled, patting my head. “That’s the Felix I know!”

“Why did you have to bring that up?”

“I don’t know–just…” Seeing how uncomfortable I looked, the silly grin quickly disappeared from her face, and she pulled me into a brief hug instead. “I’m sorry. I just had to make sure, that’s all.”

“O-okay.”

As I sat there trying to regain my composure, Emily paused for a moment, quietly mumbling.

“Well, at least this way you won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

 

“C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up. Your face is all sticky.” Once I had finally calmed down, Emily hopped up off the bed, holding her hand out to help me upright. “You’re in no state to head off to school at this point, and if I’m being honest… I don’t want to leave you like this.”

As I took her hand, she led me out of my room and down the hall. Oh, school… In all the panic of what happened to me, I had completely forgotten about that. What am I supposed to do about going back to school?

“Bathroom, bathroom…” she mumbled, ducking through the corridors, “...Here we go.”

Pulling me into the bathroom, she deposited me in front of the mirror, standing behind me and resting her arms on my shoulders in a comforting hug. I leant back into her a little as I realised that my hands were shaking.

“It’ll be okay,” she said, giving me a gentle squeeze. “We’ll work things out.”

It’ll be okay… I repeated in my mind, taking a deep breath. I don’t know what has happened to me, but it’ll be okay… I went over the mantra once more, and looked in the mirror.

Staring back at me was the same brown-haired girl that I saw earlier, only this time a set of wet tear streaks ran down her cheeks. She had a scared expression, not unlike a small prey animal as she looked back at me. My mind blanked for a moment, and I raised my hand to point at her. She mirrored my every move.

“...Who’s that?” I asked.

“That’s you, you idiot!”

 

*****

 

“So why exactly are you rummaging around in Grace’s room?”

“Isn’t your sister around the same height as you?” Emily replied to my question, though she was so engrossed in raiding my sister’s clothes that she may as well have buried her head inside the drawers. “Well… as you are now… And I’m pretty sure she’s a similar build to you now, too.”

I stared at her from the doorway to Grace’s room, watching her exuberantly lift piles upon piles of clothes. There was just something about girls’ rooms… they always felt like sacred spaces, or something. Like guys were vampires who had to be invited inside before they could enter.

“You need some clothes, right?” Emily began, triumphantly lifting up a shirt and showing it to me. “You’re a girl now, so don’t tell me you’re gonna go shopping in those pyjamas.”

…

...Oh. 

“Since you’re in no state to go to school, we’re gonna have an adventure to the shops,” she continued as I hesitantly entered the room. It was okay now… right? With how… enthusiastically she was gesturing for me to walk over to her…

“You have money, right?”

I paused, working out how much I had spare before responding, “Yeah, I’ve got some saved up.” I never usually spent that much of my allowance — though I could attribute that to not having any hobbies outside of studying.

Lifting herself upright, Emily held out the shirt she was holding up against my body. “Good, ‘cause girls’ clothes are expensive, unless you either know where to look or have zero fashion sense.”

…I really hope she isn’t expecting me to have a fashion sense already. I’ve only been a girl for like two hours! If that!

“So if we’re going shopping for clothes–” she laid the shirt out on Grace’s bed, glancing around the room– “then you need clothes to wear to the shops. That, and there’s one more thing we need to do…”

Her expression lit up, and she pounced on a small desk next to Grace’s bed, swiping something off of the top of it. She spun around, brandishing a tape measure as she slowly crept towards me, a slightly silly grin on her face.

I’m not gonna enjoy this, am I?

“Strip.”

“...H-huh?” I recoiled as I watched her slowly unravel the tape measure in her hands. “Why?!”

“I need to measure you, so we can buy you clothes that fit properly.” She sped up her approach as I slowly backed away. “Especially as a girl, having clothes that don’t fit is the worst!”

“But why do I need to strip for it?”

“C’mon, I’ve seen you shirtless how many times by now?” Emily stopped just in front of me, holding each end of the tape measure over her head with both hands. “Now that you’re a girl, you’re gonna need a bra.”

I froze. Oh… yeah, that… She’s right.

“Getting an ill-fitting bra as your first one would be horrible,” she continued, “and… I dunno, I just…”

Emily let out a sigh, her previous exuberance nearly completely gone.

“You’ve got enough on your plate with how your parents are… I just…” she averted her eyes, staring out the open door. “I just want things to go well for you. I’ve known you for this long.”

“Even with something as crazy as me suddenly waking up one day as a girl?” I reached up to wipe the tears I could feel returning as I spoke.

“Even with something as crazy as you suddenly turning into a girl.”

I… I trust her. She’s feminine and confident and… pretty. She can help teach me to be a girl, if I’m going to be stuck like this.

Hesitantly, I slowly lifted my shirt off in front of her. It’ll be okay… 

“There we go, this shouldn’t take too… long…” her voice slowly trailed off as I did so. When I placed my shirt down on Grace’s bed and turned back to her, I realised why.

She was staring at the ceiling, tapping the tape measure against her cheek in thought.

“Wait, donʼt they measure you with your shirt still on at the store? Iʼve only ever done it this way.”

So... you're saying that I didn't even need to strip?!

 

*****

 

I stormed out of Grace’s room in a pout, slipping my shirt back over myself as I powerwalked back to my own bedroom.

“It was cute, though!” Emily called out, hurrying to try to catch up with me. “That little squeak you made?”

I slowed to a half just outside my door, too embarrassed to turn around and face her. The noise I had made, the… really girly “Hya!” that came out of my mouth, thanks to the cold tape measure… And Emily laughing at me didn’t help at all! I didn’t even know I was capable of making a noise like that!

“It really was cute,” she said, standing just behind me. “I was worried about how well you’d fit in with the rest of the girls, but… I think you’ll be fine.”

I really don’t know how I feel about that!

“The rest of the girls, huh?” I mumbled. “I really am a girl now, aren’t I?”

“Yep! It’s not all bad, though.” As I reluctantly turned around to face her, she loaded the bundle of clothes she was holding into my hands. “I know it’s like, a really sudden change for you… but I’ll help you get used to it all. One step at a time, okay?”

“One step at a time,” I repeated. It’ll be okay… I’ll be okay…

Emily suddenly snapped her fingers, as if she had just remembered something.

“Wait, we can’t be too slow. Don’t we have projects coming up at school?”

Wait, school, I completely forgot! Nearly dropping the bundle of clothes in my panic, I rushed into my room, dumping them on my bed as I made for my school bag.

“What do I do about school?! I can’t exactly go to them and be like ‘hi, yeah, I’m a girl now’ or something, can I?”

“Well…” Emily seemed strangely calm as I rummaged around in my bag, trying to find my school diary. “I have a few ideas. We’ll get to that when the time comes.”

She strolled over to my bed, separating out the bundle of clothes into its individual pieces.

“Your sizes are a little different from your sister’s, so I’ve gotten you a skirt, camisole, some shorts, and a nice shirt for outerwear. You’ll have to wear your own undies, but… I don’t think you wanna wear your sister’s undies anyway.”

Yeah… no thanks.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it,” she suddenly said, walking out of my room before I could react. “I’ll be just outside, so come get me if you need anything.”

Wait, don’t leave me!

She closed the door, leaving me stuck in my room with a load of girls’ clothes.

 

I picked up the shirt, looking it over. It’s just a regular shirt… I think I’ve seen Grace wear it a few times. These shoulders though, they’re way smaller than the shoulders on my old shirts. Is it really gonna fit?

Laying it down on the bed, I picked up the shorts. These are… really short! How can girls wear shorts this short?! I’d feel so exposed!

The camisole… it looks kinda like a singlet, only… a different shape. And what are these solid bits near the chest, are they… oh. I get it.

The skirt… What are these clips? And… is it just a tube of fabric? How does it stay up? Do I just have to trust that it won’t fall?

I looked between all of the different articles of clothing, my anxiety slowly rising.

And what order do I put them on in? The tops are self-explanatory, but… do I put the shorts on first? Or the skirt, and then lift the shorts up underneath them? There’s weird hooks on the inside of the skirt, what are they meant to be attached to?

I’ve been a girl for what, a few hours? And she expects me to be able to put all of these on? I’ve never worn a skirt before, and… what do I have to do with the camisole? It has solid bits at the top, just like… a b-bra. Do I have to do something special to… arrange myself in it, or do I just slip it on?

I kept looking between the girls’ clothes laid out in front of me, getting more and more dizzy at the prospect of putting them all on.

This is all too much!

I rushed to my door, pulling it open and running to Emily as fast as I could, clinging to her.

“Emilyyyy… help meeeee…”