Being around Eric and her other friends made Luna feel a little safer. Frost only seemed to target her when she was alone. They were back at the weird coffee shop and soft jazz music was wafting through the room. Luna clutched her coffee cup tightly. It was searing hot, but she welcomed the heat as much as she welcomed the company.

Summer and Autumn sat on the table. Occasionally they’d answer someone’s question, but for the most part they were silent. Both of them had been on edge lately and the others could tell that something was off. Luna blamed herself for their state. They were worried about her safety.

“Is everything okay?” Catalina asked, taking a sip of her own coffee. “The three of you seem really uncomfortable.”

“Trouble at home, that’s all,” Luna replied.

Robert asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I just kind of want to set that aside for now.”

“Fair enough.”

Eric sat across from Luna, not looking directly at her. Things were still a little awkward between them after the last time they met up here. Nobody else seemed to notice, though, so Luna did her best to ignore it. Maybe it was just in her head, anyway. That was probably it.

Edward was fidgeting with his hands and Harmony was on her phone. Violet was on her Switch and Robert was watching her. The group didn’t have a lot of energy today. Luna’s thoughts drifted back. The last time they’d all been together was at Eric’s house, where Rosalie had her little breakdown.

Luna winced. Rosalie hadn’t been seen since that fiasco. It had been a while, too. Hopefully, she was okay. Luna hated the thought that she might have pushed Rosalie out of the group. All she wanted was to date the boy she liked!

“So, Eric, what have you been up to?” Luna asked.

“Not much. My dads want to take me into the city to visit the zoo next week.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.”

She closed her mouth before she could ask if she could come.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Jacob said, perking up. “My parents are getting another dog.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Harmony said. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but my dad is allergic so there’s no way we could.”

“Do you have any pets, Luna?” Eric asked.

“Hmm? No, no pets. Can’t afford them.”

“You can’t?” Eric asked.

Luna looked up from her drink. Everybody was looking at her. Fuck. She was supposed to be rich, wasn’t she?

“It’s… nothing. We just don’t want pets, that’s all.”

“Not even, like, fish?” Robert asked. “Fish are easy to take care of.”

“No pets,” Luna insisted, feeling a cold sweat break out on her forehead. “Hey, so, I finished the second book of Moonlight Eclipse. What was with that ending? You can’t just add a new love interest during the climax of the second book! And he’s a ghost? That’s kind of weird.”

“He’s not a ghost,” Catalina said. “He’s a phantom. Entirely different. And he’s a complete romantic, you’ll see.”

“Here we go,” Edward muttered, rolling his eyes. “Romance talk. Is that the only thing girls think of?”

“Shut up, you,” Violet said, before adding, “No spoilers for the rest of the series, but as much as I like the friends to lovers trope, I really didn’t like that her relationship with Damien was based on a lie. It just really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.”

“It was really only there to make the audience think that Damien might end up going for Saraphina instead,” Harmony replied. “This whole series is nothing but love triangles.”

“Yeah, but if Damien knew the truth about Saraphina, he’d never actually trust her,” Robert said. When all eyes turned on him, he asked, “What? I read. And I’m right.”

“I don’t know about that,” Luna said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “Anything can be forgiven, right?”

“I’m going to get a snack,” Eric said, standing up.

Luna stood as well, saying, “I’ll go with you.”

The two got in line. Luna folded her hands in front of her and bit her lip. Eric glanced at her and smiled, but didn’t say anything. She took a chance and leaned up against him. In response, Eric wrapped his arm around her. This was nice. Luna closed her eyes.

“I really enjoy hanging out with you,” she said, nuzzling his shoulder. “Shame the summer is running out.”

“I know, right?” he replied.

“We should hang out more,” Luna continued. “Is there anything you want to do?”

Eric thought about it for a moment as the line moved, then said, “I’ve been meaning to go down to the comic shop to look for some merch. Do you want to come?”

“I’d love that.”

When they returned to their table with a muffin each, Luna’s heart dropped. Rosalie was sitting in her chair, laughing along with the rest of the group. She turned to look at the couple, then grinned hungrily.

“Eric, there you are,” she said, leaning back in Luna’s seat. “And Luna, nice to see you again.”

“What are you doing here, Rosalie?” Eric asked, sitting down across from her.

Luna stood behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Summer was glaring at Rosalie, though Autumn seemed completely disinterested. Rosalie’s expression didn’t falter.

“I actually came to apologize,” she said, turning her attention to Luna. “I accused you of doing something wrong without any evidence. I didn’t know who you were and I thought you might be dangerous. But I was wrong. I know better now. Can you ever forgive me?”

Luna groaned and glanced away, saying, “I forgive you.”

“I’m really glad to hear that,” Rosalie said, smiling wolfishly.

Luna grabbed a chair from another table and squeezed in between him and Catalina.

Rosalie turned to the pixies and asked, “Summer, how are you doing?”

“Just fine,” Summer retorted.

Rosalie didn’t seem bothered by how short Summer was being with her. Autumn refused to look at Rosalie, and Rosalie didn’t speak to her. Luna couldn’t find a comfortable way to sit in her seat. Every time she thought she did, Rosalie would glance over at her and she would become uncomfortable all over again.

“Where have you been, Rosalie?” Edward asked.

“Studying,” Rosalie replied. “As much as I want to do nothing but relax all summer, my magical studies don’t give me very long breaks. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on studying illusion magic.” Luna started fidgeting. “It’s really interesting stuff. Imagine being able to fool anybody into believing anything; scary, right? But there are usually flaws, if you know where to look.” She leaned over to ask Summer, “You know a thing or two about illusion magic, right?”

Luna stood and scooped Summer up, saying, “We need to use the restroom.”

“Together?” Violet asked, confused.

“Uh-huh,” Luna replied, leaving without further explanation.

The restroom was empty, allowing Luna to breathe easier. She went for the nearest stall and locked the door, sitting down on the toilet and rubbing her eyes. Summer landed on the toilet paper dispenser beside her.

“It’s okay,” Luna muttered. “Everything is okay.”

The door opened and Luna jumped. The newcomer walked over to the next stall and entered, then sat down immediately. Luna waited, holding her breath.

“It’d be a shame if Eric were to find out who you really were, Luna,” Rosalie said. “I think on some level he already knows, he just won’t admit it to himself. There’s no way he can believe his best friend would lie to him for so long. Maybe I should do him a favor and explain it to him.”

“Hey!” Summer flew up and grabbed the edge of the stall to peer over at Rosalie. “You wouldn’t dare ruin this for her, you burning venommouth.”

“Such colorful language,” Rosalie tittered. “What would your mother say?”

“I know human swears too,” Summer warned.

“I’m sure you do.”

Luna picked up her legs and wrapped her arms around them.

Summer continued, “Luna is risking everything to be with the boy she likes. Not even you can be so heartless as to take that away from her.”

“Not if she doesn’t cause me any more trouble.” To Luna, she asked, “Are you going to cause me any more problems, Luna?” Luna didn’t respond. “Luna?”

“Fine,” Luna spat. “No more problems.”

“And that means no getting in the way of me pursuing Eric,” Rosalie continued. “Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Very good.”

Rosalie opened the door and stepped out of the stall. Luna listened to her leave and the door swung shut. She took a deep breath and held it, doing her absolute best not to cry. Summer floated down and landed on her knee, looking concerned.

“Alright, let’s go,” Luna said flatly, moving to stand up.

“Luna, I’m not going to let her do this to you.”

“Just like you’re not going to let Frost hurt me?”

“…Low blow, Luna.”

Luna sighed, then said, “I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I would be too, after that.”

The two exited and slinked back to table. Summer sat on Luna’s shoulder while Luna picked up Autumn and rested her in the crook of her arm. She refused to look up at the rest of her friends.

“I’m gonna go home early,” she muttered.

“Is something wrong?” Eric asked, perking up, before turning to Rosalie and demanding, “Did you say something to her?”

“No,” Luna said quickly, refusing to look at Rosalie. “It’s… a personal matter. I got a text while in the bathroom. Rosalie didn’t do anything.”

Rosalie said, “Well, I hope everything is alright.”

“Thank you,” Luna mumbled, turning away.

She kept Summer and Autumn in a firm hug as she walked away from the coffee shop. Before long, she started to cry. It didn’t even occur to her to take off the glamour disk as she entered her home.

Fortunately, nobody else was home. Luna returned to her room and sat the pixies down on her desk. Then she collapsed into her pillow and started to bawl. Everything was ruined. There was no way out of this. Rosalie was a vindictive bitch and she was never going to keep Luna’s secret.

Luna had no doubt that Rosalie wouldn’t let her keep dating Eric. She wanted Eric to herself too much. Sure, if Luna went back to being Connor, Rosalie wouldn’t have anything to use against her, but she didn’t want to do that. Losing her relationship with Eric wasn’t an option.

“There has to be a way around this,” Luna said, sitting up and clutching the pillow to her chest. “There has to be. Summer? Autumn? What do I do?”

Summer and Autumn exchanged a glance, then Summer said, “I… I really don’t know what to do, Luna.”

“Me neither,” Autumn added. Summer had filled her in on the walk back home.

Luna groaned and asked, “Shouldn’t you be telling me to just come out and tell everyone the truth already?”

Autumn shrugged, and Luna sighed. She threw the pillow at the door and hugged her knees to sulk. Summer started to pace around the desk.

“Alright,” she muttered, “we just have to convince Rosalie that she’s wrong. You’re not actually Connor and have a different secret that you don’t want her to share. Maybe we can convince her that you’re a witch too!”

“That won’t work,” Luna mumbled. “I basically admitted who I was.”

“Then we find a way for her to see Connor and Luna at the same time. All we need is another glamour disk and a willing participant.”

Autumn asked, “Where are we going to find either of those?”

“Then… Then… Then we… We make her think that there's some kind of magical emergency she needs to focus on and she leaves town for a few weeks!”

Buzzing her wings angrily, Autumn replied, “She’ll come back as soon as she realizes nothing’s actually wrong.”

“Then—”

“Summer, please stop,” Luna begged.

Luna’s days of pretending to be a girl were simply over. That was the long and short of it. She’d gotten haughty and Rosalie had figured out she was an android. Connor was going to have to stay a boy from now on.

She groaned. Luna didn’t want to be a boy. Could she be a femboy instead? Would people actually respect her as Connor if she… he… did that? Would she be satisfied if she didn’t get to actually pretend to be a girl like she was now?

Fuck, things would be so much easier if Luna were actually trans. She peeled the glamour disk off and sat it down on the bed. Connor rubbed his eyes, still bitter from tears. He wished he was trans. Then he’d just be able to be a girl. All he wanted was to be a girl.

He wanted to be a girl.

He wanted to be a girl.

Connor wanted to be a girl.

Not just for pretend, but for real.

Springing from the bed, Connor rushed to the computer, startling the pixies in the process. He opened up a browser, then cursed and started fiddling with his internet connection. The feeble connection took hold and Connor started searching for terms. It seemed so obvious now. How had he not realized it before?

There were a lot of websites dedicated to helping trans people who had just figured themselves out. Or newly “hatched” trans people, according to the terminology Connor discovered. That was a cute way of putting it. She sat there for at least an hour, devouring every piece of information she could while Summer and Autumn bickered quietly in the background.

To Connor’s dismay, transitioning looked to be quite expensive. Magical options were cheaper, but more scarce because of the limited number of magical doctors around. It seemed like the glamour disk was the best she was going to get until she got a good job with good insurance.

“Hey, guys,” she said, getting her friends’ attention. “Um… Autumn, you know how you said I could be a girl on the inside if I wanted?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m a girl on the inside. I think I’m trans.”

Summer and Autumn exchanged a glance, then Summer said, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“So you’re going to be Luna full-time from now on?”

Connor sighed and said, “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Luna feels like more of a costume. She’s not… really me.”

“But you’re going to tell people, right?” Autumn asked.

“I…” Connor glanced at Summer, who shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. We have to tell everyone. I’m just not sure how to do that yet. And… I’m not sure if people will even accept that about me.”

“But you have to try.”

“Yeah, I have to try. This, at least, I can be honest about.”