Cindy slept amazingly that night. She felt like she had very little stress on her, and was able to rest much more soundly.

She also dreamed during the night. And to her enjoyment, it was a mermaid dream. She'd had a few at times she was really yearning to get her mermaid tail.

Because the details of dreams were hazy, she couldn't pick out much, but she could tell that she was indeed a mermaid in her dream.

But it was really weird, she wasn't underwater, but it was like she was swimming through their house, but maybe it was like their house was underwater... she wasn't sure. Dumb dream logic.

One detail stuck out to her though - her sister Sammy was a mermaid too, and while she couldn't remember specifics, she remembered laughing and having fun in the dream with her mermaid sister.

Waking up the next morning, she took that as a comforting sign. She wasn't alone. Cindy had a partner in crime, a fellow agent on her secret mission.

Cindy was awake, but she stayed laying in bed. She cradled her head in hands, against her pillow.

She reflected on the amazing discoveries she had made the night before, and her mind, unrestricted from Danny's mental blocks of fear, felt free to run wild and explore. She could feel the fabric of her panties against her soft pajamas. Long before all this, she'd never been able to sleep without pajamas, not like Jason.

Cindy sat up in her bed, and started looking at stuff online. Specifically, she wanted to know. She wanted to learn what it meant to be transgender.

In the past, she'd questioned a few times what it would be like if she was, but she'd been too afraid of looking things up. But now, freed of Danny's fears, Cindy found countless things that she should have known years ago.

She personally felt that she had indeed been feeling gender dysphoria. At first glance to her, it may have actually been dysphoria in the other direction, that Danny felt that his breasts didn't align with his identity as a boy.

Perhaps that had been true for him. But for Cindy now, she realized that she'd also had a lingering feeling that she just didn't like being in-between. She wanted to be one or the other. Judging by that criteria, she began feeling like she was probably not gender fluid or otherwise non-binary.

She'd also had feminine inclinations long before her breasts developed. The way Cindy had felt when she'd come home from Lucy's house also sounded like dysphoria. It was a feeling that she could no longer be herself.

As she was researching, she came across an article about a very interesting topic... mermaids. As she read, a smile grew on her face, and by the time she was done, she felt very warm inside.

Turned out, a lot of trans people liked mermaids and mermen. Something about them, and their dual nature struck a chord.

To Cindy, she thought about her childhood wishes to be Melody, to transform into a mermaid just like her. She'd wanted to transform. She'd wanted to become her true self.

Feeling like satisfying a desire for nostalgia, she looked up the song from the movie "For a Moment" on YouTube. Watching it made her feel both nostalgic, giddy, and just warm and fuzzy inside.

Melody sang about how much she loved being a mermaid. And several times, Cindy whispered, singing along with her.

"For a moment, for a moment, here I am," Cindy sang along. Except for her, she didn't want it to be for just a moment. She wanted to have this feeling in her, and never wanted it to leave.

Cindy got out of bed, and indulged her feminine desires. She put one of her bras on, and then tried to brush her hair in the mirror, and style it the way that Sammy had the night before.

Before, the male side of her would have objected immediately to all of this. He would have attacked any feminine feelings. At least, that's the way that it had seemed to Danny at the time.

Now, Cindy felt like she saw the truth. It hadn't been her male side and female side battling it out - her male side was a girl. He'd just hidden his girly self away, and tried to pretend that was a different part of his mind. But it was a flimsy mental construct. This was the boy who wanted to be a mermaid after all.

Cindy clipped her hair in place, and then smiled at her reflection in satisfaction. She let out a spontaneous giggle. She just... she just felt so good about herself. Her male self had thrown off his disguise, revealing herself to be a girl all along.

With her thoughts so off dwelling on lofty things, it felt strange to go back to earth, and simply walk upstairs to eat breakfast. But even that plain, everyday act felt different. She sprang up the steps with light feet, excited for the day. She needed to see if her friends were swimming today.

But Cindy's cheery attitude was dampened when she came into the kitchen, where Mom was drinking coffee and reading something on her iPad.

"Good morning," Cindy said. She tried not to let her happiness fade. She reached in the fridge to grab the milk jug.

"Morning Danny," Mom said.

Cindy winced. That's right. Mom didn't know.

It's okay, she told herself as she poured a bowl of cereal. It's not like Mom is trying to be rude.

Cindy sat down at the table, and began eating.

"I see that Sammy painted your nails," Mom observed. "And that you're wearing your hair a bit differently."

"Yeah," Cindy said, barely acknowledging the comment.

"I'm a bit surprised you didn't remove the polish. And that you styled your hair again."

Cindy played it off casually. "I figured that leaving the polish on wasn't a really big deal."

"You did your toes too?" Mom asked.

"S...Sammy wanted to do it just in case," she said. "She spent a while doing them all."

"Ah," Mom said, "I see. Danny, if you're keeping the polish on because Sammy put the time in on them, I think that's nice of you, but if it makes you uncomfortable, then I'm sure she'll understand."

Augh! Mom was putting her in a corner where she'd have to admit her girliness. In her mind, her girl self was thinking about putting on the male disguise once more. Like she was some kind of depressed superhero.

"Well," Cindy said, "I don't mind it too much. I've just kind of been thinking... that I feel uncomfortable when I'm out in public because people see me, and they're like thinking 'oh no! I don't know whether to call them a guy, or girl, and then I feel really bad if I get it wrong...'

"So I figure... that if I have things like the nail polish, it will at least remove the awkwardness. People won't be staring at me as I walk down the street - they'll just think I'm an ordinary girl."

"But...," Mom asked. "Does that... bother you?"

Cindy viualized some everyday situations, imagining people referring to her as a girl.

Nope, stop it. Don't smile. You want to, but don't.

She shrugged. "Like I said - I don't mind it, just as long as it isn't awkward. For the time being, I might as well lean into the way I look. I have breasts, and they make me look feminine. If I look more like a girl, there will be less of those annoying situations."

"Well," Mom said, "you seem like you're in a better than usual mood about things."

Cindy's lips curled upward.

Stop. You want to smile, and you can a little bit, but you're smiling like someone just told you that you won a million dollars.

"I talked with Sammy about things last night," Cindy partially divulged. "It helped a lot."

"I'm glad to hear it," Mom said. "How... how did the rest of the night go?"

Cindy held her expression in place.

Control yourself.

"It wasn't actually that bad," Cindy said. "Thankfully, Matt didn't... try anything. It was just like we were some friends having fun."

"I'm glad it went okay," Mom said, "but I'm still... concerned. Has Matt texted you back?"

"Other than to say he had a good time with me," Cindy said, "no. His family's going camping next week. If he texts me again, it'll probably be after that."

"If that text comes," Mom asked, "what are you planning on doing?"

Gosh, she was putting her on the spot, and Cindy didn't like it one bit. Mom wanted her to say things flat out, but she didn't feel quite ready.

"I'm not sure," Cindy said. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

"Oh come on Danny," Mom said. "You're usually really good at not procrastinating, and planning things out."

Cindy sighed. Stop it Mom.

"This is different," Cindy said. "I want to think about it."

Mom drank the last of her coffee. "Fair. All I'll say is - consider that the more you're around him, the more potentially painful it could be if he finds out you're a boy, and he doesn't like that."

The cheerfulness that Cindy had been feeling this morning was forced to give its place to worry. Mom was right. Matt seemed like a nice guy... but she'd have no idea how he might react. He could suddenly reveal a hidden anger.

That was a possibility, but she dreaded the less intense, but more likely scenario too. Matt feels messed up about dating a guy. Causing a lot of anxiety, and making him worry about whether he was gay. Matt could really go into a bad place if Cindy handled it badly.

"It's a complex situation," Mom said, "isn't it?"

"Yeah," Cindy said. Although she felt very relieved at the new feeling of self control she had over herself, she sadly, could not have any say in what other people chose.

"I feel like Matt is a reasonable guy," Cindy said, "but I'd have to see. Or perhaps, hope it never comes at all."

Cindy pushed her empty cereal bowl in front of her, and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them.

"Why... why does life have to be so darn difficult?"

"That's how it is sometimes," Mom said. "But by the time you graduate high school, these problems will be gone. You'll have gotten your breasts removed, you'll be done with hard classes..."

Mom laughed. "And you'll have a whole new set of problems instead. That's life."

Cindy weakly smiled, but didn't laugh.

"Sorry I made your morning a downer," Mom said, "you going to go swimming with your friends today?"

"Probably," Cindy smiled a bit more firmly, glad to be on a different topic.

Mom rinsed out her coffee mug in the sink, and placed it in the dishwasher. Cindy came up and did the same with her bowl.

"Make sure you put on sunscreen," Mom said. "The last thing I need is for both of my sons to get skin cancer."

Normally Cindy would've laughed along with Mom. Jason was notorious in their family for not putting on sunscreen.

But instead, her smile faded, and she quietly went back downstairs, away from the place where she wasn't Cindy.