In the morning, Connor didn’t get up for breakfast. Eventually, Summer and Autumn woke up and fluttered over to the bed. Summer pushed Connor a little bit to try and get him out of bed, but he just shrugged her off.

“What’s wrong?” Autumn asked, sitting down on the pillow next to Connor’s head.

Connor sighed and turned away, muttering, “Just depressed.”

“What for?” Summer demanded, fluttering above Connor’s head.

“I can’t really be with Eric, not really.” With a heave, he pulled himself into a sitting position. “The glamour disk is cool, but what’s the point if I can’t really be with my best friend?”

He pulled himself out of bed and walked over to his desk, laying his hand on the glamour disk.

“It’s not real,” he lamented.

“So what?” Summer asked, floating over. “Sang used the disk to look like a woman all the time, and he seemed happy enough.”

“It’s not—wait, he did?”

Summer nodded, but Autumn fluttered over to explain, “Sang said that he was ‘genderfluid.’ He liked being both a man and a woman.”

“Huh… wish I’d gotten to know him better,” Connor lamented. “He sounds pretty cool.”

“Look,” Summer said, “If you need to be a girl to date this person, then just continue using the disk to do it.”

“But I’d be lying,” Connor replied.

“Yeah,” Autumn added, folding her arms.

Summer snorted and asked, “So what? Nobody has to know. Sang never told anyone how he used the disk. Just be a girl for a while and date this guy.”

“I… I mean… I could…” Connor muttered. “It wouldn’t be permanent, but I could get Eric out of my system.”

“No, no, absolutely not.” Autumn fluttered down to stand on the disk and stamped her foot. “If this boy is your friend, you can’t lie to him. It’s not right, and you know that.”

Connor groaned and collapsed right into bed.

“I need time to think,” he muttered. “Please be quiet.”

Summer and Autumn fell mostly silent, only muttering angrily between themselves for a while before separating and going to different corners of the room. Connor buried his head in his pillow, unsure of what to do. He wanted to date Eric, but he didn’t want to lie to his best friend.

Eric would never find out, though. The thought nagged at him. There was no reason for Eric to suspect that there was any magic at play. As far as he knew, Luna was just a normal girl.

Connor couldn’t be with Eric at all, not unless Eric turned out to be bi and there seemed to be very little chance of that happening. Luna could be with him for the summer, though. Just a small fling, enough to get Eric out of her--his--system. And Eric was so sad that he wasn’t having luck finding a relationship.  This could be such a huge boost to his confidence; maybe it would be enough to help him get a real girlfriend when school started again.

Besides, it’d be cool to be a girl for a while. Girls were cool, after all. What boy wouldn’t like to get to experience life from the other side for a while? He had the glamour disk, sure, but no real motivation to use it. Dating Eric as Luna would give Connor some structure in how he used the disk.

“Okay,” he said, sitting back up and looking at Summer. “If we’re going to do this, I need your help.”

“No!” Autumn cried, clenching her fists. “You can’t be serious!”

“Awesome!” Summer exclaimed, floating over to Connor. “Okay, first off, you’re going to need a name—”

“Luna,” Connor replied.

“Great. Now, we need to figure out a backstory for you.”

The two brainstormed for about an hour. Autumn was in such a bad mood that she sat on the desk with her arms folded, muttering darkly to herself. At some point, Connor’s mom knocked on the door and asked if Connor wanted something to eat, but he assured her that he was fine.

After a while, Connor clasped his hands together and declared, “Alright, I think that’s good enough. I have a pretty good handle on who Luna is supposed to be.”

He was actually kind of excited. Even if it was only temporary, he was actually going to get to date his best friend. Something that had seemed impossible just days ago was finally within his grasp.

There was another knock on the door.

“Connor,” his mother said, “it’s time for lunch. You didn’t eat any breakfast. I want to see you at the table.”

“Coming, Mom!” he called out, before turning to Summer and whispering, “Thank you so much.”

Lunch was egg salad sandwiches, one of Connor’s favorites. He ate slowly, struggling not to shake with giddiness. Connor’s life was about to get very interesting.

“I had a very lucrative phone call with Mister Williamson this morning,” Connor’s mother was telling his father. “They’re planning to extend the exhibition by two days, and are planning to compensate me accordingly.”

“That’s very good,” Isaac said.

“It’s very good,” Amy agreed. “It’s another forty percent on top of what I was already going to be making. That money will help us get the car fixed and there should be enough left over now to put in Connor’s college fund. And there are going to be quite a number of important investors there. If all goes well, I might be able to find someone to finance a few bigger projects.”

“We could certainly use the money,” Isaac agreed. “It would be nice if we were all contributing, of course, but I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Connor bristled. Another jab by his father about how Connor hadn’t got a summer job. It was just to make him feel guilty. Honestly, it was working.

“May I be excused?” Connor asked. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Alright, son,” his mother said. “I don’t want you to miss dinner, though.”

“I’ll be home in time,” Connor promised, heading to his room.

After a quick shower, Connor got dressed in a simple outfit. It didn’t matter what he wore; he wasn’t going to be wearing it for very long. Once that was done, he grabbed the glamour disk off of his desk and tucked it under his arm. Connor was able to get out the front door without his parents asking him what it was. He breathed a sigh of relief.

As he started to walk away from the house, though, Connor noticed something odd. His attention was drawn to his bedroom window. Frost was collected on the ground and by the window, even though it was the middle of summer. That was odd.

Connor walked up to the window and knocked on it. After a moment, Summer and Autumn floated over and stood on the windowsill. They looked confused.

There was no way to open the window from this side, so Connor said through the glass, “What’s with all this frost? Is that something that you two did yesterday?”

The two exchanged a glance before Autumn replied, “We don’t know anything about frost.”

“Huh, that’s odd,” Connor said, brushing away the frost on the ground with his foot. “Alright, never mind.”

He started to walk away, but his mind was whirring. If it wasn’t them, then it might actually have been some other supernatural creature. Did that mean that his dream the night before, of something in his window, had actually been true? That was kind of creepy. Something might actually have been watching him.

Connor tried to shake it off. Even if it was a magical creature or another type of faery, it must have just been something passing in the night. It probably just saw that faeries were around and wanted to check up on what was happening. There was no way that it actually meant Connor any harm.

Actually, it was kind of exciting to think about. Just a few days ago, Connor’s life had been painfully boring. But now he was regularly interacting with magic. Maybe this was a turning point. Who knew what direction his life would take him in now? Connor couldn’t wait to find out.

Long before he got to the park, Connor used the glamour disk again. It was Luna who arrived, a daring space explorer on a mission to find her ace star pilot. Her appearance was a little different this time; Luna wasn’t sure if Eric would recognize her with the blue streak in her long curly dark brown hair or her new cat-like face. She was also shorter than she had been. Of course, he probably hadn’t had enough time to memorize her appearance the day before. And it’s not like she’d told Eric her name or anything.

For a while, Luna just stood at the edge of the park, scanning for Eric. She wasn’t even sure if he would actually show up today. Maybe he wouldn’t; maybe it was a sign that this was a stupid plan. What was she thinking? There was no way Luna could go through with this. She was sweating through her makeup.

Wait, there he was! Eric was sitting on the same bench as the day before while his sister played on the playground. He was reading a book, occasionally glancing up at his sister to make sure that she was alright. Luna steeled her nerves and started walking over.

“Hello there!” she chimed, waving. “Do you remember me?”

Sadly, there wasn’t any recognition on Eric’s face.

“You helped give me directions yesterday,” Luna explained, sitting down next to Eric.

“Ah, yes, I remember. Did you make it to the movies?”

Luna chuckled and replied, “I did. Thank you. Um… I’m from out of town; my family is here to visit my aunt for the summer; she’s my only extended family and I love getting to see her. I don’t know a lot of people here and I promised myself that I’d try to make some friends while I was here.”

“Well, I’m glad that you sought me out,” Eric said, grinning and closing his book. “I have a few friends if you’d like to meet them. It’d be nice to hang out with you some more.”

Luna couldn’t help but grin in return. The way Eric’s eyes were soaking in her image told her what she needed to know: he was definitely into her. Her heart was beating ferociously in her chest.

“I would like to hang out,” she agreed, fluttering her eyes.

“Well, me and some friends are going to the Fourth of July fair next week if you want to come. But, you know, if you want to hang out before that, we could go catch a movie or something? I definitely wouldn’t say no to spending time with a beautiful girl like you.”

He was flirting with her. Eric was flirting with her! Ahhh! Luna’s heart could have exploded out of her chest and she would have died happy. More giggles escaped her throat, completely involuntary.

“Well,” she said slowly, “I’d have to be heartless to turn down an offer from a handsome boy like you, wouldn’t I?”

Shifting a little bit to face her directly, Eric replied, “I’m really glad to hear you say that.”

Luna really should have been more resilient. She was completely overplaying her hand by showing how attracted to him she was this early. But she couldn’t help it! This was Eric! Her best friend and secret crush for forever! Nobody could blame her for being so entranced.

Then Eric asked, “Can I have your number?” and Luna’s heart stopped.

She didn’t have a phone. Oh, Connor had a phone, but Luna didn’t. There was no way for Eric to contact her.

“Actually…” Luna stammered, “my phone broke on the plane ride here. I haven’t had a chance to get a new one yet. How about we just plan to meet up and I’ll see you there?”

“Yeah, sure,” Eric replied without missing a beat. “Sucks about your phone, but it’s no problem.”

Luna breathed a little easier as the two quickly made plans for their not-date.

When they were finished, Luna stood up and said, “Unfortunately, I have to go. My family is having dinner together and I need time to buy a new dress for the occasion. They’re real sticklers for formal appearances.”

“You prefer the more casual look, though?” Eric asked.

Luna shrugged.

“It’s not that I don’t like dresses,” she said, “but pants are so much easier.”

On the other hand, she’d never tried to wear a dress. Maybe Luna did like them and just didn’t know. She made up her mind: she was definitely going to wear a dress for the not-date.

“I’ll see you soon,” Luna said, giving Eric a small wave as she stepped away.

“Looking forward to it,” Eric replied with a grin.

Once Luna got far enough away from the park, she pumped her fist into the air. She’d done it! She’d scored a date with her ace pilot! Oh, if only she could tell anyone about this. Her first ever date! And with a boy, too! Like she’d always dreamed.

Luna rushed home, stopping only briefly to remove the glamour disk and turn back into Connor. Summer and Autumn would be waiting for him back home. He absolutely had to share this with them.