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

"So? How'd it go?" I asked as I put my tray down on the table then settled into the chair. My tail automatically slipped through the gap at the back, then for good measure I wrapped it around onto my lap under the table.

It was almost hard to believe I'd only had it less than two weeks, but by now everything almost felt automatic. Like as if I'd had it all my life. Same with my big fuzzy pointed ears.

Steve shrugged, "She said no."

"Crap," my shoulders slumped. "Sorry man."

My buddy shrugged again, then had a bite of his burger. He didn't seem too upset about it, but he also looked like there was more to the story that he was holding back for some reason.

I wanted to ask him if anything else happened, but I wasn't sure yet if he really wanted to talk or not.

To kill some time I had a little bite of my tuna sandwich, then glanced around the cafeteria. Beth and Jenny were sitting together at the far end, they both gave me a little smile and wave when I looked their way. Sienna did too, they were sitting with a couple grade twelve girls.

After all the excitement and stuff that first week, now it felt like almost everything was almost back to normal. The past five days were just another normal week. I came to school, attended my classes, and spent some time hanging out with my buddy.

Teachers didn't act any different towards me, but they all used my new name. Ok maybe Mr. Farran still treated me different, but in a good way. Like he was a lot nicer to me than he ever was before, but otherwise things were pretty normal.

I was a girl, I had fox ears and a fox tail, and that was absolutely the best thing in the world as far as I was concerned. I still got giddy about it on a regular basis, but nobody else made a fuss or anything. Most of my classmates didn't even whisper or talk about me behind my back anymore.

Those first few days it was a big deal, but now it was just normal. Thanks to Cindy and that spell of hers, people were just kind of used to the idea of folks changing themselves overnight. The novelty wore off pretty fast, now I was just another trans girl and just another demi-human.

Except not really, now I was also a witch and I was learning spells and practicing magic and stuff. I couldn't tell Steve about that though, or anyone else at school. And I definitely couldn't cast any spells here, or I'd be in big trouble with Ms. Watson and the rest of the coven. So I was a trans foxgirl witch, but as far as anyone else knew I was just another trans foxgirl.

I was about halfway through my sandwich by the time I focused on my friend again. I couldn't tell if he was making a big deal over not telling me the whole story because he wanted me to ask for more details, or because he was just really bad at hiding his feelings. I decided guys were weird that way, so I'd just have to ask and find out.

"Hey Steve," I asked. "Did anything else happen with Shelly? Or what'd she say that got you uptight?"

My friend grimaced, "It's nothing. No big deal."

I frowned, "It's obviously something, so spill."

Shelly was in a couple of Steve's classes. I didn't know her that well but I knew my friend was into her, and he finally worked up the courage this morning to ask her out.

"It's not..." he hesitated. Finally he sighed and lowered his voice, "She said no because she thinks you and me are together. She thought I was trying to cheat on you? And it just kind of... It left me thinking about a lot of stuff that I'm not sure how I feel about."

I had another bite of my sandwich because I had no idea how to respond to all that. It never even occurred to me that people might think me and Steve were together. Like we were buddies, same as always. I was girlfriends with Beth, but since I lived with her now I saw her like all the time outside of school. So the past few days, I spent my lunches hanging out with Steve instead.

We were both quiet for the next couple minutes as we just focused on our lunch. My friend finished his burger and washed it down with the last of his soda, then just stared down at the table for a bit. He was sort of avoiding looking at me, and I realized he'd been doing that pretty much since we started lunch.

I decided I'd had enough to eat and left part of my sandwich on the plate. After a gulp of water I asked quietly, "Hey Steve? Is everything ok? Or is there something else going on?"

He was still looking at the table as his cheeks coloured slightly.

After another few seconds he shrugged and grimaced, then replied quietly "Like I said, the thing with Shelly kind of got me thinking about stuff I guess?"

He was still blushing as he continued, "Like ok I thought the ears and tail were a bit weird when I first saw you last week, but then I also thought the whole girl thing was pretty weird too right? It's fine now though, like I guess I've got used to the ears and the tail. And the whole girl thing too. But like..."

I tried not to smile, but it was kind of cute the way he'd alternate between awkward pauses and nervously over-sharing.

Steve finally sighed and shrugged once more, "I guess what she said made me think about like, you're hot. You're a girl, you're hot, and you're my friend. And even though I'm used to seeing you like that now, I still think you're hot. And I guess..."

His cheeks got a little brighter red while his voice dropped even quieter, "I know you said you're not into me and you're not into guys and you're still girlfriends with Beth? But I really do like you Tally, and this week you've been spending more time with me and stuff, and I guess I kind of feel like I'm wondering if...?"

"Oh," I said as my eyes went wide and my own cheeks were suddenly a lot hotter.

Somehow I didn't see that one coming. We started off talking about how Shelly shot him down, and somehow the conversation had made it all the way to him trying to confess to me.

Steve sighed, "Yeah. So um. Sorry if I just made things weird between us."

My mind was racing as I tried to figure out what to say or how to handle the situation in some way that didn't end up in both of us losing a friend.

"It's ok," I told him. "I mean, it's a bit weird, but it's not your fault. It's just um... Like I told you last week right, I'm still girlfriends with Beth. And I'm not into guys, I never was. I want to keep being friends, I want to keep hanging out with you like friends. Like we did before, like we're doing now? But I can't do more than that. I'm sorry."

He frowned, "I get it, I remember what you said. But it's not like before, right? I mean before you were... You looked like a dude before. I didn't know you were a girl, didn't think of you like that. Now you're all hot and cute and stuff. And like, I still know it's you and we're friends and all that, but instead of being friends with a guy now I'm friends with a hot girl and it feels weird. And um, yeah. I know it's weird but you're hot and I'm into you."

Before I could respond he added with a sigh, "And I know you're going to say no. I know it's impossible and all that stuff."

"I'm sorry Steve," was about the best I could manage. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so awkward and clueless, my cheeks were bright red and my heart was racing.

He shrugged again, "It's ok Tally. I get it. I uh. I gotta go."

With that he got up and picked up his tray, then just quietly walked away.

I watched him dump his trash and put the tray down then head out of the cafeteria. There was another fifteen minutes or so before our next class, and I was half tempted to go after him to make sure he was ok. Except I figured he wanted some time to himself, not to mention me running after him would definitely give everybody in the whole cafeteria the wrong impression.

With a sigh I leaned back in my chair and put my hands over my face. I had no idea if I just lost my best friend or he'd come around after he had some time to deal with stuff. Like getting shot down twice in one day had to be pretty rough on the guy.

I still had my hands over my face a minute or two later when I heard someone sit down in the chair across from me, where Steve had been sitting a few moments before. I half expected it to be either Beth or Sienna, like I was positive everybody saw what happened and one of my friends had come to check on me.

"Hey freakshow."

My brother's voice was the last thing in the world I wanted to hear at that moment, and it sent a chill down my spine. My ears folded back and if my tail hadn't already been on my lap it would have ended up between my legs.

I opened my eyes to find Dylan looking at me across the table. He had a faint scowl on his face and I caught his eyes flicking up and down. His gaze hesitated at my ears, and lingered at my chest. I was wearing a tight dark-grey t-shirt and I knew he got a good look at the outline of my boobs.

"Dylan," I sighed as I straightened up then slumped forward slightly so my chest wasn't sticking out so much. "Please leave me alone ok? I never did anything to you, I don't want any trouble."

For a few seconds he didn't say anything, he just kept looking at me. His expression didn't change much either, like he looked a little bit unhappy but he wasn't angry. He didn't look like he was going to start beating me up or anything.

I finally asked, "What? You just came to stare at me?"

My brother finally responded, "Dad asked me to give you something."

Before I could ask what, he pulled a manilla envelope out of his gym bag, then sort of half tossed it across the table. He didn't throw it at me, and he didn't toss it ontop of my half-eaten sandwich either, which actually surprised me. It just ended up on the table next to my tray.

"What is it?" I asked warily.

"Dunno," Dylan shrugged.

This time he frowned as he looked down at his hands. He fidgeted a bit, and it struck me he almost seemed uneasy.

Finally he looked at me again and said quietly, "Dad also told me to uh... I'm sorry ok? I'm sorry for yanking your tail last week. And sorry for calling you names and stuff."

I found myself staring at him in surprise. It had to be the first time he'd ever apologized to me. Like for anything.

"Um," it took me a second or two to get over my shock. "Thanks? Apology accepted I guess?"

He frowned, shrugged, then finally nodded. Like he didn't know how this stuff was supposed to work either, it was as new to him as it was to me.

After another couple awkward seconds he finally asked "So uh, this is you huh? I've really got a little sister now?"

I felt my cheeks colouring yet again as I nodded, "This is me. This is the real me. And I've always been your sister, I just didn't look it before."

He frowned again, it was clear he didn't understand how that worked. After another few seconds he shrugged again and got to his feet. "Ok uh, see you later I guess."

"Bye Dylan," I replied, and I watched as he turned and walked away.

Once my brother was gone I pushed my tray aside and had a closer look at the brown envelope. It was bigger than a normal envelope, and just had my name on the front in my dad's handwriting. I tore it open and inside I found two normal-sized envelopes plus a folded piece of paper.

The two normal envelopes were both from the government, both were addressed to my new name and obviously came through the mail to my parents' house. My hands almost shook as I opened them both, and I felt my heart skip a beat as a wide smile settled on my face.

The first one held my official new permanent birth certificate, identifying me as a girl named Tally Amelia Lambert. And the second envelope was my new health card with my new picture and name and everything. Even though I had the temporary stuff Stacey gave me at QSAW, I still got a huge feeling of joy holding the permanent ones in my hands.

Finally I unfolded that piece of paper, and found it was a letter from my dad. It was brief but he said he missed me and hoped him and mom could see me again soon. He congratulated me on the new ID and he said he had some words with my brother, to make sure Dylan wouldn't try and hurt me or bully me anymore.

At the end, dad said him and mom were still trying to understand and stuff, like they didn't really get it yet but they were trying. And he said that he realized that they didn't actually have to understand, they just had to accept it and they were trying to do that too.

When I got to the end of the letter I sighed a little. I missed them too, but I still wasn't sure I'd be comfortable moving back home yet. Maybe not ever. I'd talk to Ms. Watson tonight though, and ask her about setting up another meeting so me and my folks could see each other again.

For now it was time to get to my next class, so I stuffed my new ID and the letter and everything into my backpack. As I got up I noticed both Beth and Jenny were standing nearby. They'd probably been there since Dylan showed up, I figured my girlfriend and her sister were ready incase of trouble. I was glad they didn't interrupt though.

I moved to join them, and Bethany asked "Everything ok Tally?"

"Yeah," I nodded as the three of us headed to our next class. "It's ok."

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