"Hi mom, I'm home!" I called as I walked into the house.

Mom called back, "Hi hon, I'm in the office."

She had a web design job that she did from home, so the small room that used to be a den when I was really little got turned into a cosy office space instead. Mom had her big fancy computer in there, ontop of an old antique desk she got at a country estate sale. There was an old sofa and easy chair in there too, so even though it was technically her work it was still a cosy place to relax sometimes.

I wandered in and flopped down on the sofa, while mom was still sitting at her desk focused on her work.

"No hug for your mom?" she teased, though she didn't look away from her work.

"Didn't want to disturb you," I grinned at her.

Mom smiled too, "Of course. How was witch club?"

"It's called Club Luna," I reminded her. "And we're not supposed to talk about it. You're not even supposed to know about it."

She finally turned away from her computer as she swivelled her chair around to face me.

"I think you'd have a very hard time keeping that secret from your mum and I, considering you used their witchy magic to transform yourself last month. Not the sort of thing you'd be able to keep from your parents, no matter how sneaky you teens think you are."

I blushed and cringed into my big hoodie as I replied, "I know mom, I'm sorry. But I'm still not supposed to talk about club stuff, ok?"

Both my parents were amazingly supportive and understanding about the whole thing. I was scared at first they might freak out or something, but they both just accepted that their son had turned into their daughter over the weekend. And they didn't even seem too surprised to find out there was magic involved, though Miss Hawthorne didn't think either of my parents were witches.

That first day when I came home after the magic stuff, my parents and I had a big conversation. I told them what happened when I accidentally entered a magic circle and got turned into a girl. That meant I also had to tell them about the club that I'd joined, and that I was learning to be a witch and stuff.

They were even ok with that stuff too, like me learning to be a witch and everything. They had some questions but they didn't really pry too much. They just warned me not to do any dangerous magic, and not to do magic around the house. Mum said we didn't need any expensive repairs if I broke part of the house, and we didn't want to have to explain any mysterious phenomena to the neighbours.

"I know hon," mom said as she swivelled her chair back to focus on her work again. "But we worry about you. The supernatural isn't always as friendly as your teacher or the other girls in your club, it can be dangerous. Your mum and I are happy that they helped you find yourself, and we're glad you've got some friends that you enjoy spending time with. But we both want to know what you're up to, ok? We need to know you're staying safe."

I nodded, "Yeah I get it. Anyways, when's mum coming home? What are we doing for dinner?"

"She should be home any minute now," mom replied. "And the three of us are going out for dinner tonight. We have reservations at The Millery for six-thirty."

That made me grimace. I'd never been there before but I knew it was a fancy place. I'd seen their ads, they were all about fancy food and fine dining and all that.

Before I could comment, mom added "That means you'll be dressing up tonight Cassandra. Either the black dress we got you last week, or that pretty skirt and blouse outfit you got earlier. And no hoodie or sneakers. If you need help with your hair or make-up just say so."

By the time she'd finished talking I'd almost disappeared into my hoodie. I groaned, "Awww. Do I have to?"

"Yes you have to," mom replied. "It's your mum's birthday, we're going out, and you're going to dress up so we can both see what a lovely daughter we have."

"Fine," I sighed as I got to my feet then trudged upstairs to my room to get changed.

I didn't hate dressing up, it was actually kind of fun and I liked how it felt when I wore a skirt. Even make-up was kind of fun, learning different ways I could make my cute face look even prettier. What I didn't like was having to go out like that, with all the extra attention I'd get.

Still, it was mum's birthday and I could tell from mom's tone there was no point arguing.

So an hour later I was in kitten heels, tights, a knee-length navy blue skirt, and a pretty pink blouse. I'd done my hair as nice as I could, and put on lipstick and eyeshadow and stuff. And I had mom and mum both making a fuss and saying how I was prettier than an angel and other embarrassing stuff like that until the three of us put on our coats and headed out to the car.

• • • • •

"Hey Cass," Kaylee grinned at me as we met at the corner by the ravine.

I smiled back at her, "G'morning Kaylee."

As the two of us cut through the ravine she teased, "No skirt today huh?"

My cheeks went pink as I mumbled, "I knew I shouldn't have sent you those pictures."

"Aw," she giggled. "You looked adorable! I'm glad you sent them, and I'm glad your moms made you dress up nice."

I was still blushing as we emerged from the woods and started across the school yard. It was Monday morning, and as usual we'd been texting each other nonstop over the weekend. After I told her I had to dress up for mum's birthday, she somehow convinced me to send her some selfies. Now I was back in sneakers and leggings, and I had my big hoodie on under my autumn jacket.

In an effort to change the subject away from my fancy outfit I asked, "So are you all ready for Mr. Guthrie's mini math exam this morning?"

"Ugh!" Kaylee groaned. "Yeah I guess. I just hope this isn't going to be a big part of our grade for the semester. How about you?"

I shrugged, "Not really. I studied, but math's not really my thing."

After a moment I sighed, "I wish we had more teachers like Miss Hawthorne, you know? She doesn't let us slack off, we learn stuff, but she doesn't make it an ordeal. She makes it fun."

"Agreed," Kaylee stated as we entered through one of the school's back doors. "It feels like there's some board of education policy though, that states every school must have at least one ogre. So we got Mr. Guthrie."

That made me giggle, "Mr. Guthrie the Math Ogre! That's a perfect description!"

She grinned but made a shush gesture, since it wouldn't be good if any teachers heard that. Especially not the math ogre himself.

Fortunately that wasn't likely to be a problem, as the halls were full and noisy as usual. We went to Kaylee's locker first, she left her coat and some of her books and stuff in there, then the two of us visited my locker and I did the same.

As we made our way to Mr. Guthrie's class I couldn't help thinking to myself, even a math ogre and his mini-exam couldn't really bring me down. The past month my life had gone from something kind of bland and dull to something that was absolutely amazing.

Wandering in on that club meeting turned out to be the best mistake I ever made. It was like all my dreams and wishes came true after that. Now I was a cute girl, I had friends, I was part of a group, I was even learning about magic.

My life was almost perfect, and I loved it.

With that thought in mind I was almost smiling as me and Kaylee walked into Mr. Guthrie's math class. She took her seat near the front, while I went to my usual spot at the back. About half the other students were already there, and the rest of the empty seats would be occupied in the next minute or two. The math ogre wasn't kind to students who were late for his class.

Sure enough the other seats were quickly filled as the last minute or so counted down. Except for Paige's spot, which was odd. And stranger still, the ogre himself wasn't at his desk yet either.

Fortunately our missing friend arrived just before the bell, she dashed in then took her seat just as it rang. She looked flustered, which made me wonder what happened to make her almost late this morning. She sat at the front next to Kaylee, and I saw the two of them exchange a glance.

With Paige in her seat as the bell rang, the only one still missing was Mr. Guthrie himself. A few of the other students looked around, and one of the guys made a joke that if the teacher was late we got to skip the class.

Before anyone could respond to that, someone else came in and closed the classroom door behind her.

"Good morning students," she announced as she set a leather case down on the desk. "My name is Mrs. Reeves, I'll be subbing for Mr. Guthrie for the next few days."

That led to some groans and some sighs of relief. Relief because nobody could be worse than Guthrie, but groans because substitute teachers were rarely a good experience.

Mrs. Reeves smiled at the mixed reactions, but didn't comment right away. She stood next to the teachers desk and her eyes passed over all of us students, while we were all staring back at her.

She was in her mid-thirties, and she dressed really casual. Like jeans and a t-shirt casual, and she had some stylish leather boots on her feet. Her hair was short, sunny blonde, and in a cute bob style. Her eyes were dark, and she was wearing a pair of large fashionable glasses. She was about average height, and average build.

After a few moments she finally pulled a clipboard and pen out of her case and said, "Attendance is a boring but necessary evil, so let's get it out of the way shall we? We'll go down the rows and you'll all tell me your name."

She gestured to the first seat in the row by the door, and one by one the three students in front of me each gave their name. When she got to me I said "Cass."

Mrs. Reeves checked each student's name off of her list when they said it, but when I spoke she frowned at her paperwork. "I don't see a Cass on my sheet."

I blushed, "Oh um, Cassandra. Sorry ma'am."

"Aha!" she grinned and ticked my name off on her paperwork. "Thank you Cassandra. Sorry gang, until I get to know you all better, I'll need your real names rather than nicknames or short forms."

After that exchange I noticed a few of the other students were giving me a funny look. One of the reasons I sat at the back was to avoid attention, and that was probably the first time I'd spoken out loud in class in ages.

The looks on some of the other students' faces as they stared at me made me think they'd actually just noticed for the first time that I was a girl. Like up till now they all thought I was the same bland boring guy who'd been sitting in this spot since September.

Except the big ritual last month made it so nobody really noticed anything that different about me, which meant it was my imagination telling me they were all sitting there thinking "Wait didn't that cute girl in the corner used to be a boring guy?"

Fortunately Mrs. Reeves continued doing the attendance, and everyone quickly forgot about me as they focused on our new temporary teacher.

Once she had everyone's names she looked at the next page on her clipboard and frowned. "So the notes I was given say that Mr. Guthrie had a big test planned for this morning. Who here's looking forward to that? Show of hands?"

Not a single arm went up, but she made a show of counting them anyways. Finally she grinned, "Looks like none of you were looking forward to it. Which is perfect, because honestly? I wasn't looking forward to administering it. Or grading it afterwards. So let's do something else instead!"

That led to a lot of happy and relieved smiles around the classroom, one guy even let out a "Yeah!"

Mrs. Reeves smiled again, then moved to the blackboard as she said "Let's talk about rational expressions. We all know if you make an irrational expression your face will stick that way, but the rational ones are different..."

It was still math, it was stuff that was in our textbooks, but she actually made it kind of fun. She joked, she made fun of the stuffy way the lesson guides were written, and she even explained how this stuff was used in the real world. Basically she was like the Miss Hawthorne of math.

By the time the bell rang at the end of class, it felt like the whole class was actually interested and paying attention. Like nobody was messing with their phone or fidgeting or any of the usual stuff.

As we all filed out of the class I joined up with Paige and Kaylee.

The tall brunette was talking in a quiet, worried tone as she said "It's not like her to ditch me like that. She's been giving me a lift to school every morning since September. Or if she couldn't make it, she always texted or messaged me. This morning, nothing. That's why I was almost late, I basically had to run all the way here to make it before the bell."

"You texted her right?" Kaylee asked. "What did she say?"

Paige sighed, "She hasn't responded. I texted her like four times before I ended up coming on foot, then texted her again when Mrs. Reeves was doing attendance."

The cute redhead hesitated, "It might be another family emergency, like in June? If that's the case, she might not be available till tomorrow, or Wednesday even."

"I know," Paige grimaced. "I'm still worried though. Like if that's the case, I just wish she'd text and let me know she's ok."

Kaylee nodded, "I get it. Me and Cass are heading to Creative Writing now, I'll ask Miss Hawthorne if she knows where Brooke is. Or if she doesn't, she can probably do some scrying during her lunch break. Either way, we'll meet up with you in the cafeteria and let you know what May says. Ok?"

"Thanks Kaylee, thanks Cass," Paige gave us a stressed smile. Then she turned and hurried off to her next class, while the two of us made our way over to Miss Hawthorne's room.

As we walked together through the halls I asked, "Brooke's missing? What happened in June, what was the emergency?"

Kaylee sighed, "It involved Brooke's mom. I probably shouldn't talk about it though? It's kind of personal. If that's what's going on, Brooke's fine but she'll probably be busy for a day or two.

"Ok Kaylee," I nodded.

I had no idea what kind of stuff it might be, but from the sound of it I could guess it was maybe some sort of health thing. Whatever it was, I knew it was none of my business.

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