Me and Andrew were the best of friends. Ever since we entered the Grand Argentan Academy of Magic we had stuck together like glue. It wasn’t like we knew each other before, in fact we met the day of orientation. We just instantly connected to one another and before we knew it we were best friends. We were both designated troublemakers by the faculty and bonded through our mutual love of pranks. But now, something threatened to tear a hole in that friendship like that slightly feral cat tore a hole in my nice robes. 

It started one unassuming day last month. In class we were discussing shape-shifting magic, an absolutely fascinating topic, especially for Andrew and I who immediately saw the potential for hilarious pranks. In fact we were so focused on pranking people we didn’t actually focus much during class and had to spend another couple of days re-learning the spell… But that is neither here nor there, the fact is we learnt the spell and then immediately started on our greatest prank yet.

Twas simple, we, the mischievous pranksters, would use shape-shifting magic to turn ourselves into girls and then go into town and buy the prettiest dresses we could find. ‘Who was this prank on?’ You may ask, and the truth is we never did really figure that part out. But anyway, the point is this prank was hilarious. I transformed myself into a short thin blonde-haired figure who could be best described as adorable, she even had freckles. Andrew transformed himself into a big-busted, slightly taller woman with long dark brown locks. While my transformation looked adorable, Andrew’s looked absolutely beautiful. We even created fake names and personas for ourselves. I was Genevieve, a shy daughter of a high-ranking noble who for the first time in her life was shopping alongside the commoners. Andrew was Amelia, Genevieve’s best friend, a confident young woman who had convinced Genevieve to finally step out of her comfort zone and try something new. There was also a part of the backstory where Genevieve secretly had a crush on Amelia but I never did end up telling Andrew that part.

The prank went brilliantly as well! We managed to both buy some stunning dresses. Amelia bought herself a very regal-looking purple dress with plenty of adornments decorating it. It made her look the part of a beautiful noble lady. I, er, Genevieve bought herself a simpler silky aquamarine dress, the simpler design made her seem more like a high-born but innocent maiden. She looked absolutely stunning in that dress and spent a not-at-all ridiculous amount of time simply swishing back and forth in her dress admiring it and how elegant she looked in it. After that we simply walked around town enjoying the sights and each other’s company. To all others we appeared simply as maidens enjoying a brisk walk around town in our fine clothes. It was probably my favourite prank we had ever done. But that was just it, a simple prank.

However, for the next month or so Andrew seemed increasingly off. I repeatedly inquired into why he was acting so weird but he usually just mumbled some excuse or another and then quickly changed the topic. It was jarring to see this person who was normally so assured of himself behave in this manner. I was worrying about him practically the whole month. But then, yesterday I received a message from him asking to meet behind the library today. When I arrived at the backside of the library I found not Andrew but Amelia standing there, wearing the same purple dress that we had bought on the day of the prank. Before I could say anything she launched into an explanation about how she couldn’t get the prank out of her mind. And that after a large amount of soul-searching, she realised that the reason for this was that she wanted to be Amelia forever. She stated that I was the first one to know about this, but she intended to continue studying at the academy as Amelia with her new form. I was understandably flabbergasted at this revelation. I mean someone couldn’t just choose to be a girl, otherwise there wouldn’t be any men around. 

Now this comes to the heart of the matter. The suddenness of this announcement made me shocked. So shocked that after standing there for several seconds gaping like a codfish, I ran. I don’t fully understand why I ran from her at that moment but for some reason it felt like my entire worldview was crashing in on me. A person could just decide to be… a girl? I can’t understand how this is possible. Some people just have to take one for the team and be guys, right? But even if some people could decide to be girls what does that mean for my relationship with the newly minted Amelia. How can I even compare to her elegance and beauty? No longer would we be a thick-as-thieves troublemaking pair but Amelia, beautiful, smart, perfect Amelia, and that weird guy who is constantly tagging along with her. Our relationship will never be the same again. So what am I to do? 

…

You know, I could try to be Genevieve. I mean, it makes sense, Genevieve is Amelia’s best friend and hopelessly in love with her. If Andrew is going to be Amelia then it simply makes sense that I will be Genevieve. Then we could be best friends again, we could go shopping for dresses together again, we could braid each other’s hair, we could learn how to be girls together. And everywhere we go people would see us and comment ‘oh, what beautiful young maidens’. Just the thought of it makes my heart leap with glee. I could wear that pretty dress I bought again as well. I had kept it, of course, I had hung it up in my closet and some days I would stare at it wistfully remembering how great that prank was. But am I really willing to change my entire identity for Amelia’s sake? What would happen if despite me becoming Genevieve we drifted apart anyway? Well then I would be stuck as a maiden, as I couldn’t possibly walk something like that back. But there are certainly worse fates than to be stuck as a pretty girl. I would still have that joy. That joy of being a girl?

…

Now that the idea has infected my head I can’t stop thinking about it. Why is this idea suddenly so appealing to me? I want to be Genevieve so badly. I want to be a girl. I want to live that beautiful life that I glimpsed so briefly during that prank. Amelia had the right idea this entire time, she was always the smartest of the two of us. She realised her chance for happiness and she took it. Why can’t I do the same? Why should I live this life as a boy when I have no interest in it? The only thing holding me back from my wildest dreams is society’s expectations of me. And I am nothing if not a troublemaker. Now the only thing left to do is to cast the spell, put on that pretty dress, and apologise profusely to Amelia.

Sheepish

Hi! Thanks for reading. I wrote this within like 3 hours without any plan so it might have a few errors or not make total sense. This is my first post on this site so I am a bit nervous posting it. Also after writing it I realised that this reads like an abridged version of SapphicSounds' Can't Make an Omelette so if you want more magical egg prank shenanigans check that out.