"You're such a pretty girl, Faedra."

"Remy?"

"I hope you're ready for me to make you into a real woman."

I awoke with a start. But wait, what about... Remy... Damn it, why couldn't I remember these dreams? They felt important, if only I could hold onto them. I rolled out of bed. The yellow bag sat on my dresser. I stared at it. That part wasn't a dream, it seemed. I pulled out the package and looked at the bras. Simple black coloring, nothing fancy at all. Who could have left them here? I hid my secret so well!

There was a knock at the door and I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Rise and shine, Sunbeam!" It was Dad. Strange, he hadn't used that nickname for me in years. "Gotta get your chores done before you do anything else today!"

"Alright, I'm moving!" I slapped my hand over my mouth. Was that me? Why was my voice so high?

"There's no need to screech, just get on up!" I heard him move on to the next door and wake up my brothers. "Up an at 'em, Atom Ant!"

I looked down at the bra in my hand once more. Might as well. I removed my hoodie. My breasts hung from my chest, every slight movement shaking them. I reached up my hands to cup them. My breath caught in my chest. This is what I had always wanted. And now, like the dog who managed to catch a car, I didn't know what to do with them now that I had them. I looked at the package. No instructions. I guess that makes sense. It's basically like a shirt, can't be that hard to put it on.

Three minutes later, I had finally managed to disentangle my hair from the straps and unrolled the fabric from my upper back. No wonder girls always take forever to get dressed! That was exhausting! Now they were contained. I jumped a few times. Barely any movement. This is gonna make working much easier. I went to put the hoodie back on, then stopped. I've been wearing this thing for days. Maybe I should change... I looked at the bag, thinking about the clothing still held within it. I gulped. Maybe... maybe after chores. And a shower. I pulled the hoodie back on, but for some reason it felt less comfortable than usual. More constraining. I pulled up the hood.

I heard groaning and thumping from my parent's room. Mom was up. I hurried to get my boots on and get outside. It was safer out there. As I went through feeding the chickens, I noticed that it really was much more comfortable with the bra on. I could get used to this. I reached into a nest and grabbed an egg. A sharp pain struck my right breast. I instinctively gripped my hand, crushing the egg within. In the nest below, a hen glowered at me. "Now look what you made me do!" I grimaced as I rubbed it where she had pecked me. "That was completely uncalled for!" The hen clucked menacingly, unmoved by my words.

I looked down at my hand. Bits of shell and yolk covered most of my forearm. I sighed. "There's no putting this egg back together, not even with all the king's horses and all the king's men." I counted the remaining eggs in my basket. "One short of a dozen... Ah well, what can you do?" I left the angry, evil birds to their machinations and went to clean off my prizes. And my hands... To my surprise, Dad was already in the canning kitchen.

"Morning, Sunbeam." He didn't even turn around to look at me. It was uncanny. He always seemed to know where everyone was, but he could lose his glasses while still wearing them.

"Morning, Dad. You're in here early; something wrong with the cows?" I tried to lower my newly high voice. Can't let him notice that I'm turning into a girl.

"It's the damndest thing," he said, drying off his hands and turning around, "not a drop of milk this morning from any of 'em." His eye traveled down, landing on my hand. "Something wrong with the chickens, too?"

"Oh, no. One of them pecked me and I cracked the egg I was holding. Everything else was fine. Eleven total." I held up the basket sheepishly.

He nodded. "That'll happen." He looked up and into my eyes. "Sometimes you just want to protect something, but you end up hurting it if you hold on too hard." He took a deep breath and stood there silently for a moment. "Sometimes... sometimes it's best to just let 'em go free."

Talking to Dad was sometimes like talking to a fortune cookie. "I don't think letting an egg go free would help, though, Dad. It's not like they can fly." I sat the basket down and began cleaning up.

"I suppose not, kiddo." He shook his head and walked towards the door. "But then again, you never know. Maybe they'll hatch all of a sudden and turn into a swan."

"That's a different fable, Dad."

"Ah, shut up and clean the damn eggs." He shut the door and huffed his way towards the house.

---

I chewed slowly on my pancakes. As usual, Mom was taking her breakfast in her office, so it was just Dad, my brothers, and me at the table. Also as usual, ,they were talking and I wasn't paying attention. Remy likes girls. I'm... turning into a girl. She kissed me, but does that really mean she likes me? Maybe she was just being friendly... Maybe I should ask if she wants to-

"-ck Zee's ass!" Connor shouted triumphantly.

"Whuh, what?" I shook my head.

"I said I've been practicing Smash and I'm ready to kick your ass!"

"Uh, maybe later, bud. I've got some stuff to do today." I pushed my mostly empty plate towards him. "Here, you can have the rest of mine."

"Yeah, right! You're just afraid to lose!" He took the plate. "Don't think giving me food will postpone your demise!"

"No, I promised Remy I would help her with her singing."

"Ooh, Zee's got a girl-friend!" Jay sang the last word. I rolled my eyes.

Danny joined in with a classic.

Zee and Re-my
Sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G

"Ah, shut up, all of you! I'm trying to eat here!" Dad shouted as he glared at them across the table. Everyone quieted down.

"Thanks, Dad."

"Eh, go sing with your girlfriend." He waved me off. I sputtered and hurried out of the kitchen while my brothers laughed.

---

I skipped as I made my way into the woods. Could I ask Remy to be my girlfriend? The prospect was exciting, but asking her... the idea of that terrified me. I could write it down, hand her a note? No, that's too impersonal. I would have to give it more thought. And there wasn't much more time for thought, as I was approaching our hideout. I had brought the bag with me. It seemed like a good idea, and hopefully Remy would know what to do with everything. I opened the door and... there she was.

"Faedra!" My heart lept as she shouted my name. "Yesterday was so strange, I wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. But this is really you, isn't it?"

I nodded.

She rushed over and hugged me. "I'm so glad you're real. I have no idea what could have possibly caused this, but I'm happy if you're happy!"

"I'm... I'm happier now than I can ever remember being." I squeezed her back. "Thank you for helping me."

"Of course! What are friends for, after all?" She pulled back, blushing. "So, um... what did your parents say? About you changing, I mean."

My stomach sank. "They don't know yet. I haven't told them."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? It's... kinda hard to not notice," she blushed and gestured up and down at me,  "all this."

"I've been avoiding them. I've talked face to face with my dad a few times since the changes started, and he definitely would have said something if he had noticed. You know him, he's blind in one eye and can't see out of the other."

She looked doubtful, but nodded. "So, what's in the bag?"

I started pulling out items. "Some hair stuff, pretty sure this is makeup, dress..."

"Oh, let me see!" She grabbed the dress and shook it out. "A sundress!" She held it up to me. "I think it would look very cute on you."

Now it was my turn to blush. "You think so?"

She nodded and pushed the dress into my hands. "Try it on, try it on!"

"O-okay!" I started pulling off my hoodie.

Remy squeaked and quickly turned around. "I'll just... look over here, until you're done."

I mentally kicked myself. You're making her uncomfortable. Do you have no shame? No dignity? I took a deep breath and finished taking it off. I held up the dress and turned it back and forth. "Uh... which way is the front?"

"That style of dress doesn't have a front or back, you can wear it either way." Remy said, her back still turned to me.

"Oh, okay." I shrugged and pulled the dress over my head. Somehow the fabric felt even softer on my body than it had in my hands. I reached down and pulled it straight. The fabric swayed gently as it hung on my frame. I spun around, watching it flare out. I giggled. "Hehe... Dress go spinny~"

"Are you done?"

"I think so. How does it look?"

Remy turned around carefully. She looked at me and laughed, quickly putting her hand over her mouth.

I felt sadness welling up inside me. "Does it look that bad?"

"No, it looks very cute! It's just... you're not really supposed to wear jeans with a sundress." Her eyebrow raised. "Or a bra, for that matter. Where did you even WHOA!" She suddenly shouted as I pulled the dress straps off.

"Oh, right, sorry!" I turned around. "I'll just turn around this time."

"No! I mean, hold on. There's a way to take off your bra without taking off the dress."

I readjusted the straps and turned back around. "Yo, for real?"

"Yeah, let me show you." She reached over and moved the bra straps. "Just slide the straps off your arms and then undo the clasp."

"What clasp?"

"The one in the back."

I felt behind me. "I don't think this has a clasp."

"Hold on, let me look. She spun me around. "Oh, it's a sports bra."

"Is that bad?" I asked over my shoulder.

"No, it's fine. Good choice for doing farm work. There's a different method to this style. Just slide your arms inside the band and pull it over your head."

It took a bit of finagaling, but I manged to get it off without taking off the dress. "That was much easier than getting it on."

She laughed. "Yeah, it usually is, with bras. And the pants should be simpler than that."

"Right, the pants." I swallowed and looked down.

"I figured you might not have any nice underwear, so I brought some with me." She blushed. "Still packaged, of course."

She was right, I was still wearing briefs. "Um... I don't..." I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing.

"Faedra? Is something wrong?" She placed her hand lightly on my shoulder.

"I haven't..." I took a deep breath and whispered. "I haven't changed there yet." My breath quickened.

"You hav- oh!" She pulled me in for a hug. "Hey, that's okay. I'm sure this magic, or whatever it is, will get to that eventually. You don't need to feel bad, okay? It's just you and me here, I won't judge."

I hugged her back. "Thanks, Remy." We stood there silently for a while until my breathing slowed back down.

"Do you still want to try it? I can turn around if you want."

"No, I... I think I'll wait. Until it's done, okay?"

"That's perfectly fine. Take all the time you need." She gave me one last squeeze and pulled away. "Hey, want me to braid your hair?"

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!" I smiled.

"Here, sit down. Let me just grab this brush and... your hair is super thick, geeze."

"Sorry."

"It's cool. This is gonna be a chunky braid!" We both giggled.

"Can I try to do yours after you do mine?"

"You betcha." She patted my head.

I closed my eyes and lost myself in the soothing feeling of the brush and her hands running through my hair. I really hope she's right about the magic changing me. bad. It's changed everything else, it wouldn't make sense for it to stop there. I furrowed my brow. I still don't know what I'm gonna tell my parents, though...