Mom fiddled with the radio tuner while we sat at a red light downtown, leaning back into her seat as the folksy melody of a country song began to play through the car speakers. She was dressed nicely, a pair of dark slacks, a white blouse, and dark blazer; apparently, she had an important meeting at work today. School was only a couple of blocks away, something directly correlated to the increasing anxiety bubbling within my stomach.

“You okay, hun?” she suddenly asked. “You haven’t said much this morning, even through breakfast.”

“Bad dreams,” I replied somewhat honestly, though that wasn’t the extent of my worries at the moment.

“Want to talk about it?” Her voice softened as worry began to creep into her tone.

I leaned against the car window. “Just… alter stuff, I think. Nothing to worry about, Mom. It was a stupid dream anyways.” We pulled up to the academy sidewalk with a lurch as Mom placed the car into park. Nothing in that dream made any sense beyond it being clear it was intended to be a message. But a message about what? What was bleeding?

“Alright, well, just keep me in the loop, okay? I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us if we can help it.”

“No more secrets, Mom.” I grabbed my backpack and opened the door.

“Promise?” she called after me, still looking worried.

“Promise.” I smiled.

“Good girl. Remember, I’ve got the Crescendo meeting today; if you need anything, please stick to texting, okay? My boss will flip his lid if one of us messes up the pitch meeting this morning.”

“Yeah, texting, got it. Love you!” I stepped from the car and started towards the school. 

“Love you too, sweetie,” Mom shouted through a rolled-down window. Her car turned back onto the street and rolled out of sight before I reached the school doors. Once sure she was gone, I pulled my phone out and checked for a new message Cass had sent me.

CASS:

Got the clothes. 

I’m standing over in the building alcove facing Cooper street. Are you sure you want to do this?

ME:

Hell yeah. Heading your way now.

It didn’t take long for me to make it to Cass; the academy building wasn’t especially huge compared to the tall buildings surrounding it. I ducked into the alcove where we’d met before, a ten to fifteen-foot wide recess in the building exterior. She was waiting as promised, holding a plastic bag against her bookbag while looking especially uneasy.

“Thanks for washing that for me, Cass,” I said, taking the bag from her and examining the contents. Inside lay the white lace dress and jacket I’d worn to Sammy’s gig a few weeks prior. 

“No uh, no problem,” she replied. I pulled my backpack from my back and looked inside. “Sneakers, please,” I said. A small pair of hands lifted two canvas sneakers out of my backpack. “Thanks!”

“W-what the fuck?!” Cass cried out, her voice filled with terror. She stepped back in horror. “Gabby, what the hell was that?”

“Oh! Sorry!” I giggled. “That’s --”

“Gabby, can I come out now? I want to wish my girl luck!” Kayden’s melodic voice sounded through the backpack.

“Yep, the coast is clear!” I replied earnestly. A miniaturized Kayden launched themselves from my backpack and, after somersaulting in midair like a total show-off, landed onto the ground at full size.

“Did that look as cool as it felt?” they asked, resizing their clothes with the aid of a watch-like device. A gift from Mel, apparently.

Rolling my eyes heavily, I gestured to Kayden. “Cass, this showoff is Kayden. Showoff, this is Cass.”

“Yo!” Kayden waved. “Don’t mind me, I’ll be gone in a second.”

Cass was pale. “Is this the shapeshifter you’ve been doing vigilante stuff with?” she huffed.

“Yep!” Kayden and I chirped in unison.

Cass nodded slowly, apparently shell-shocked as she attempted to work through Kayden’s transformation. “But -- but, how does that work? You got smaller, but your mass shouldn’t change, right?” She circled Kayden, trying to puzzle them out. “You should’ve been like a nearly two-hundred-pound weight in there judging by your height now!”

Kayden stifled a chuckle. “Mel makes the same face whenever I size change in front of her, too.”

“They’re kind of similar, no?” I said.

“Kind of, yeah.” Kayden agreed.

As I gathered my clothes, I looked up at the two of them. “Quick question for you both.”

They exchanged a glance.

“Is it common to prefer being in your alter form all the time?” I asked.

Kayden scratched their head. “I mean, I like it. But I’m gender fluid and most folks I’ve met say they aren’t huge fans of the constant transformation. Something about it feeling ‘off’. Maybe something similar to dysphoria?”

Cass nodded along. “That’s pretty spot on, actually. I love flying around the city --” She halted, suddenly looking terrified at what she’d admitted. “Which I do very rarely, of course!” she added in a fit. “But the thought of being transformed for hours and hours, sitting in a lecture with my wings folded back the entire time? No thanks. Maybe it’d be better if being in my demon form did something for my dysphoria, but it’s only slightly more feminine than my default form, which, for the trade-off of constantly worrying about accidentally summoning imps into existence or breathing fire when I burp, isn’t really worth it.”

“Huh.” I nodded. “Angus confided to me about something similar a few days ago, too.”

“Why do you ask?” Kayden craned their neck down at me.

I gripped the clothing between my hands tightly as they grew slightly clammy, my throat becoming dry as well. “Just checking to see if this is going to be more of an ‘Oh captain, my captain,’ sort of situation when I make my heroic stand. Doesn’t seem like I’ll be quite so lucky, though.”

Looking around nervously, Cass leaned in close. “Again, are you sure about this, Gabby?” she asked in a soft voice. “I’m all for trans rights, but maybe Mr. Garrison isn’t someone you want to push this with. I mean, we’ll be out of school in a year or so anyway.”

I looked up at her with a steeled expression. “I’m deadly serious, Cass. I’m doing this.”

“Okay, then I guess… I guess I’m behind you.” She smiled weakly.

I patted her shoulder. “Cass, it’ll be fine. I promise.”

“We’re the ones who should be telling you that, speedy!” Kayden shouted, picking me up in their arms and squeezing me in a tight hug. Cass erupted into laughter while I tried to free myself.

“Kayden, I gotta get changed! Class starts soon!” I chided. After putting me down, I switched out of my default form.

“Sure. We still good for me to join your fam for dinner? Mel’s scanner thingy caught something near your house last night, but she’s pretty sure it’s a glitch. Figured I’d still check it out, though.”

“Yeah, of course,” I shrugged. “Mom’s tolerating you for the moment, might as well make the most of it.”

“Cool.” They smiled. Before I could take off, Kayden grabbed my arm. “Wait, I uh -- I want to wish you luck!” they said, their voice low and embarrassed as they looked off to the side. They leaned in and swiftly planted a brisk peck on my cheek. My eyes flew open, a heavy blush overtaking my face.

“Did you just--” I mumbled, my voice quiet and flustered.

“G-good luck!” they blurted out, immediately taking off down the campus lawn and into the city. Cass and I stared at each other for a moment.

“Did they --?”

“Yup.”

“D-does that count as my first non-familial kiss?” 

“Yay! Gabby!” Cass squealed. “Gabby and Kayden, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S--”

“I-I gotta go!” I closed my eyes and ran off, hoping to escape Cass’ taunting. I quickly ducked into Planetarium Pizza, past a confused Mr. Stavros and into the bathroom where, after potentially the quickest wardrobe change that space-themed pizza parlor had ever seen, I emerged back out into the foyer of the restaurant.

“Thanks, Mr. Stavros!” I shouted as I made my way out the door.

“No problem... uh?” I heard his reply trail off as I left the building and raced back to the school. Adrenaline was surging through my veins like a whitewater current as my hand came to rest upon the school doors. 

Catching a glimpse of myself in the windows, I sucked air in through my teeth. My hair was a total mess! I ran my fingers through it a few times, growing frustrated as the flyaways sticking resisted my attempts to flatten them. I forced myself to shrug it off, I didn’t have time for this. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the doors open, knowing that everything was about to change. For better or worse, well, that was still up in the air.

Much to my surprise, no alarm bells began to sound upon my stepping through the threshold into the school. In fact, nobody noticed me whatsoever. Several groups of students were still milling around, heading to their respective home-rooms for the morning. I was completely anonymous, just another girl.

Holy shit, this is awesome!

Taking a cautious breath, I continued forwards into the school. The office was immediately to the right of the entrance, where Mr. Garrison and a younger-looking guy stood, caught up in conversation. I turned my head to the left as I passed by to avoid Mr. Garrison’s sight. For it being only the second time (excluding gym) that I’d been in this building in this form, I felt oddly comfortable; something that only further cemented my determination.

I brushed past a jock-looking guy wearing a Crescent City Pelicans (a reference to some old movie and the prison nearby according to Mom) jersey as he checked me out. I always figured it was an odd name for a basketball team, but it was still a better name than the Crescent City Gaffers, our local baseball team.

As I rounded a corner, I had made it nearly halfway to my locker before a hauntingly familiar alarm began to echo off the walls. It started distant and quiet, but it was clearly getting closer, and quickly. Something I’d worked out while planning the previous night was that the AndrAI seemed to have a pattern to their detection methods, at least as far as I could figure. Cass, with her gossip tuned ear, had confirmed that several classes had live demonstrations involving alter forms even after security was notched up. This seemed to indicate that, for some reason, the AndrAI were blind to the actual classrooms and instead patrolled only the hallways. 

Tightening my grip on my bag, I was left with a decision; let the AndrAI surround me before I could even get to homeroom and get caught before I even started, or outrun them and hope by the time they caught up I’d have witnesses around. That same jock was only ten feet away from me, his right foot slowly descending toward the ground.

I decided to take my second choice. Easier to ask for forgiveness, right?

In a blur, I rushed down the hallways, the beeping once more but a distant wail. I had to slow down to retrieve my books from my locker, allowing the AndrAI to get worryingly close, but speeding up again allowed me to make it into Ms. Catarelli’s class before they caught sight of me. Curiously, the beeping stopped once I crossed her classroom doorway, seemingly confirming my theory. 

Of course, that didn’t mean I was unnoticed. Rather, everyone’s eyes were on me as I entered the classroom and took my usual seat next to Cass.

“Not exactly subtle,” she commented.

I shrugged. “I dunno. I call it the McArthur charm.” I wasn’t banking on the students not recognizing me; most of the people in my homeroom were in gym with me as well, so they knew exactly who this face belonged to. Whispers immediately began to circulate the room and continued as Ms. Catarelli entered looking somewhat out of sorts.

“Here we go…” Cass gulped. “Geez, your coming out is going so much differently than mine did. It’s like a roller coaster.”

Ms. Catarelli dropped some folders onto her desk. “Sorry about that, guys! Seems like our drones are having a glitch today or something. I don’t really have any announcements for you, so go ahead and work on some homework --” She stopped abruptly upon seeing me. Like with Garrison, it took her a moment for recognition to flash across her face. The room fell to a dead silence as she spoke.

“Gavin, that was you?” she asked, her voice a mix of confusion and disappointment. “What’s gotten into you, you know alter forms aren’t allowed outside of the gym.”

Summoning all the courage in my body, I did my best to reply cooly. “Actually, I’m going by Gabrielle for now. Fits me better.” Another series of whispers poured forth from my classmates.

Her frown grew deeper. “Fine, Gabrielle, I’m serious. I need you to change back, now. If you don’t, I need to call the office.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.” I shook my head. “I won’t.” She remained silent for a moment, instead looking me over ruefully. 

Has anyone else ever found their focus shifting to entirely unimportant details in stressful situations? For the life of me, I couldn’t stop focusing on how cold my ass was on the hard desk chair while Ms. Catarelli held my fate in her hands. She turned and walked back to her desk, dialing a number on her desk phone and bringing it to her ear. The ambient anxiety I’d been dealing with thus far formed into a singular pit in my stomach as faint phone ringing could be heard from the receiver.

“Sorry, Gabby,” she said, her voice stern. “But it’s the rules.” The class remained quiet enough to hear a pin drop while the phone rang a few more times before being answered on the other end. “Hey, I have a student that is refusing to change back into their default form. Yes. Room A-17. Thanks.” Upon placing the phone back on its cradle she deftly switched back to her previous topic regarding homework. 

I sat motionless, shellshocked by her actions. Catarelli had just sold me out. Didn’t she like me? The woman even shed tears thanking me for saving her life. But here she was, reporting me to Garrison just like that? I sat back, unable to process her betrayal. Cass eyed me sorrowfully but kept to herself beyond a lingering hand on my arm for reassurance.

Ms. Catarelli had barely finished when the door to the room opened. Mr. Garrison, looking as angry as ever strode into the room, Nurse Prim in tow frantically trying to keep pace. He wasted no time in approaching my desk, hovering above once reaching me.

“Turn back now, Gavin,” he growled. For only a split second, I nearly faltered and changed back from fear of him and the eyes surrounding us. But upon catching a glimpse of Cass behind Mr. Garrison, my will steeled.

“First off,” I began, “it’s Gabrielle. I’ll say that as many times as it takes for everyone to get on board. Second, this form alleviates my dysphoria and allows me to function normally.” I was essentially reciting the line I’d practiced in the mirror that morning. “Being in this form will allow me to be the best student I can be.”

With a groan, Mr. Garrison reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar black sphere, a shiny orb of clellium. Without warning he directed it towards my arm, apparently intending to turn me back by force. Dodging out of the way was easy enough, I sped out of my seat a few feet from him.

“Dude, what the hell was that?” I snapped at him.

“Oh, now you’re swearing and resisting me, huh?” Mr. Garrison rolled his grumbled, his mustache bristling as he sighed.

“Gabrielle, don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Ms. Catarelli pleaded.

Nurse Prim tried to interject. “Uh, sir, maybe we can just talk to her? I’ve been doing some reading and --”

“Enough, nurse!” He stomped over to me and grabbed ahold of my arm with his free hand. 

Cass stood up. “Why do you have to change her back? She wasn’t causing any issues until you barged in here.”

“Yeah!” A voice from behind us spoke up louder than everyone else. One of Cinney’s friends, a girl with mostly dark hair except for pink highlights. “Leave her alone,” she demanded. “The rules in this school are so restrictive; if she’s not causing any problems, why do you need to bother her?”

“Shut up, Noe!” Cinney hissed, yanking the girl back down to her desk. Mr. Garrison shook his head and pressed the clellium to my skin.

It felt like a train slammed into me, rendering everything distant and forcing all the breath from my lungs. Muscles suddenly became weak and strained, I fell against someone in a stupor. My energy… the energy in my chest… it was gone. I couldn’t feel it. Through blurry eyesight, I could make out a dissipating fog of smoke around me. A pair of slender hands wrapped around my stomach, stabilizing me from stumbling any further while I began to panic. 

What happened to my powers? Where was it? Where was my energy?!

“Wha… what the hell?” I muttered in a barely audible voice.

“C’mon Gabby, it’ll be okay,” I could make out Prim’s voice as she shushed me. “Let’s get you to the office, okay?” In no position to resist, I allowed her to lead me from the room, which was still in an uproar with Ms. Catarelli, Cass, and a few other students arguing. I was led into the main office, a small drab-looking room that led into several other rooms, containing a large wooden desk in the center with that same receptionist looking somewhat frightened by our appearance.

“Is he the one who was causing the alarms earlier?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes, this is him,” Mr. Garrison gruffly confirmed.

“Why is he wearing a dress?” The receptionist cocked his head to the side. 

Ugh. Of course that’s what they saw now. A boy in a dress. 

“Ben, can you please pull up the contact information for Gavin McArthur’s parents? I would like to speak with them.” As if he’d doused me with a bucket of cold water, I was suddenly back to my senses, feeling dread bearing down on me.

“No! You can’t call my dad about this!” I pleaded.

“Tough. You should’ve thought about that before this,” Mr. Garrison regarded me coldly. Prim helped me into one of the chairs, while the receptionist worked. He looked nervous and squirmed under Mr. Garrison’s gaze.

“Uh, sir? Only Delilah McArthur is showing up in our system as his emergency contact. Looks like she’s his mother. Should I call her?”

Mr. Garrison gave me a cold look. “Nothing on his father? Are you sure?” Ben hurriedly turned back around and looked through the system again.

“Nope, I don’t -- wait, here he is. I scrolled right past him the first time, must’ve been. Sorry, sir.”

“Send the numbers to me. I’ll give them both a call,” Mr. Garrison ordered.

“Sure thing, sir. Looks like Ms. Catarelli already pulled the numbers into a call-doc a few days ago.”

“Good. Thanks, Ben.” Mr. Garrison nodded. He walked towards his office before slamming the door shut, causing the taped-on paper nametag with his name on it to flutter in the air, revealing Mrs. Bekker’s name beneath on the door itself. I found myself thrown for a loop. 

Ms. Catarelli pulled his number? Was she the one that had called him? Why would she do that? I thought she liked me? Given the day’s events so far, it seemed that she didn’t.

Ben began to type away while Nurse Prim lowered herself down into the seat next to me.

“Hey, Gabby, I’m very, very sorry about all of this. I tried to stop him,” she said, her voice low and quiet. “I thought this might get through to him. I’m so sorry.”

I sat back and remained quiet, unsure of how to feel about everything. My clothes were fitting in all the wrong ways. I didn’t want to hear my voice, not like this. She continued, “For what it’s worth, I want you to know that even now you’re really very pretty. And if you feel like you need to, you can probably change back in a little bit, anyway. Once the clellium wears off, I mean. It’s not like you can be in much more trouble, anyway.” She let out a fake chuckle, clearly trying to make me feel better.

“You don’t have to do that,” I mumbled in reply.

Nurse Prim looked confused. “Do what?”

“You don’t have to patronize me and make me feel better. I feel like that’s all anyone in this school does. Well, that or humiliating me.”

“Was I?” she said sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I was just trying to do what my sister used to do when I was in your shoes.”

“Consoling me?” I raised an eyebrow. “My mom does the same thing.”

Nurse Prim patted my knee. “Then your mom is a very kind person! Casey was always playing doctor or nurse when I was in trouble as a kid, she could never let me stay sad for too long.”

“Casey was your sister?” I asked. Nurse Prim slowly nodded.

“She was. My best friend, actually. Had a heart big enough for the whole world, if you ask me. Always wanted to fix everyone else up.”

A quiet mumble escaped my lips as I fiddled with my dress, unsure how to proceed. “What happened to her?” I hesitantly asked. She slowly sucked air in through her nose, contemplating my question before letting her smile drop.

“To keep it brief, for the sake of my makeup, she and I used to be heroes. Well, hero adjacent is a better descriptor, actually. One day, feels like yesterday, honestly; there was an accident that took her life. The crook went up north, but well, you know how that goes.” She looked up at the ceiling tiles above us, seeming to fight back a stray tear. “I guess it’s fitting that I ended up doing what she always pretended to do, fix kids up both physically and emotionally. For the last two years, at least.”

“For what it’s worth,” I began quietly, echoing her own words from earlier, “I think you’re pretty good at it. The whole nursing thing, I mean.”

“Thanks, Gabby.” She smiled. “Sometimes I wonder what she’d think of me, here and now.” She stood up from the chair and brushed her skirt, a long maxi-style piece, before heading for Mr. Garrison’s door. “I’m… I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do for you. Just hang in there, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.” She timidly knocked on the door and entered, shutting the door behind her. I twiddled my thumbs while Ben the receptionist typed away at his computer, apparently working on something. After several minutes of waiting boredom got the better of me and I leaned past the desk for a better look. A small man with a white coat and a white hat was climbing up ladders on his screen, knocking down what looked like burger ingredients from level to level. Forgetting myself, a scoff escaped my lips.

“Are you playing Burger Time, dude?” I asked with a giggle. He jumped in his seat and immediately minimized his window.

“What? No! Shut up!” he cried.

I crossed my arms and leaned back. “Seriously? C’mon, man, your back is even to his office. You want him to see you playing old arcade games on the job?”

“Whatever you think you saw, young man, you clearly didn’t,” he huffed. “Besides, my uncle is fine with it anyways. Go ahead and ask him.”

“Your uncle is Mr. Garrison?” I said in disbelief.

“No, my uncle is the police commissioner,” he retorted, sarcasm dripping in his voice. “Of course he’s the principal, duh.”

Ah, nepotism. Cool cool cool.

I rolled my eyes and swung my legs back and forth. Interestingly, my muscles didn’t feel as lethargic as they did before. And that all-too-familiar sizzle in my chest crackled once more in reply. Wasting no time, I clenched down onto it, transforming again into Gabrielle, into me. Huh. No alarm bells. Guess my hunch about the rooms of the school was correct. Ben wheeled back in his chair, eyes wide and staring at me like a frightened animal.

“D-don’t hurt me!” he trembled, raising his hands in terror.

I leaned forward, confused by his outburst. “Don’t hurt you? I’m just more comfortable like this, that’s it, dude. Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Through chattering teeth, he continued. “I - I’m just doing this for college credits! I don’t have any beef with you a-alters. I promise!”

“My god, I’m not gonna hurt you. Relax, man. You’re veering a little too hard into the scared white person stereotype.” I shook my head and kicked my feet out onto the worn carpet. Left with nothing else to do, I put my mind to work piecing together the mysteries surrounding me. Hexecute was still out there, doing god knows what, apparently lusting after clellium. Something that, going off Mel’s assumption, was happening close enough to me for him to watch. It wasn't clear why he wasn't coming after me at home; if Kayden was able to get in and out mostly undetected, couldn’t Hexecute? Then there was the issue with Dad, which it seemed Ms. Catarelli had somehow caused. Why had she called Dad? Sure, my record didn’t have any listed reason not to, but even so, they aren’t allowed to do that without permission, right?

Maybe Garrison had a bigger part in this than I’d given him credit for. He clearly had it out for me. Except… his rotund body type didn’t really match Hexecute’s lithe form. Nor did he, despite having one, seem especially like the dastardly mustache-twirling type. Hexecute had mentioned knowing what each of the students here was capable of, so that meant he had access to our records. Mel had mentioned safeguarding those, but maybe they got around that by actually being here. I bent forward, rubbing my fingers along my temples. This Chinese puzzle-box was starting to give me a headache. For crying out loud, Ben, “Mr. Burger Time”, could’ve been Hexecute. His lanky frame definitely matched Hexecute’s silhouette.

Ben turned back around and pulled up a spreadsheet, likely doing busy work so I couldn’t call him out again. Mr. Garrison and Nurse Prim didn’t come out of the office as I’d expected, so in my alter form I sat in wait. The minutes stretched on and on, eventually turning into hours as I continued to sit, texting Kayden to pass the time. They weren’t really surprised by the turn of events but offered to come in and bust some heads if needed, an offer I quickly declined. I laid my head against the wall. This wasn’t the first time I’d been in “time out”, but something about this situation was especially agonizing for me. It was as if every minute took twice as long to pass, elongating further and further until I was incessantly tapping my sneaker to the ground. 

“Do you mind?” Ben irritatedly asked. “You’ve been tapping your foot for twenty minutes.”

“Fine, fine. Wouldn’t want to interrupt your very important work,” I replied.

It wasn’t hard to figure out the cause. I was in my alter form, and I’d already noticed a weird dilation of time when I was like this, at least to my naked eye. Maybe my attention span was shorter? I sighed. Yet another quirk of this body. Speaking of, my stomach began to growl fiercely. Shaking my head, I giggled. The lengths I was going to to be a total smoke show.

Eventually, after an eternity and change had passed, gym was about to begin. A twinge of frustration registered in my chest; Cass was probably changing right now in the bathroom, like she always did. She didn’t deserve that, and I didn’t deserve to sit here like a criminal. My eyes wandered over to Mr. Garrison’s still-closed door. I was already in trouble… what’s a bit more? Ben, as distracted as he was playing Q*bert now, failed to notice me slip out the office door into the still bustling hallway. I changed back, hoping to avoid the AndrAI’s detection systems and hurried down first to my locker and then to Gym class. I got a few odd stares as I strode towards the gym, appearing to everyone as Gavin McArthur in a dress, but I pushed them from my mind. 

This was more important.

I changed back into my alter form before bursting into the bathroom where she and I usually changed. “Cass?” I called, my voice echoing on the walls.

“Gabby?” I heard a confused reply. Fidgeting sounds came from one of the stall locks before Cass’ head popped out. “I thought for sure you were getting sent home.”

“Nope,” I shook my head. “Not yet, at least. Are you dressed?”

“I mean, I just took my shirt off, so no.” 

“Put it back on. We’re not changing here.”

* * *

I was the one to pull on women’s locker room door first, Cass being too nervous to do it herself. Bittinboulder was occupied with lecturing the fireball kid in front of a large scorch mark on the wall and didn’t see us slip in.

“Gabby, I don’t think we should do this. You’ll only get in more trouble. I’ll get in trouble! Do you know how much shit my dad will give me if I get in trouble here? I already stayed up watching horror movies most of last night.”

Her protests didn’t stop me from grabbing her hand and dragging her in after me. There was a long corridor ahead of us that turned off to the right where loud voices were coming from.

“Cass, you’re a girl, right?” I asked, my voice stern and steady.

“Well, yeah, but --” she attempted to protest.

“No, there’s nothing else. You’re a girl, so you change here. That’s all there is to it.” She didn’t say anything for a few moments, processing what I’d said. Slowly, she began to nod.

“You’re… right. You’re right. We deserve this.”

“Then let’s get what we deserve.” I smiled. I’d be lying if I said my stomach wasn’t an absolute garbage fire of anxiety then and there, but I needed to put on a strong front for Cass. We continued down the corridor and entered into the main locker room area. “Just grab a locker, don’t make a fuss,” I whispered to Cass. The locker room was a mirror image of the men’s locker room, though it seemed brighter, and there were more stalls in the connected bathroom. 

Really? They had a bathroom in here the whole time?

All of the girls in my class were in some state of undress, though most were in the process of pulling their uniforms on. Nearly immediately, the ambient conversations ceased as we chose lockers away from everyone else. Dozens of eyes burned into us as the other occupants quickly covered themselves up.

Cass’ hands were visibly shaking as she opened up her locker door and began to take her shirt off. I did the same with my dress, hoping to head off any arguments about us being guys when we quite visibly weren’t. As if on cue, Cinney shouted from the other side of the room.

“What the hell are they doing in here? Aren’t they guys?”

“Nope,” I replied simply, pulling my dress over my head to display my bra and panty-clad body to them. “Don’t think boys look like Cass or me.”

“That’s not what she means, dude!” another person shouted. “Like, you’re actually a guy, even if you’ve got a vag right now.”

“And she doesn’t even have that,” someone else added, pointing at Cass.

“What, so women are only as good as their genitals, now?” Cass shot back. The girl looked annoyed.

“Like, we’re all for inclusivity and stuff, but don’t we get a vote on you guys seeing us naked like perverts?” Cinney argued, her tone gaining more edge as she went.

I pulled on my sports bra, making sure they got a show as I did. “I’m sorry you feel uncomfortable, but we’re just changing. We won’t stare or anything, and the fact that you haven’t stopped eyeing my tits this entire time kind of paints you as the pervert here, Cinney.”

“What?” she fumed, storming over to me. “I’m not! You little --” A figure moved in her way, blocking her path.

“Cinney, get the fuck back over there and finish changin’. They ain’t gonna hurt anybody in here,” Sammy calmly replied. Cinney cowered immediately and backed away to the safety of her locker. The other girls in the room turned away as well.

“Sammy!” I gleefully exclaimed. She looked me up and down and laughed.

“Goddammit, Gabby, put some clothes on, please?”

“Oh!” I looked down at myself, still in my underwear. “Aye aye,” I squeaked. Cass rushed past me and glomped onto Sammy, already in her uniform.

“Sammy! You’re back!” Cass shouted.

“Ayep. Back, for now at least.” Sammy shrugged. A bright reflection caught my eye as I zipped through changing. The copper bangle still hugged tightly to Sammy’s wrist. In fact, it looked bigger than the last time I’d seen it. Now it looked more like a small bracer than anything. On her other arm was a black shiny wristband.

“You still have that bracelet… thing,” I said. The same bracelet that caused her to erupt with green light before. Her hand dug further into her canvas jacket, hiding the bracelet from view. She looked exhausted, deep lines traced beneath her eyes and her body tight and rigid as if she was on guard.

“Yup. Don’t wanna talk about it. Ain’t got a fucking origin story to tell if that’s what y’all are hoping for.”

“But why are you here?” Cass asked. “You don’t have gym this period.”

“I do now. I’m sure it’ll come up.” Sammy opened up a locker and threw her bag inside. “You’ll see.”

* * *

The girls in the locker room backed off for the most part with Sammy’s added presence, either out of respect for one of their own vouching for us or fear from the rumors about her strength that had been going around since she left the week prior. Mrs. Bittinboulder seemed less than enthused as she watched Cass and I leave the locker room together but refrained from saying anything to us. Angus, myself, Cass and Sammy grouped together in the middle of the pack of students. Angus was similarly surprised to see Sammy back at school, but was pleased to see her nonetheless.

“Shouldn’t you be in the class above us, though?” he asked.

“Yeah, I dunno why they made me move into this period. Shifted around my whole damn schedule. Now instead’a shop class I’m in computer science.” She rolled her eyes. “What about me says I want to learn about computers?”

Bittinboulder blew her whistle, signaling the start of class. She went through her standard spiel, though instead of me being the odd one out this time, she called Sammy to the front. Sammy grudgingly trudged up to her and joined her at the head of the class.

“I know we’ve had a lot of change-ups in here this semester, but we have another addition to our group. Samantha here will be joining us for the remainder of the semester at my request since she recently underwent her altercation.” She nudged Sammy forward.

“What?” Sammy groaned.

“Go on, tell them what you can do, kid,” Mrs. Bittinboulder replied. With another groan, Sammy took a few steps back and reached for the black wristband.

“Might wanna pop up one of them shields, Bittinboulder. This’ll be a whole thing,” she cautioned. Looking confused, Mrs. Bittinboulder hesitantly raised a shield in front of us, excluding Sammy. Having readied herself, Sammy nodded. “Fuck’s sake.” She popped off the black wristband, letting it drop to the floor. From one second to the next, green light instantly began to pour from her eyes as the copper bracer began to emit a nauseating green light. A bright flash overtook her, similar to our own but… different, sort of. Whereas ours were pure white, hers had a tint of green to it. Either from the earlier light or no, I wasn’t sure. 

Once our eyes adjusted Sammy was standing in the same place, looking no different save for the absence of lines beneath her eyes. The bracer itself had elongated again, now looking more like a full arm of armor, even connecting to a pauldron on her shoulder.

“Did she transform? She looks the same,” Cass asked, turning to Angus and me. “I’ve heard that can happen, but it’s not very common…” Before I could reply, Angus cupped his hands over his ears.

“Agh! What is that? Why is it so loud?” he cried out. I propped him up, balancing his weight on my shoulder.

“What’s so loud? What’s wrong?” I panicked. He didn’t answer, he only pointed towards Sammy. She was walking towards the shield.

“Check this shit out!” she screamed, her voice sounding like something was caught in her throat, splitting her voice into two distinct pitches. Her fingers curved into a fist as a devilish smile spread across her face. In a single motion, she slammed her closed fist against Mrs. Bittinboulder’s shield, causing a deafening cacophony of vibrational feedback to rip through our ears. Everyone copied Angus, cupping their hands over their ears in pain. Fracture-like cracks ran all over Bittinboulder’s shield, which barely held itself together.

“Holy crap!” Markus hollered from the bleachers, partially ducking behind them for cover.

“More like Jesus Christ,” Mrs. Bittinboulder breathed in awe. “They weren’t kidding about you.” 

Sammy had super strength. No, not just super strength. She was far, far stronger than me, that much was clear. She had god-like strength. 

Awareness sprung back to life on her face, her expression changing from joy to something more fearful. She spun around on her heels and dashed back towards the wristlet on the ground, gently touching her wrist to it. A plume of smoke erupted from her, eventually dissipating and showing her depowered, her armor reverted to it’s bracer form. Scambling, she clipped the wristlet back onto her forearm and picked herself up.

She looked sheepish as she rose back to her feet. “Sorry,” she apologized, cradling her head with her free hand. “That uh… that’s my gig now, I guess.” Bittinboulder lowered her shields, allowing them to disintegrate into shimmering blue particles in the air.

“Er… right.” She turned back to face us. “So, as I was saying, Samantha will be joining us at my request. She has several friends in this class and I feel it’ll be the best place to help her get acclimated to her unique, uh… powers.”

Sammy pushed her way back to our side. “For as long as I have them. Gettin’ this damn thing off as soon as I can,” she growled. Angus skittered over to the other side of Cass.

“Samantha? Why was I hearing the word ‘kill’ over and over in my head?” he shakily asked.

She crossed her arms. “Get used to it, pipsqueak. What do you think I’ve been hearing for weeks and weeks? I just pretend it’s saying ‘Killer!’ like some dick-ass surfer dude.” Seeing all of the shocked faces around us looking at Sammy with a mixture of fear and fascination, I leaned over to Cass.

“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal anymore if we use the women’s locker room, Cass.” As if on cue, the gym doors burst open, revealing a particularly exasperated Mr. Garrison. He stomped over, shaking the floor with each step.

My life really was some sort of cosmic punchline, wasn’t it?

“Gavin McArthur!” he screamed. The class separated for him like the Red Sea until he reached me. “I told you not to move, and yet here you are, standing in gym and not in my office. Have you no respect for authority? Have you no decency?”

Sammy whistled. “Wow, what’d you do to piss Mr. Hairrison off.” He narrowed his eyes.

“This is none of your business, Miss Sawyer. You’d do well not to rack up yet another stay in my office, missy.” The way he emphasized the word ‘missy’ caught my ear. It was almost… mocking? I wasn’t sure what he meant regardless.

“Can’t hear ya anyways.” She tapped her bracer. “Got a new traveling bud. Yells the word ‘kill’ in my head all day long. Isn’t that neat?”

His lip curled, making his mustache bob up and down. “A matter which I’m sure the Yellow Beacons are dealing with. How you acquired Ruin,” he said, pointing at her bracer, “is beyond me, and as a result beyond my cares. I will defer to Mr. Bayes on this issue. Now you --” He swiftly grabbed at my wrist, catching me by surprise. “Come with me.” He yanked me towards the door.

“Whoa, whoa, Mr. Garrison,” Mrs. Bittinboulder stepped in his path. “What’s going on?”

He yanked me forward. “This one was running around in his alter form earlier today and nearly started a fight with myself and Nurse Prim to stay in it.”

“That’s because you were going after me with the clellium, dude!”

“I don’t want to hear it!” he snapped, letting go of my arm. “Now get changed. You’re going right back to my office.” I stood still, pondering for a moment what I should do while they looked on.

“Er, sure,” I replied. In a flash, I zipped into the women’s locker room, changed, and hurried back out in no time at all. “Alright, all set,” I chirped. Mrs. Bittinboulder nervously looked between Garrison and me as he turned several deeper shades of red.

“The women’s -- you were -- you little!” 

“Cassandra used the Women’s locker room too,” Cinney interrupted, grinning impishly. God, I was beginning to hate her. He turned back, glaring daggers at Cass, prompting her to turn a ghostly white. Mrs. Bittinboulder gestured appeasingly when his gaze shifted between those two. Thankfully, I seemed to be occupying more of his brain than them. He turned back towards me and bent down to my level.

“My office! Now!” Mr. Garrison screamed, grabbing my arm once more.

* * *

Mr. Garrison was still yelling, even thirty minutes later, about how I’d put the entire school in jeopardy with my thoughtless actions. How could I have been so selfish, how I was a rotten egg, deep to the core. The only difference was this time, he was talking to Mom. She had been already standing in the office, angrily staring down Ben as we walked in. Any sense of confidence I’d had previously was pretty much toast upon seeing her. I tucked myself away in the same seat I’d occupied previously as Mr. Garrison had begun to rant and rave. After recounting the day, exaggerating everything I’d done as “exploits” without letting me get a word in edgewise, he finally seemed to let up. If there was any saving grace for me, it was the fact that Mom’s eye twitched almost imperceptibly every time he misgendered me.

However, she didn’t dispute his allegations nor correct him about my gender.

“Is she still allowed to attend this school?” she asked in a stoic, cold voice. For once, Mr. Garrison seemed caught off-guard.

“I -- I mean yes, he’d need to do something slightly more drastic than this to be expelled. But I assure you, this is as close to the line as I’ve seen a lot of our kids come.”

She leaned forward on the desk. Ben scooted his chair back, running into Mr. Garrison’s legs. “Bullshit. I’m sure you’ve caught kids taking drugs in the bathroom or having sex beneath the bleachers. Just because they’re super-powered doesn’t mean they aren’t idiot kids. So I’ll ask again. For the infraction of my daughter feeling safe in this school, is she expelled?”

“N-no, ma’am,” he replied.

“Good. Now this little guy here said you called my ex-husband, is that right?”

“Well, yes, but we received no answer. Due to California law, we can’t leave descriptive voicemails anymore --”

She slammed her fist down. “Good. Now delete that number, I don’t know how his phone number got into your system but he should never be contacted about anything that concerns my daughter. Do you understand?” Mr. Garrison and Ben fearfully nodded. “Good.” Mom shifted her gaze to me. “Come on. We’re going home.”

Imitating the other two, I nodded and hopped to my feet. I trailed behind Mom through the office doors, out the school entrance, and into the car.

“Mom, that was incredible! You were like a warrior in there,” I exclaimed. She didn’t reply; she turned on the car and pulled out of the turnaround towards home. We sat in silence for most of the way; she didn’t even turn on the radio, something that bothered me immensely.

“Gabrielle,” she began, her tone brisk and curt. “What did I tell you this morning? Before you left the car.”

“That you love me?” I replied, hoping a playful response would calm her down.

“Gabrielle!” she shouted, shutting my attempt to dodge her ire down. “I told you not to call me today, the only day in the last two months when I absolutely couldn’t answer.” She gripped the steering wheel tightly. “And what happened? Your principal called me non-stop until I answered. I muted my phone, but I was so thrown off with worry about what could be happening to you with that supervillain on the loose that when my boss needed information from me, I froze up and couldn’t give it.”

“I-I’m sorry, Mom. I wasn’t thinking,” I replied, feeling tears forming at the edge of my eyes.

She brushed me off. “Yeah, you weren’t. Now my job security is up in the air, Gabrielle. This is a good job. It lets me be home often for you three, it pays the mortgage, it covers all of our bases. I need this job, Gabrielle. We need it.” We turned off the highway onto a road near home. “And this stunt you pulled today -- you knew that you were breaking their rules. You knew they would involve me, it’s a ‘super-duper’ school, of course they’d have parents on speed-dial. How could you be so thoughtless?”

“I…” I whispered, pulling my legs in close to my chest on the seat. “I don’t know.”

She let out a deep sigh. “At least explain why you did all of this instead of coming to me first? You promised you wouldn’t go behind my back anymore.” Finally, like a dam that hadn’t received maintenance of any sort in decades, my emotions erupted from me, spilling out in torrential currents.

“Because I fucking hate my body, Mom! I hate the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it walks, the way it smells! I hate that when I wear it people see me as a boy, that they don’t see the real me. Ever since I came out, it feels like I’ve been under everyone’s thumb; I’ve had all these rules placed on when I’m allowed to be me, and it isn’t fucking fair! Why can’t I be happy now? Why do I have to wait until later?”

“Gabby, we talked about --”

“No!” I pointed at her. “You talked at me! I didn’t get a say in the discussion whatsoever. Besides, the school has a provision that would let me be in this body all the time; it just isn’t something Mr. Garrison wants to do.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, taking her eyes off the road and looking directly at me. I recounted what Nurse Prim had told me the previous day and my side of the events that had transpired today, including what I’d done for Cass.

“Now, why would she need you to fight that fight for her?”

“She’s been getting pushed around by this school and her last one for so long, she’ll take anything she can get at this point. She deserves so much better and it boils my blood watching people push her around.”

We pulled into the driveway; thankfully the neighborhood was pretty calm this time of day and there didn’t seem to be any surprises waiting for us. Mom reclined in her seat, lost in thought. She pulled a stray hair back behind her ear and inhaled.

“Do you have Cassandra’s number? I’d like to speak to her father. I think it’s about time he and I have a conversation about your school.”