Walking home, I shivered in the cold Fall air, my arms and legs fully exposed and smooth, I envied Dana slightly for having a warmer costume than I did. I knew I should’ve bought a pair of tights for it! As we arrived home, Dana excitedly dumped her candy onto the living room rug and started sorting through it, while I plopped down onto the couch in exhaustion, still in the costume, I glanced at my nails, had they always been this long? And since when did I wear nail polish? The shiny black polish was very pretty, but something about it seemed… wrong. Suddenly, I slapped my forehead with incredulity, how could I have forgotten? I painted them last night, and I was so proud of how they came out, too! Did I post a pic on Instagram? If I didn’t I totally should later. As I watched Dana shove a handful of candy into her mouth, I remembered that it was nearly dinner time.

 

“Hey, Dana! Why don’t you go wash up and I’ll throw that leftover pizza in the oven for dinner.” I said. “And try not to fill up on candy.”

 

“No promises!” Dana shouted as she rushed upstairs, her lips smeared with chocolate.

 

I headed into the kitchen, checking my phone, no messages from Darren or Raffi, which wasn’t surprising, the party was starting soon and they were probably already on their way there. I pouted as I put the pizza in the oven, still mad that I had to miss the party, as much as I loved my sister.

 

“DING DONG”

 

“The doorbell?” I asked aloud, breaking myself out of the funk I was in.

 

Oh right, probably some trick or treaters, that ‘Take One’ candy bucket can’t have still been full when we got back. I skipped to the door, grabbing the spare bag of candy, and opened it. But behind the door wasn’t a trick or treater, it was Laurie Thompson, wearing a bloody cheerleader’s outfit with a fake axe sticking out of her head, attached via a headband.

 

“Laurie? What are you doing here?” I asked, my heart nearly stopped.

 

Laurie Thompson was at my door! Did Raffi or Darren put her up to this?

 

“No time to talk! Can we come in?” she replied, holding up her perfectly manicured, but red-stained, finger.

 

“We?” I asked.

 

Laurie stepped aside to reveal another girl with her, a little nerdy, with glasses and braces, but an unmistakable resemblance to Laurie. Same blonde hair, although the younger girl’s hair was in pigtails as opposed to Laurie’s ponytail. Oh, that’s right, it’s Laurie’s little sister Sophie. I saw Laurie picking her up from school one time on my way home. They both stepped inside the house as I stepped back, still extremely confused.

 

“Are you ready for the party? Nice costume, beeteedubs.” Laurie said.

 

“Party? But I…” My mouth was dry.

 

“I know, your Mom said you couldn’t leave Dana alone without a sitter. So I got you one!” she motioned to her sister.

 

“Your sister?” I asked.

 

“Sophie babysits our neighbor’s kids all the time, and she owed me a favor anyway, isn’t that right, sis?” Laurie grinned as she patted Sophie on the back. “I wasn’t gonna let my best friend miss the party on account of bad luck, now was I?”

 

“Best friend?” I asked.

 

Weren’t Darren and Raffi my best friends? Laurie didn’t even know I existed! But that can’t be true, she was standing in front of me and clearly knew me. Wait a minute, what was I saying? Of course, Laurie was my best friend, at least my best girlfriend, Raffi, and Darren were my best guy friends, we grew up together and when Laurie and I met when we did the school musical together freshman year, we expanded the group to include her as well!

 

“Hi, Laurie!” Dana exclaimed as she came walking into the room, her cat whiskers only half washed from her face. “Wow! Great costume!”

 

“I heard you were quite the cute kitty cat tonight!” Laurie said. “How do you feel about hanging out with my little sister tonight?”

 

“That sounds awesome!” Dana exclaimed and rushed over to Sophie, pulling her towards the living room. “You can help me sort my candy!”

 

“That takes care of that, now grab your purse, and let’s go!” Laurie said.

 

“Purse?” I questioned, but glancing over at the table, I spotted a black handbag, sitting where I was sure I’d left the black costume bag. After grabbing it, I tossed my phone into it and started walking towards the door, but Laurie stopped me.

 

“You’re going in that?” Laurie asked.

 

“What do you mean?” I looked myself up and down, trying to figure out what she meant until my eyes zeroed in on my black sneakers. “Oh, right…”

 

“You’ve been gushing about those shoes for a week now, you can’t forget them now!”

 

“BRB!” I quickly rushed upstairs to my room, kicked off my sneakers, peeled my socks off, wiggled my toes, which sported the same black polish as my fingernails, and slipped my feet into the black heels I’d bought to compliment the witch costume.

 

Of course, I hadn’t owned the costume until a few hours ago, but I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for that, and I was in too much of a rush to notice anyway. I carefully made my way downstairs, and after striking a pose for Laurie to take a picture of me for her Snapchat story, we were off to the party.

 

Arriving at Karl’s house, we found a fairly standard house party, with the added exception that Karl’s parents were the type to decorate the inside of their house too, so the whole place was decorated with cobwebs and pumpkins and all the traditional Halloween stuff, even if his parents were away on business. Walking in, we brushed past several people, some costumed, some not, all of whom complimented both mine and Laurie’s costume. I’d been nervous about the heels, but even on the walk over I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable, so I think I made the right call.

 

“Max! You made it!” Darren exclaimed as he walked up with Raffi.

 

Neither of them were in costumes, but that wasn’t surprising, Laurie and I got more in the spirit for Halloween than they did.

 

“You didn’t bring your sister, right?” Raffi asked, looking around worriedly. “This isn’t the place for a kid, you know.”

 

“Don’t worry, guys, I got Max a sitter for Dana. You can thank me later.” Laurie said. “Now, let’s go mingle!”

 

As we hung around the snack table drinking sodas and talking to various classmates, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing. A reason I wanted to come to the party. To hang out with my friends, yes, but something specific, something involving Laurie…

 

As if she was reading my mind, Laurie popped up behind me, having gone off to talk with some of her friends from the cheerleading team. She’d tried to get me to try out last year, but unfortunately, I wasn’t graced with coordination, so I had to decline.

 

“Boo!” Laurie giggled as I jumped slightly. “Gotcha!”

 

“First Dana, now you…” I laughed. “What’s up?”

 

“I think I might have torn my costume, can you check for me?” Laurie asked.

 

“Sure,” I went to look, but Laurie pulled away.

 

“Can we go somewhere a little more private?” Laurie asked.

 

“Oh, of course,” I replied.

 

Laurie grabbed my hand and led me through the house until we were upstairs, away from everyone else in one of the bedrooms, what looked to me like a guest bedroom, given the lack of personal effects.

 

“Okay, what did you want me to check?” I asked as I checked to make sure the door was locked and Laurie removed her axe headband from her head.

 

“I think I got my arm caught on something, so take a look.” Laurie held her arm up.

 

“Got it,” I walked over to Laurie and began to inspect the costume. “You know, it’s funny, I keep thinking there was something I wanted to tell you tonight, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was supposed to be!”

 

“Oh, I think I have an idea. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at me all those times you think I’m not looking.” Laurie said.

 

“What are you talking about?” I asked nervously, trying desperately to keep my gaze on her costume and not her eyes.

 

“Don’t worry, I get it. And I feel the exact same way. Why do you think you’ve never seen me with a boyfriend?” Laurie quickly turned the tables on me, grabbed me by the shoulders, and planted her lips firmly against mine.

 

I didn’t know what to think, so I stood there frozen. Fireworks went off in my head, Laurie Thompson kissed me! That’s what I was supposed to be doing! I wanted to make a move on Laurie tonight, but I’d been a boy when I wanted to do that. Wait a minute! I’d been a boy! It was like floodgates had opened in my head and the fog that had permeated my brain for half the night had been lifted. As Laurie pulled back after finishing the kiss, I stumbled backward, suddenly unfamiliar in the heels I’d been effortlessly gliding across the floor in only a few minutes earlier. I felt vulnerable, my arms and legs devoid of hair and smooth to the touch, I felt makeup on my face and my long nails brushed against the skirt resting on my legs. But what was more disturbing was what I couldn’t feel, an emptiness between my legs that I was now acutely aware of. I brought my hands up to cup my breasts… MY BREASTS, which now hung from my chest and heaved as I took shallow breaths, nearly hyperventilating from the shock.

 

“Max? Are you okay?” Laurie asked.

 

“I-I… I don’t know....” I muttered in response.

 

Laurie clearly knew me as a girl, but I knew that I wasn’t one, and I wasn’t entirely clear on how everything had happened or why I’d been so calm up until a moment ago. I’d accepted my transformation pretty well until the kiss snapped me out of it! With my hands still shaking, I fumbled with the lock before rushing out of the room and running downstairs as fast as I could in the heels.

 

Reaching the bottom of the step, I ran directly into Darren’s chest, had he always been taller than me? I wasn’t sure anymore!

 

“Max, what’s going on? Where’s Laurie?” Darren asked, and when I didn’t respond, he grabbed my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. “Are you all right, Max?”

 

“Why are you calling me that?!” I demanded.

 

Was he blind? Could he not see what had happened to me? Heck, was I blind for not having noticed the transformation as it happened?

 

“That’s your name, isn’t it? Max? Unless you want to go by Maxine now,” Darren said. “But I thought you always hated your full name.”

 

“Ew, Maxine? That’s my great aunt’s name, stick with Max, buddy!” Raffi said.

 

“I’ve got to get out of here… Tell Laurie I’m sorry!” I quickly pushed past Darren and Raffi and rushed out of the house and into the cool Autumn night.

 

I took a few deep breaths to clear my head and wiped my eyes with my hands, before grimacing as I remembered the makeup. Wiping my hands on the skirt of my dress, I started walking down the block, trying to figure out where to go.

 

“Okay, let’s think about this rationally. At least as rationally as I can think about having been transformed into a girl after putting on a witch costume! Or did the transformation start earlier? I can’t remember!” I shouted at the night. “But I know who caused this.”

 

To Be Continued