"Crap," Kelly said quietly. "So when's the big day, or is that still up in the air?"

I grimaced, "It's only three weeks away. Thursday the twenty-third? We get possession of the place on the Monday, and dad's going to be there for when the new furniture and stuff is delivered on the twenty-second. Me and mom went up a couple days ago and had a look, it's a big converted farmhouse just outside of town. Nice place, like it's all been upgraded and stuff recently."

I added, "Dad already got a job at the local hospital as a paramedic. She doesn't start till the middle of August, then she'll be driving an ambulance or something I guess. And mom landed a teaching job at the local high-school."

My friends were both silent for a few moments as that all sank in. Craig had a gulp of his beer while Kelly stared quietly at the creek.

The three of us were back in our favourite spot in the woods again. It was the third of July, a nice warm Friday night, basically the start of summer. We had another case of beer, courtesy of Craig's brother Tom, and we were all ready to chill. Except I just told my two best friends I'd be moving away soon.

After another minute or two Kelly finally asked, "Has your mom already sold her place?"

"Not yet," I shook my head. We had a real estate person visit a few days ago, they'll be putting the for-sale sign up soon. Maybe tomorrow, or Monday I guess."

"Wow," Kelly said quietly. "So what are you going to do?"

"There's a community college in town," I replied. "I'm already looking at the courses they offer, I'll figure something out. And I guess I'll try and find a part-time job or something. There's a little mall and at least one big-box plaza there. Plus lots of shops and things on the main street."

Craig had another gulp of beer then asked "Why'd you want to move to the country anyways? Wasn't it just a couple months ago you said you and your mom were happy where you were?"

"For a few reasons," I replied with a shrug. "Like I changed pretty drastically, and now my folks are getting back together? There's going to be too many questions from the neighbours and stuff. Like what happened to mom's son, and who's that teenage girl, why's there a young nurse hanging around?"

I rolled my eyes, "People are already kind of staring at our house when they walk by. So moving gives us a fresh start, somewhere that the neighbours won't know us. And dad suggested a rural location because the houses aren't all close together? So me and dad can do our shape-shifting stuff without worrying about neighbours seeing us. The nearest house is almost a quarter kilometer away."

"That makes sense," Kelly said before she gulped down the last of her beer. She dropped the empty in the box and pulled out a full one and added, "Still gonna miss you when you're gone."

My left hand started idly playing with my long wavy red hair while I had a sip of my beer. I sighed, "We all knew this was going to happen after graduation though right?"

"Right," Craig nodded. Then he asked Kelly, "How come you're getting all moody about her moving away? You've known for months that I'm moving out of town for college, why aren't you all misty-eyed about that?"

Kelly rolled her eyes, "I was! So was Melody. That was back in April, remember? We were in your basement watching hockey when you broke the news to us."

After a gulp of her drink she looked to me and added, "I knew we'd be doing different things after school ended, but I didn't think you'd be moving away too. Even if we ended up at different colleges, or working or something, I figured we could still hang out. At least on weekends?"

"Maybe we still can?" I suggested. "Especially if one of us gets a car. I'm not going that far away, it only took about forty-five minutes to get there from my mom's place the other day. That's like, not even half as far as Craig's going."

She looked sad as she responded, "It's still out of town. Still a lot farther than the five minute walk we have now."

I sighed, "Sorry Kelly."

She shook her head, "There's nothing to apologize for. Honestly, having your folks get back together is pretty awesome. I'm really happy for you and your parents. Even if it's kind of weird."

I couldn't help it, I smirked. "Nothing 'kinda' about it. It's absolutely fucking weird."

"Yeah but I didn't want to say it," Kelly giggled.

Craig gulped down the last of his beer then let out a belch as he tucked the empty back in the box. He pulled out another bottle and commented, "You know what else is weird? Your dad's fucking hot. And I don't even know how I feel about that now? Like..."

He twisted the cap off and went to flick it at the creek before he caught himself. He dropped it into the box instead then sighed, "I dunno. I remember what she looked like before, like me and Kelly both saw her a few times when she was picking you up or dropping you off and stuff? But now? Damn. It makes me feel kind of strange knowing that big tough-looking dude's turned into a sexy blonde, and the fact that I think she's hot."

Kelly rolled her eyes as she had a swig of beer before commenting, "For once I actually agree with Craig. Your dad's hot. And think it's beautiful that you still call her dad even when she looks like that."

I blushed but smiled, "It's weird hearing you two call my dad hot. But yeah, she said I could always call her dad no matter what she looked like? Because she said she'll always be my dad. Same as how both her and mom said they'll always love me as their child, no matter what I look like."

"Aww," Kelly smiled. "Actually speaking of, what's with the new look? I thought you said you liked being a blonde?"

"Red hair goes better with the freckles!" I protested. "And I like the freckles!"

Both my friends rolled their eyes, and the three of us were quiet for a bit as we just enjoyed our beer and watched the creek flow by. The sun was finally slipping below the horizon, not that we could see it down in the ravine surrounded by trees. But I knew it'd probably be dark out in another fifteen minutes.

After a couple minutes Kelly commented, "I know stuff's been really crazy for you Melody, and I'm sure there's been a lot of difficult stuff you haven't told us? But I gotta say, I can't help feeling a little jealous, you know? Even just changing your hair like that? You know how many people would kill to be able to do that? Plus all the other stuff you can do... Yeah. Like I'm happy for you, but damn. What I wouldn't give for some of that myself."

I blushed slightly as I replied, "Thanks Kelly. You're right, there's been some bad stuff along with the good? But mostly it's been good, and I know I've been really lucky so far."

I added, "There's so much more that I want to tell you two, but I can't. And I'm sorry I have to keep some stuff secret."

"I get it," she stated. "I can't even imagine what kind of crap you have to deal with, and I'm grateful for everything you already shared with us. I'm glad you didn't just up and disappear or something, I'm glad we're still friends."

Craig nodded, "Ditto."

I smiled, "Me too. I'm glad we're all still friends."

We were all quiet again for a bit as it continued to get darker out. Eventually Kelly dropped her empty back in the box and pulled out another. She opened it and had a few gulps, and I noticed she had a sort of thoughtful frown on her face. Like something was troubling her.

"Kelly?" I asked quietly. "Everything ok?"

She nodded slowly, "Yeah. I was just thinking..."

Her voice trailed off and she had another gulp of beer. She'd just opened it and the bottle was already half empty, and I could tell she was anxious about something.

Both me and Craig were watching her at that point, and she took another couple deep breaths.

She glanced at the two of us, and in a nervous voice she asked, "So uh, this is probably a stupid question all things considered, but would you two still want to be friends with me if it turned out I wasn't a girl after all? Like what if I was maybe more guy-ish? Or guy-adjacent?"

My heart was racing as I nodded, but Craig spoke up before I could respond.

He laughed, "Kelly if you were any more guy-ish you'd already be pissing standing up. Of course we'll still be your friends, ya doofus! So should we start using different pronouns or something now? How about your name, got something else in mind?"

I'd been about to give Craig a smack when he laughed, but caught myself when I realized he was actually being supportive. In his own particular way of course.

"I think I'm going to keep the name Kelly," our friend replied quietly. "It's one of those unisex names, right? Works either way. But um, I'm ready to try using he/him pronouns. If that's ok?"

I leaned closer and pulled him into a hug as I told him, "Of course it's ok Kelly! And of course we're still your friends!"

He let out a big sigh of relief and grinned, "Thanks guys. I should have known you two would be cool with it but um. Yeah. You know what it's like, right?"

My cheeks were red as I nodded, "Yeah I sure do."

Kelly and I were still hugging, while Craig reached over and gave him a friendly punch on the arm.

"Hey dude," he smiled. "Welcome to the boys club. Took ya long enough."

Me and Kelly let go, and he returned the friendly punch as he blushed "Yeah well, it's not that easy figuring this stuff out ok?"

"If you say so," Craig rolled his eyes and had a gulp of beer. "Except I called it like three weeks ago, right? I said you'd make a better dude than Melody, and she'd be a better chick than you. And I was right."

That left both me and Kelly blushing, while Craig just chuckled.

Eventually Kelly dropped another empty back in the box then got to his feet. He grumbled as he moved a few meters off into the bushes on the left, "If only this bit was as easy to change as the pronouns."

Neither me or Craig said anything, but my thoughts were racing. I had another swig of beer, as I went back and forth over it in my head a few times. By the time Kelly sat back down next to me I'd made up my mind.

"Hey Kelly?" I asked. "Remember back on my birthday, you asked if there was a way I could share my shape-shifting mojo with you?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I was just kidding, you know?"

"I know," I replied. "I still asked my dad about it. She wouldn't tell me right away but thanks to my cunning powers of persuasion, by which I mean a lot of begging and whining, I got her to share some stuff."

Kelly turned to stare at me. He gulped and asked quietly, "What are you saying?"

I stated quietly, "I need both of you to swear you'll keep this a secret ok? Seriously, it has to stay just between the three of us. This is one of those secrets that could get me in serious trouble if it got out. Alright?"

"Ok Melody," Kelly nodded. "I swear I'll keep it secret."

I looked to Craig and he shrugged, "Me too, I swear it. So what's the big deal?"

In a soft voice I told them both, "According to my dad there's actually a way to do it, but it takes a huge amount of energy? So only a really strong shifter could manage it. And it's not something they'd do lightly, or for just anyone."

"It's also not something they'd want to do a lot," I continued. "Like you wouldn't get someone doing that just so you could test-drive some changes for a day or even a week. In fact it's probably not safe to do it very often at all, so even once a month would be pushing it. Basically do it once and it's done."

They were both listening quietly, and Kelly nodded slowly. "Huh. Thanks for asking about that stuff Melody. Even if it's impossible, I appreciate that you actually looked into it."

I shook my head as I replied quietly, "It's not impossible. Just rare and difficult, and not the sort of thing a person would do for just anybody. But it is the sort of thing someone would do for their best friend, if they really seriously wanted it."

Kelly frowned, then turned to look at me. His voice was a whisper as he asked, "What are you saying? You can't be..."

"Yeah," I nodded. I kept my voice low as I told him, "I'm offering. Not now though ok? I'm like ninety percent sure I can do it, but you have to be a hundred and ten percent sure you want it, and what you want. Because we can't do this then undo it a day or two later. Or even a week later. Whatever we do, you'll be stuck with it for at least a month, maybe more. Maybe forever."

"You've only been at this for a couple weeks Melody," he said with a deep frown. "You just said it takes someone really strong to do that stuff. How can you possibly...?"

My lips curled into a smile as I admitted, "I'm pretty sure the later you manifest, the stronger you are? Most shifters hatch by age twelve, and it can take them up to a year before they can shift their whole body. That was literally the first thing I did, then a couple days later I did it twice in one day. Something that takes most shifters a year, I did three times in my first three days."

Kelly's eyes widened as he stared at me. "Holy shit. You really think you can do this?"

"Pretty sure," I nodded.

Craig finally spoke up, "Are you fucking serious? Can you really shape-change someone else?"

"Shh!" I hissed at him. "Not so loud ok! Remember how this is all a massive secret?"

He grimaced, "Sorry. But like, how the hell does that work?"

"I'm not going to go into any more details out here," I told him. Then I looked back at Kelly and added, "I'm willing to try it for you Kelly. So think it over, like seriously put some real thought into it? Maybe we can get together after the move. You could come visit our new place, stay over for a couple days, and we could try it then."

Kelly was looking somewhere between excited and nervous as he finally responded, "Ok Melody, I'll think about it. And thank you!"

PurpleCatGirl

Can't wait to find out what happens next? Join our Patreon and get immediate access to the next chapter and more! Patrons have already finished this story and are onto the next one, and you could be too!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl