=::= Tally's PoV =::=

"Don't worry about it Tally," Ms. Watson said in a calm voice. "The tattoos are enchanted, so only people in the coven can actually see them. You never saw mine before, but you can see it now."

She held up her right hand and I realized she had the same mark on her wrist that me and Beth did, a sort of magical-looking glyph in black ink.

"You probably didn't notice, but both Samantha and Nicole have marks on their wrists as well, though theirs are larger and more elaborate."

"So we won't get people bugging us about them at school today? And I won't have to explain a couple tattoos to my parents at some point? Assuming they ever get over the other changes..."

My girlfriend's mom responded, "No Tally. As I said, the tattoo is invisible."

"Wait," Beth frowned at me. "What do you mean 'a couple tattoos'?"

I felt another stir of anxiety as I gestured towards my right ankle, "I got another one down there? Didn't you get that as well?"

Beth shook her head, "Not today. We all got tattoos on our ankles a couple years ago though. Can I see it?"

I raised my leg up then pulled my sock down and lifted the bottom of my jeans up so she could see it. It was in the shape of a paw print, like a fox paw with little claws and stuff. It was in black ink just like the mark on my wrist. And it appeared at the same time, when the pregnant witch's eyes lit up with blue light.

My girlfriend grinned, "Cool! Mom I think she got a protection tattoo!"

"Oh that's right," Ms. Watson nodded. "The Goddess started doing that after Cindy offered it to all of us. So nobody has to wear those copper amulets anymore."

She added, "Unfortunately I believe that one can be seen by everyone, so perhaps it's best you keep your sock over it for now?"

I looked back and forth between Beth and her mom, and my girlfriend obviously saw the questioning look on my face.

Beth pulled up the edge of her jeans and showed me her ankle. She had a little green lizard tattoo there, it was about the same size as my paw print, an inch and a half long.

"Why do you have a lizard on your ankle?" I asked in confusion.

Beth giggled, "It's actually a gecko? Though I guess that's a kind of lizard. That's what I picked, but I honestly can't remember why anymore. My mom and sisters all have ankle tats, so do my older sisters' girlfriends. Sadie's is really pretty, it's like a rainbow pride butterfly? Amanda got a purple flower, and -"

"Mine's an orange cat," Jenny interjected.

My girlfriend continued, "And our mom's is a pink heart. We all got them like two and a half years ago? Cindy and her girlfriend Zoe came over one night and gave everyone enchanted protective tattoos. It was like a little party or something, we had pizza..."

"Of course you did," I giggled. "So what do these protection tattoos do?"

Bethany explained, "They protect you from being hurt? And from evil magic too I think. Like say someone tried to hit you or hurt you, or if you were in a car crash or something? The tattoo's magic would either stop you from getting hurt at all, or it'd make it so you weren't hurt as much. And if you did get hurt, you'd heal really fast."

She blushed and added quietly, "I'm pretty sure it can even stop a bullet? Or at least, make it so you won't die if you get shot..."

My eyes widened but I didn't get a chance to comment. The mini-van pulled to a stop in front of the school and Ms. Watson stated, "That's enough talk about magic tattoos, Cindy, and the coven. We're here, and I don't want any of you girls breathing another word of any of this until you're back home this afternoon."

Jen tried to joke, "I dunno mom, I blabbed yesterday and we all got to join the coven today. Maybe spilling secrets isn't that bad after all?"

Even from the back seat I could tell her mom was very unamused. "Jenny you just swore an oath to the Goddess to keep the secrets. You were admitted into the coven because now you're bound by their rules. Please do not try and test the Goddess's patience."

The tall blonde groaned, "I know I know! I was just joking, sheesh!"

"Not another word," Ms. Watson stated. "Now you girls have a good day, I'll be back to pick you up this afternoon."

We all grabbed our backpacks, but as soon as we emerged from the mini-van I stopped and stared at the front doors of the school. It was like yesterday morning all over again, except this time there as no avoiding it. I had to face my teachers, my classmates. Everyone was going to find out I was trans, they'd all know I used the spell on Sunday. They'd all be staring at me, at my ears and my tail and my body.

And I knew it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, like we'd all had the sex-ed classes where they talked about how some people were trans and some were non-binary and there was nothing wrong with that. And we'd all been told about the spell, though mostly what they said was not to use it. I was still anxious though.

Despite what they taught, I knew a lot of folks at school were like my parents, like my brother. My brother who was in grade twelve and who I might actually run into at school today.

Then I felt Bethany's hand on mine, she gave mine a gentle squeeze and looked at me with a reassuring smile.

"C'mon Tally," she said. "It'll be ok."

I nodded as we all started walking up the stairs to the front doors.

As soon as we were inside Jenny headed down the hall to the right. She waved over her shoulder and said, "See you two at lunch."

All three of us were in a few of the same classes, but while me and Beth were heading to our Statistics class Jenny was taking History.

And despite my girlfriend's assurances, my heart was racing as we got to the door. We were about ten minutes late and everybody was going to be staring as we came into the class. Plus I was going to have to introduce myself to the teacher while everyone was watching and listening...

"You'll be fine," Beth whispered. She gave my hand another gentle squeeze, then opened the door and strode in.

Mr. Farran was already at the blackboard doing the lesson and he didn't look happy at the interruption. In addition to the irate teacher I also had every single person in the class staring at me, just like I was afraid of.

"Bethany Watson you're late," the teacher stated. "Take your seat."

His attention shifted to me and his eyes flicked up and down taking in my ears and tail. Then he asked, "And who might you be?"

Beth didn't move to her desk yet, she stayed next to me as I fumbled with my backpack. It took five or ten long awful seconds for me to get my new student ID out, and my hand was almost shaking as I held it out for him.

In a quiet nervous voice I replied, "I'm um, Tally Lambert sir. My name and student card were um, updated yesterday..."

Mr. Farran frowned at my ID for a few seconds, then his expression softened. He nodded and said, "I understand Tally. Take your seat please."

My girlfriend gave me a quiet smile then we both headed to our desks. And when I sat down in my chair I had to be careful to position my tail just right so it didn't get stuck or sat on or anything, and I was very aware of everyone watching me do that.

My hands fumbled some more as I put my student card away then dug out my books and pencils and stuff.

The other students were all still staring at me, but the pair of eyes I felt the most were on my right. Steve and I were buddies, and this was going to be as hard to explain to him as it was to Bethany.

The teacher had already turned his back to the class and started writing on the blackboard again as he resumed the lesson. Steve leaned closer to me and whispered, "Dude what the hell?! Most people just mess with their eye colour or their hair or something when they hit sixteen! Did you seriously mean to turn yourself into a foxgirl? What the heck were you thinking?!"

I blushed and cringed but I didn't bother trying to respond. It wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to discuss in the middle of class.

"Wait," Steve frowned and gave me a quizzical look. "You're wearing girls clothes and you gave Farran a girls name? This is some kind of next-level prank stuff, right? Like you're not really -"

"Steven Perkins that's enough," Mr. Farran stated in a loud warning tone, "This school and my classroom both have very strict rules against intolerance. The next student who bothers Miss Lambert will be sent straight to the principal's office. Do I make myself clear?"

My buddy sat up straight in his chair and nodded, "Yes Mr. Farran, sorry sir."

The teacher's stern eyes swept over the rest of the class like he was making sure everyone else got the message too, then he finally turned his focus back on the lesson again.

After that nobody tried to talk to me, though everyone kept staring at me on and off through the rest of the class. I did my best to ignore all the attention and focus on the actual lesson, but it was really difficult to pay attention to the teacher when I had so many people constantly looking at me.

The whispers and comments started after class ended and we were all heading out to the hall. And my big fuzzy ears kept twitching around so I couldn't help overhear what everyone was saying about me.

Some of the other students were misgendering me and using my deadname, they figured either I made a mistake with the spell or it was all a big prank. A few others pointed out that maybe I was trans, maybe I did this on purpose and I was going to stay this way.

While the others were all talking about me, my girlfriend moved to my left side while my friend stayed on my right.

As the three of us stepped into the hall Steve asked, "So come on man, why'd you turn yourself into a girl? And what's the deal with the new student ID? It's a big prank right? Some kind of joke?"

Beth seemed like she was ready to jump in and stand up for me, but she was waiting to see if I needed it first. Either way she was there to support me, which helped a lot. Especially because standing next to Steve reminded me of the height thing yet again. Last time I saw him we were almost the same height, now he was more than half a foot taller than me.

I took a deep breath then told my friend, "Please stop calling me 'man' and please don't use my old name anymore ok? My name is Tally now, I'm a girl. This is the real me, and this is how I'm staying. I did all the legal name-change stuff yesterday, new ID and everything. It's for real and it's forever."

Steve stared at me for a few tense quiet seconds, then finally said "Ok uh, Tally. This is uh, wow?"

I felt some relief since it felt like he wasn't going to give me a hard time. And there was some joy too, that he used my new name. Even if he did hesitate a bit first.

"Yeah," I grimaced, "I know. The last two days have been a lot of 'wow'."

He took a step back as he looked me up and down, then smiled. "You know, you're actually kind of hot? The tail and the ears are a bit over the top though. Why'd you make yourself so short?"

My cheeks flushed as his words left me with a confusing mix of emotions. It was weird having my buddy look at me that way and hearing him call me hot, but at the same time it felt kind of nice to get the compliment.

Beth was still at my side, and between her support and the little confidence boost I got from my friend accepting me I was able to give him a simple direct answer. "My ears and my tail and my size are because this is who I am. Like I said Steve, this is the real me."

"Ok," he said, accepting that answer. "Look I gotta get to Chemistry now. Sorry I kinda freaked out in class. Maybe we can catch up this afternoon?"

I nodded, "Yeah ok. See you later Steve."

Beth and I watched as he hurried off to get to his next class, but this was our lunch period so the two of us walked together to the cafeteria. She got herself a slice of pizza and a cola, and I grabbed a chicken sandwich and a bottle of water. Then we headed out into the dining area to find somewhere to sit.

"There's Jen," my girlfriend announced.

She led me across the cafeteria to a table at the far corner, where her sister was waiting for us. We sat down next to each other, across from Jenny. I couldn't help glancing around, expecting to see everyone staring at me but most of the other students were focused on their lunch or their friends.

There were a few people looking at me, including the other fox-kin student. They were in grade twelve and I didn't actually know them, I didn't even know their name. Their ears and tail and hair had the typical red fox colour pattern, like Stacey at QSAW.

They caught me staring back at them and our eyes met. They smiled and gave me a slight nodd, which felt kind of nice. Like we were a couple trans foxes, they were non-binary and I was a girl, but we were the only two fox-kin in the school. There might only be two of us, but we weren't alone.

I smiled and nodded back, then we both turned away to focus on our lunch and our friends.

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