Slamming her locker door, Matilda sighed as she had to slam it several more times before it stayed closed. Locking it properly, she turned around and bumped into someone, her books dropping on the floor as she fell over onto her backside with a cry.

“Watch where you’re going, dork!”

Frank kicked her books away from her, clipping her outreached fingers at the same time. Cringing and holding her hand, Matilda refused to look at the bully, instead she grabbed her books as quickly as she could, ignoring the laughter and taunts that echoed around her. She could feel the tears of frustration and pain welling up in her eyes, and begged them to not appear again. It would only fuel their laughter more.

“Here, let me help,” a girl said, reaching down and picking up some of her books. Taylor shook her long blonde hair out of her eyes as she handed Matilda the class books she had picked up.

“Aw, Taylor, don’t be nice to the little fag,” Frank said, laughing uproariously at his comment.

Taylor crossed her arms and glared at him, tapping her foot on the floor. “Don’t be a moron, Frank. You better get to class.” The blonde girl smirked. “You don’t want to get detention for tardiness again, do you?”

Scowling at Taylor, Frank kicked the last book down the hallway, before stomping off past it, followed by his goons.

Leaning over, Taylor reached down again, taking her hand and helping her up. “I wish that you’d stand up to them more,” Taylor said with a sigh, her soulful grey eyes making Matilda’s tummy flip flop.

Looking up at her, Matilda blushed and looked down at her scuffed Doc Martens, sighing before she looked back up. “I tried that, they just retaliated worse, remember?” she asked, trying not to wince at the sound of her too deep voice.

The school bell rang, interrupting whatever Taylor was going to say in reply. Matilda yelped, quickly stuffing her books in her bag, before hastily waving her thanks to Taylor, and heading to class. She heard Taylor yell something out, but didn’t hear what it was over the pounding of her heartbeat. She didn’t want to get detention for tardiness again, either. Last time she had had it with Frank, and he made the hour even worse than detention would normally be.

Hurrying into the classroom just as the final bell sounded, Matilda rushed over to her seat. She didn’t see the foot that one of Frank’s friends stuck out and she tripped over with a yelp.

She heard laughter all around her as she picked herself back up, muttering darkly under her breath and ignoring the goon.

“If you will finally take your seats please, we can begin,” Mr. Richards said, staring at her in particular after she sat down.

Mr. Richards started his class, ignoring the rowdy boys. Matilda rubbed her sore wrists from catching herself on the floor, trying not to openly glare at her teacher. He was the sort that thought that all boys had to act like ‘men’ which apparently meant being toxic douchebags. He didn’t encourage bullying, but he came close, as he thought that it toughened the boys up, turning them into men. The sick thing that Matilda hated the most was just how much support he had from a lot of the parents for his hardliner thinking. She hated this whole school, and most of the people in it.

Vertigo suddenly struck Matilda when the class and everyone in it spun, making her feel sick and dizzy. As the ground rushed up to meet her, and everything was going black, she heard words as clear as day in her mind. “I am Lady Hailey Jasmine Potter, Matriarch of the Potter House.”

⚡

Feeling as if her eyeballs were spinning within their sockets, Matilda groaned, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to stop them. Something felt off, but she wasn’t entirely certain what it was as she groaned again. It sounded like many people were talking all at once around her.

“This must be the work of the devil!”

“Oh god! Dad was right, sinners are everywhere!”

“Shh! Quiet, everyone!” Mr. Richards commanded.

“Wha-what’s going on?” Matilda mumbled, slowly sitting up and opening her eyes.

She gasped when the sound of her voice hit her ears, sending shivers of pleasure down her spine. It was soft and gentle, and slightly husky. It was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her life.

Sitting up fully made her head spin again for a moment. “Argh, I feel like I’m going to throw up,’ she said, opening her eyes fully. Hair covered her face – hiding everyone from view – until with a brush of her hand, she could see, and looked around.

Matilda was sitting on the floor next to her desk where she had collapsed. Contrary to what she had first thought, the entire class wasn't surrounding just her, but several other people had apparently collapsed too. She could see them still laying or just sitting up, looking confused and as lost as she felt.

“Matthew? Can you understand me? What deal did you accept from Lucifer?” Mr. Richards asked, completely serious.

Looking up at her teacher in confusion, Matilda opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about when she noticed her hands had changed. They were slim and delicate, more so than her hands had been earlier, at least, but the biggest change was that her skin colour had changed to a slightly darker tone. If she had to label it, it was almost reminiscent of wood from a tree, just a lighter toned one.

Gasping, Matilda touched her own hands, feeling their soft texture and delicate looking but surprisingly strong fingers. 

“Matthew! Answer me! What did you do?”

Matilda winced at being called by her birth name. Even though she had never told anyone the name she had chosen for herself, it still hurt a little being called that. Almost as much as being accused of apparently being the cause of whatever had happened.

Looking up at her teacher, she gave him a confused look. “I didn’t do anything? I just got dizzy suddenly and woke up just then…” she drifted off, thinking about hearing the voice in her head, someone proclaiming themselves a matriarch. While most of what had happened was a jumbled mess in her mind, that was as clear as glass. She doubted she would ever be able to forget hearing that, even if she forgot everything else.

Mr. Richards glared at her, hate and fear clear within his dark eyes. “Bullshit! What sort of devilry is that, that turned you into a little harlot?”

“Harlot? What?” she asked with plenty of confusion in her voice.

Now that he had pointed it out, Matilda did feel different in her body, not just her hands. She had been planning on checking the rest of her out, when Mr. Richards had sidetracked her with his confusing questions.

Before she could get the chance to look, and before Mr. Richards could continue his interrogation, the P.A system crackled to life, announcing that the principal had called an emergency meeting and the teachers were to come to the office while the students stayed where they were.

Glaring at her and looking at the others that had collapsed, Mr. Richards growled and muttered under his breath before he turned to several of the larger boys in the classroom. “Don’t let them leave, especially not him,” he ordered, pointing at Matilda, before stomping his way out of the room.

Matilda was taken back by the looks of hate and loathing that her fellow classmates turned towards her suddenly. She had been used to apathy, laughter and cruel taunts, with the occasional sympathetic look, but not outright hostility that they were displaying. Why she was singled out she didn’t understand straight away, until she noticed that no one else that had collapsed looked much, if any different to how they had looked before, apparently she was the only one that had changed drastically.

With that thought reminding her, she looked down at herself and gasped out in surprise. The sudden tightness she had been feeling in her chest wasn’t because of the situation, but because she had boobs now. They filled out her shirt, which had become looser, or would have if her boobs didn’t tighten it on her. Looking past her chest, running her hands down her sides, she discovered that her waste had sunk in, before her hips flared out wider than she had expected. Her thighs didn’t seem that much different, if only a little wider. She was curvy and womanly shaped. The sudden rush of happiness made her giddy, causing her to giggle with pleasure, twirling around. Her suddenly long greenish brown hair swung wide and covered her face before she brushed it away.

“What the hell are you laughing at, freak?” Aston asked, growling menacingly and stepping up to her. “You think it’s funny that you’ve condemned all of these good people along with you?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, trying not to wilt at how close he was to her while her heart almost lept out of her chest it was beating so hard.

Aston looked at her with disbelief. “You heard Mr. Richards! You did some kind of deal with the devil and sold yours, and probably everyone else’s soul as well.”

Putting her hands on her hips, Matilda tried to glare at the bigger boy, who she noticed wasn’t quite as tall compared to her as he used to be. Euphoria filled her again as she felt her wider hips. Fighting a smile, Matilda flinched as Aston lifted his fist into her face. 

“You’ve always been a freak, but this just proves it!”

She shook her head in denial. “I didn’t do anything! Why won’t anyone believe me?”

Instead of answering her, Aston turned to his friends, one of which was one of the goons that followed Frank around all of the time. “Hold him, we will see if we can get him to confess his sins. Maybe we can still save everyone’s souls.”

Matilda started to hyperventilate as she was surrounded, several boys grabbing her and holding her in place. Pulling against the boys was futile, they were much too strong for her to break free. Aston, the son of the school’s Pastor pulled his personal bible out, holding it with his eyes closed as if he was praying before he placed it down on the nearest table and smiled at her, it was not a friendly smile.

“Please, don’t do this! I didn’t do anything!” she sobbed. No one answered her, ignoring her request.

Gulping, Matilda looked around at her other classmates, who all averted their gaze, or smiled wickedly at her predicament. Matilda flinched again, closing her eyes as Aston raised his fist to hit her, when the glass of the windows smashed, covering everyone in shards. Students screamed, covering themselves and trying to run away when tree branches rushed through the smashed windows, grabbing the boys who had held her and lifting them up in the air to their shrill terrified screams.

Despite suddenly feeling tired, Matilda took advantage of the chaos and bolted for the classroom door, jumping over branches and plants waving around the room, sweeping students off their feet and smashing desks against walls.

Putting on a burst of speed that she didn’t know she possessed, Matilda ducked underneath Aston’s wild swing as he attempted to grab her. Reaching the door, Matilda was dismayed to find that it was locked, when a tap on her shoulder got her to turn away, releasing her hold on the handle. She was startled to find a tree branch swaying near her face, having tapped her shoulder, when a second branch slipped past her, curling around the door handle and pulled. The door was ripped out of its hinges with a tremendous bang and crashing noise, flying out of the classroom window as the branch withdrew.

Silently thanking her strange rescuers, Matilda ran through the crumpled doorway, dashing down the hallway and out of the school entrance, just as curious students and several teachers began trickling out to see what all the fuss was about. She thought she heard Taylor yell out to her, but she wasn’t sure, and didn’t want to risk turning around to find out.

Another student burst out of his classroom ahead of her, running in front. From behind, Matilda heard more noises, shouting, screams, bellows and running feet, almost like a stampede behind her. Visions of people like Aston and Frank chasing after her spurred her on to run even faster. Not wanting to look behind her in case her fears were confirmed, Matilda kept her eyes ahead, making doubly sure that she didn’t trip while fleeing for her life.

With her long hair streaming behind her, Matilda ran home, taking her usual shortcut through the bush. She was surprised when she got home in record time, having run the entire way, and was barely winded. In fact, she noticed that the earlier fatigue she had felt had faded, and she felt better than ever.

Slipping inside the house through the backdoor using her keys, Matilda dashed up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her. She hadn’t seen her parent’s cars parked out the front, and assumed that she had the house to herself for the moment.

After what happened at her school, and how she looked, she knew that she couldn’t stay here. Her parents would never accept her like she was. Her questioning of her father over his faith and showing understanding towards the queer community had been what had led her parents to send her to a catholic school in the first place. There was no way that they wouldn’t react any other way besides bad.

Her father never went as far as beating her, but she had seen him hurt her mother over things she had done and said. Sometimes she thought that her father deliberately let Matilda see him hurting her mother as some kind of lesson. She hated him with every fibre of her being, and hated just as equally that her mother couldn’t save either of them from him.

With her heart still racing, in fear or excitement, she didn’t know – perhaps both – Matilda began sorting out her clothes, seeing what she could take with her that would fit her new body now.

Unable to take the suspense any longer, Matilda opened her walk-in closet and checked herself out on the mirror on the inside of the door.

A curvy woman of indeterminate nationality stared back at her. While nothing stood out to her, everything about the woman somehow hinted at trees and plants. Between her skin and the greenish brown hair, something screamed ‘nature’ to her.

The woman cracked a toothy grin as Matilda smiled, tears trailing down her cheeks while happiness flooded her senses, euphoria feeling like she would begin floating up into the sky if she wasn’t careful.

After a much longer time staring at herself than she really should have taken, Matilda began thinking about where she could go while she began packing. Unfortunately she didn’t get along very well with most of her extended family. She didn’t have much interaction with her mother’s side, and her father’s… well, she would rather not have had any at all with them, with how awful they were whenever she had to see them.

Unbidden, the words “I am Lady Hailey Jasmine Potter, Matriarch of the Potter House.” came to her, before she heard another voice in her mind. “Trust in Hailey.” Startled at the strange sensation of hearing voices that weren’t hers, Matilda pondered the idea that perhaps she was or had already gone insane and this was just some delusion her broken mind had conjured up. 

Pinching herself, Matilda winced, whimpering from the pain. “Silly girl, you aren’t dreaming! You’re just going crazy… possibly.”

Shaking her head, Matilda hoped that she wasn’t going crazy, she would’ve hoped that her delusions would be kinder to her than they currently were, if in fact she had lost her mind. Sighing, Matilda realised she had no other choice but to accept the craziness for what it was at the moment, and to try and work out later if she was losing her marbles or not.

Considering what she had heard, Matilda suddenly knew what she had to do, she had to fly to England and find this Hailey girl somehow. She hoped that maybe the voice would direct her more when she got closer. 

“Great, now that that is settled, how do I get to England?”

“Who’s there?” Matilda heard her mother ask, moments before she opened her bedroom door. “Who are you? What are you doing in my son’s room?” her mother demanded angrily.

Staring at her mother like a deer in the headlights, Matilda froze as fear flashed through her and her pulse suddenly raced. She felt something stirring within her, a similar feeling that she had just before the trees had attacked her classroom. She felt herself reach out to her bonsai, feeling it respond, ready to come to her aid. Startled out of whatever she had been from the strangeness of all these new sensations, Matilda gulped as she looked at her annoyed mother.

“Mum… it’s me… Matthew,” she responded hesitantly. She hated referring to herself as her birth name, but her mother wouldn’t believe her otherwise.

Her mother stared at her in shock. “So it’s true, what the school said?”

Matilda frowned. “What did the school say?”

“Mr. Richards said you apparently did some deal with Lucifer and had yourself and others changed with dark powers.”

She couldn’t help but snort, shaking her head. “I didn’t do any such thing. I have no idea why this is happening, nor do I understand why I am being singled out and being blamed for it. Unless it was because others collapsed like I did, but didn’t change like me.”

Hesitantly, her mother stepped into the room further. “Can you change back?”

Thinking about it for a moment, Matilda shook her head. “No, I can’t, nor would I want to, even if I could.”

“How do I know that you are my son then?”

She supposed that that was a fair question. She looked nothing like her old self after all, and was slightly surprised that her mother hadn’t asked that earlier. Perhaps the school calling her and telling her what happened had helped make it all the more believable. Matilda began talking about countless memories that they shared, things that they had done together, that no one else would know about. Like the time they had painted her room a more neutral colour, and she had brushed paint accidentally on her mothers back, causing them to paint each other all over in a fun paint fight. It was a happy memory that they shared, partially marred by how her father had reacted to the repainted room when he had gotten home several days later after his business trip.

After speaking for another few minutes about various memories, Matilda noticed she was crying along with her mother, when she hugged her suddenly. “Oh, Matthew. I am so sorry this happened to you.”

Matilda stopped crying, feeling cold squeeze her heart. “I’m not. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me!”

“How can you say that?” She gestured at Matilda’s new body. “You’re… you know, well… you don’t look like a man anymore.”

She shook her head and sighed. It seemed like it was now the time to finally come out to her mother. “I never was a guy. At least not in my heart, and now my body reflects what I had felt all of my life, but only just figured out not too long ago.”

“Are you saying you are one of those transgenders?”

“I am transgender, yes.”

Her mother shook her head in denial, taking a small step back. That small step broke Matilda’s heart, but she tried not to let it show.

“No, no. We are a normal family! We can’t have one of those queers.”

Matilda sighed, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from crying at her mother’s reaction. “Mum, it’s not a bad thing. Especially now that I somehow got my wish.”

“How can you say that? You don’t look anything like my son! You look-you look like…”

“A beautiful woman?”

Running her hands through her hair, her mother turned away from her, before sighing and turning back to look at her. “I just don’t know what to think about this. I’ve been told all of my life that this is evil, unnatural and against God's plan. I just don’t know anymore… what are you going to do now, if you don’t want to fix this?” She gestured at the piles of clothes that Matilda had piled up on her bed. “Where are you going to go?”

“I’m going to England,” she answered simply. Things were already rocky enough with her mother, she wasn’t going to try and explain an unexplainable voice in her head telling her to trust the other voice she had heard in her head just before her transformation.

“England?!” her mother asked shrilly, clearly shocked at the answer.

A simple nod was all that Matilda gave in answer while she started to pack her bag again.

“How are you going to get to England?”

Matilda rolled her eyes. “I’m going to take a plane.”

Her mother narrowed her eyes at Matilda’s attitude. “And just how are you going to pay for that? Have you thought about the fact that your passport no longer matches how you look now?”

Wincing at how little she had thought it all through, Matilda sighed, opening her drawer where she kept her passport. “I have some money I have saved. I had hoped that would be enough. I forgot about my passport though.” Pulling her passport out she braced herself to see the picture of her old self as she opened it. Gasping in shock, the passport had completely changed. Showing her current self, and her new name and gender.

“What? What is it?” her mother asked.

Instead of answering, Matilda simply handed her the passport, watching her mother’s eyes widen in shock and she gasped, one hand jumping to her mouth.

Her mother turned to her. “How is this possible? Did you have this made up and hid it there for when I got here?” she demanded.

Shrugging her shoulders, Matilda took her passport back and threw it into her bag along with her hastily dumped clothes. She would have to get some better stuff later, she suspected that most of what she had would not fit her anymore. “What? No! I didn’t. That’s my passport, and I have no idea how it happened, that is why I am going to England. For some answers.”

Silence fell between them for a few minutes while Matilda looked through her personal effects, trying to decide the most important items that she wanted to take with her. She suspected that she would never be returning here again, and that everything of hers that she left behind, she would never get back.

Hearing a noise behind her, Matilda turned around and saw her mother dumping a suitcase full of what she suspected were clothes.

“I’m going with you,” her mother answered her silent question. “I still don’t know if I entirely believe that you are my so- child, but you do know a lot of things that only Matthew and I would know, plus the school called, so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt for now.” She shuddered, looking afraid for a moment before hiding it. “Besides… your father won’t like it if I am home and I don’t know where his son is.”

Matilda let out a relieved sigh, tension she hadn’t known releasing from her shoulders. While her emotions were complicated when it came to her mother, she still loved her, and had secretly hoped that maybe she would come with her. Nodding, Matilda smiled at her, before zipping up her bag, grabbing the clothes that she had chosen to wear to the airport and headed into her closet to get dressed.

She put on an overly large shirt that an aunt had given her for when she had to quote her aunt, ‘Got too fat to wear anything else,’ and track pants that fit comfortably over her wider hips, even if they left her ankles slightly bare.

She finished her look off with a hoodie that she had bought that was slightly too large and her nicer pair of Doc Martens. Her shoes felt a little loose on her, but tightening up the laces as tight as possible helped a little, she’d have to fix that later with a new pair.

Coming out, she noticed that her mother had already carried her bag out of her room. Matilda couldn’t help but panic for a moment, thinking that her mother had hidden her bag or something.

Walking down the stairs, she noticed her looking at a picture of her and Matilda’s dad when they were young, not long after they had met. Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears as she placed the picture back down and turned to put a letter addressed to Matilda’s father on the kitchen table.

“So, we’re really doing this?” Matilda asked.

“Are you ready?” her mother asked, instead of answering her question. “We need to go before your father gets home from work.”

At Matilda’s nod, they grabbed their bags, locked the house up and drove away, both staying silent while they watched the house shrink into the distance through the mirrors in the car. She could hardly believe how quickly everything had happened. One moment she was hating her life, then the next she was leaving home for hopefully the last time, her mother tagging along with her.

As they neared the Christchurch Airport, Matilda finally broke the almost awkward silence between them. “How are you going to pay for a ticket? Doesn’t Dad control the finances.”

Her mother glanced at her briefly, before turning back to watch the road. “My Great Aunt left me money when she passed a number of years ago. I have kept it secret until now.”

“Why are you doing this, if you don’t entirely believe I am who I say that I am?” Matilda was afraid to ask the question, but she felt like she needed to know regardless, she just hoped that she wouldn’t regret it.

“If you are who you say that you are, then you should know that your father and I haven’t had the best of relationships lately,” she began delicately, glaring at Matilda when she couldn’t help but snort in response. “I had been considering leaving him for a while now. Unfortunately your father is a persuasive man, and I kept falling for his lies about how much he loves me and how he was going to change.

“We can’t always help who we love.” She shrugged, before sighing, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. “Your father was so different when we were young, he was such a gentleman. Always considerate and loving. All of my girlfriends were jealous.”

Matilda stayed quiet; this was a part of her parent’s relationship she had rarely heard about. She talked to her father as little as possible and her mother had always been tight lipped about anything sensitive, which had been about most things. The change in her mother’s attitude was disarming and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

They pulled into the long term parking of the airport before Matilda’s mother continued.

“This seemed like the best time to leave him, especially given your situation.” Her mother turned to Matilda, a soft smile gracing her lips. “I love you, and only want the best. I’m sorry I haven’t been the best mother to you, especially regarding how your father has treated you.”

Towards the end of her explanation, both Matilda and her mother were crying and holding each other in a tight hug. The handbrake was digging into her stomach, but Matilda didn’t care.

“So you believe I am who I say that I am?” Matilda asked, wiping her tears away.

Her mother sighed. “It’s either motherly instincts, or everything about you, but I can’t help but think that you are my s-child.”

Matilda noticed that her mother wasn’t saying daughter, but she was hopeful, given that she wasn’t calling her her son anymore.

Getting out of the car, Matilda and her mother grabbed their bags and headed into the busy airport. As they stood in line, Matilda kept getting strange looks – mostly by older men – that creeped her out. Trying to ignore them, she made small talk with her mother until they got to the lady selling tickets, only to be dismayed by the fact that they couldn’t just get on a flight to England that day. They had to catch a flight to Australia, then from there they would get a flight to New Delhi and finally get to England after that. Unfortunately there were no more flights to Australia that had spaces left for them, tomorrow afternoon being the earliest flight they could catch.

Getting the name of a cheap motel nearby, her mother paid for their tickets before they left to make their way to the motel for the night. It was close enough that they could walk, so they left the car where it was. They wouldn’t be needing it in England after all.

After paying for a room with two beds after Matilda’s insistence, they sat down and both sighed at the same time, in the exact same manner, causing them both to smile.

“So, what now?” Matilda asked.

Sighing again as she took her shoes off, Matilda’s mother looked around at their small room, her eyes stopping on the television then glanced at her watch. “It’s about time for Wheel Of Fortune, so how about we watch that, then perhaps order a pizza then go to sleep? I don’t know about you, but today has been exhausting.”

Giggling, Matilda took her shoes off and threw herself on to her bed with a sigh and closed her eyes. “You have no idea,” she replied sleepily.

While her mother watched Wheel Of Fortune, followed by The Price Is Right, Matilda lightly dozed until their tomato sauce and pepperoni with pineapple pizza arrived. 

They were just watching the final moments of Price, about to eat the pizza, when someone knocked on their door.

Looking at each other worriedly, Matilda’s mother gestured for her to stay there while she got up to see who it was. For some reason, Matilda relaxed, not feeling like whoever it was was a danger to either of them, a feeling proven correct a moment later when the door opened, revealing a cold, pale and miserable looking Taylor.

The miserable look on her face morphed into one of happiness and relief when Taylor’s eyes focused on Matilda.

“Taylor? What are you doing here? And how did you know we were here?” her mother asked.

A cold breeze blew in from the open door, causing both Matilda and her mother to shiver. The motel had surprisingly good insulation, it seemed as both of them had taken their warmer layers off.

“I… had to come and see… her,” Taylor answered, pointing at Matilda. “I spent a very weird day and afternoon worrying about hi-her. I also spent the afternoon with my family.” She winced. “Who I didn’t realise how terrible they were until just this afternoon.”

Matilda’s mother chuckled. “It seems that today has been a day for realisations. Come on in, take off those wet clothes and warm yourself. Now, this is very important, does anyone know that you are here?”

Shaking her head, Taylor stepped inside and shucked her wet jacket, hanging it off of the back of a seat.

“No one knows that I am here. Hopefully, they don’t even know that I have left, yet,” Taylor replied with a sigh as she ran her hands through her long blonde hair, dripping the water onto the carpeted floor near the heater.

She hadn’t even realised that it had been raining earlier, but apparently it had. Standing up, Matilda grabbed a spare towel and handed it to Taylor.

Taking it, Taylor smiled at her. “Thanks, cutie.”

Blushing brightly, Matilda couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face as she looked away shyly, feeling flustered. “I, umm, that is to say, err, thanks. I mean, you- you’re welcome.”

Taylor’s smile widened, almost becoming predatory before she breathed in deeply. Matilda felt like Taylor was breathing in more than air, and as she watched, her friend seemed to gain colour in her face. 

Stepping closer, Taylor seemed to almost loom over her, despite the height difference being far less than it had been this morning before her transformation. Gulping nervously, Matilda could have sworn she saw that her friend had fangs before Taylor shook her head and took several hasty steps back towards the heater.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you nervous,” Taylor said, grimacing.

Matilda shook her head. “You didn’t make me…” she trailed off at her friend’s look of disbelief.

“Who’s hungry?” Matilda’s mother called from the small kitchen, carrying several plates and cups for the drink they had ordered.

“I’m starving, thanks, Mrs. Williams,” Taylor replied.

Her mother waved the younger girl away. “Oh, you’re welcome, dear, and please, call me Danica.”

“Thanks, Danica!” she replied, taking a plate from Danica and loading it up with pizza before sitting at the edge of Matilda’s bed.

“So, how did you find us?”

Taylor chewed and swallowed her bite of pizza before she replied to Matilda’s mother. “I’m honestly not sure? I followed her sce-I mean I just had this feeling that by coming here, I’d find my friend,” she said with a shrug, blushing slightly.

While Matilda was confident that that wasn’t what Taylor had been going to say, she wasn’t going to push her friend on it, especially if it was going to embarrass her. Even more so with how quickly she seemed to accept the real her.

“How did you know it was me?” Matilda asked.

My blonde friend blushed again. “This is going to sound weird, but by your scent. I just knew somehow that it was you. But what I want to know is why you’re so comfortable being a girl now?”

It was Matilda’s turn to blush. “Umm, I’m what is known as transgender? It’s…” she began but Taylor cut her off.

“I know what it is, I read.” Taylor smiled. “Thank you for telling me. You could have always told me before now though, I would have understood. Being a girl is great, for the most part,” she said with a small grimace at the end.

While they were speaking, the news had come on, and distracted as she was, Matilda still noticed that there seemed to be a rather lack of news about what happened today. Either the school had covered it up, or someone or something else had.

“Nothing in the news?” she asked her mum, even knowing the answer.

Danica shook her head. “None. So I guess we just follow this plan for now?”

“Are you sure you want to come with us, mum? This is a big leap for you. From wanting to know who I am, to now travelling with me all the way to London. I don’t know if I would have if I had been in your shoes.”

Her mother walked over to where Matilda was sitting on her bed, and the older woman kneeled down in front of her daughter. “Yes I’m sure. I know it’s crazy. It’s a huge change, but something is telling me that you are who you say you are, something right here.” She put her hand over her heart. “I can't explain it, but considering the rest of what’s happened today, is it any weirder than that?”

Matilda thought about it for a moment, enjoying the soft touch of her mothers hand on her knee. “I suppose not,” she answered with a sigh. She turned to Taylor. “Do you have money to pay for a ticket, Taylor?”

“I do. I emptied out my piggy bank, plus I emptied out my bank account before I came here.”

“So we’re really doing this? We’re really going to London for answers?” Matilda asked.

“So it would seem,” her mother replied. “Come on you two, it’s getting late and we need our sleep. We will definitely need to take you shopping tomorrow for some better clothes, Mat-ilda. You girls will have to share a bed as well.”

As they got ready for bed, with both Matilda and Taylor blushing profusely at the thought that they were sharing theirs, Matilda reflected on just how much her life had changed in a single day.

She lay in bed, keenly aware of every movement Taylor made next to her, too anxious to move herself. She was worried that she’d make a wrong movement and disturb or scare her friend. While a thousand different scenarios ran through her mind, each one scarier and more terrible than the last, Taylor rolled over and draped her arm over Matilda. Matilda froze in place as a squeak of surprise escaped her lips. Glancing behind her, Taylor had her eyes closed and appeared to be asleep and after a moment’s hesitation, Matilda snuggled into the embrace and closed her eyes, sighing softly in contentment.

“Finally! I didn’t think you’d ever relax. While your emotions are divine, they’re also distracting,” Taylor whispered in her ear, before she closed her eyes, ignoring Matilda’s startled squeak.

It was a long time before Matilda managed to get to sleep herself.