Chapter 15

 

The girls, some seven in total, all stepped out into the middle of the hall and made a sort of vague circle around May while clapping. “Congratulations,” the first one said, and then the second one. By the third one, May had walked out of the circle, completely unamused, towards Drew. 

“Hey!” The girl in the lead said. “You can’t leave yet, we have to give you your prize!” 

“Well…” May looked at her. “You can do that without… all of whatever this is.”

“Oh, relax,” the girl said. “It’s just a joke.” She walked over and extended her hand. “My name is Gaia. Congratulations, “Hunter,” on your victory!” She made little air quotes when she said May’s guy name, which was even more frustrating than if she’d said it normally. 

“Thanks,” May said, “but at this point I wasn’t doing it for me.” She looked over at where her friends were, Matt holding her new girlfriend like she’d just found a fist-sized diamond in a bag of corn flakes. “It was the right thing to do.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you!” Gaia said. “Anyway, I think it’s time w—“

“Hey!” Heather said as she walked forward. Heads turned. “You’re terrible at fighting, by the way,” she said as she walked past May. “Are you lot the ones that did this?”

“We did, Heather,” Gaia said. “I know things are a bit awkward with your parents not finding out, but you have to understand that what we did was what was best for you. Besides, we’re happy to turn you back if you want to keep it a secret a bit longer...” 

Heather just smiled and shook her head. “That’s not going to be necessary,” she said sweetly, then slammed her forehead into the girl’s nose. The whole hall erupted into shouts and gasps as Gaia scrambled backwards, holding her face. May was pretty sure she’d heard a wet crunch, like someone sitting on a carton of eggs. The girl was shouting something about her attacker being violent and aggressive, but people weren’t running over to actually stop her. “My parents found out!” Heather yelled. “They kicked me out, Gaia!”

“It was for your own g—“

“Being outed to my parents was for my own good, was it?!”

“You wanted to be a girl!” Gaia said as another one of the witchy girls helped her up. “You should be grateful we gave you the opportunity!” 

“Grateful?” Heather growled. “Grateful? Did you consider for even a second that not everyone is living the perfect life with a perfect pair of parents and that having our bodies fucked with against our will — even if it’s to make us ‘happier’ — is really fucked up, Gaia? Or was that a bonus for you? “Oh, the bully is turned into a girl and it’s making her life harder, it’s what she deserves!” Was that the thinking, Gaia? Did it make you feel good, Gaia? Well you really fucking showed me, because I live out of a backpack now, Gaia! I hope you feel really fucking good about yourself for making that decision for me.” She spat on the ground. “You fucking disgust me.”

“It’s what you wanted most in your whole life!” Gaia yelled again. 

“How the fuck do you know that?!” 

“Well…” one of the other girls (Maddison? Madison? Maddisan? May couldn’t remember) said meekly, “we found a spell that let us see people’s, like, deepest desires in their auras. A bunch of you turned out to all have the same color so we did some digging and realized what was going on. But, like, spells take a lot of energy — you know, like, belief — so Gaia had the idea for the contest. If everyone in the school believed that you were all going to turn into girls…”

“That would make it easier,” May finished. “Jesus, this was a scheme.” She frowned. “Why didn’t the school board stop you?”

“Well, when we explained we were only helping you, the faculty was actually really excited to help out!” The girl (Maddy, May decided. Easier that way) continued excitedly. “Everyone knows how hard trans kids have it and we wanted to be good allies, you know?”

“Did you actually… talk to any trans people about this?”

“Well I mean no, but we could use a spell to make sure everyone got the body they wanted most so that way we didn’t have to spoil the surpr—“

“I think she means when it comes to safety, asshole,” Heather said. She looked like a dog about to snap her leash. May took a step closer to her, though she wasn’t sure if it was to comfort her or to possibly tackle her if she tried to maul one of the girls. Not that she’d blame the girl if she did. 

“It’s not all bad,” Olivia said, raising her hand. May hadn’t even noticed her. “Like… I didn’t even know I wanted this.” She looked a little sheepish, the sleeves of her sweater way too long. Was she buying even larger clothes? “Like, maybe she shouldn’t have done it this way, but I don’t know if I would’ve figured it out, you know?”

Heather groaned. “Just because it turned out alright for you doesn’t mean this blatantly fucking… fucking wrong thing to do is suddenly okay! Her and her friends fucked with you without talking to you first!”

“Yeah but– I mean– Look at Matt and… uh…” she looked at Matt’s girlfriend, unsure of what to call her. “Look at Matt! She’s happy too, and so is almost everyone else!” Matt immediately stood up and raised her hands. 

“Hey!” she said. “I would’ve probably figured it out at some point. Leave me out of it.”

Olivia shrugged and continued, pointing at Heather. “Just because you’re miserable, and you already were miserable, you would’ve just not let us have that? Are you saying we shouldn’t be allowed to be girls just because you’re unsafe as one?”

Heather took a step forward, like she was ready to assault someone a head shorter than her, and May suspected it was only because May herself took a step forward that she didn’t actually do it. “I didn’t. Get. To choose,” Heather hissed between her teeth.

“One more question,” May said to the witches. “If all the people you picked were trans girls, why was I in there? For control?” Everyone turned to look at her like she’d suddenly started speaking in tongues. 

“May,” Heather said. “Really?” Even Gaia had taken a moment to stop worrying about her nose to stare at her in utter confusion. 

“Wh— You want to be a girl, don’t you?” Maddy said. “Like… you literally became a girl already. Wouldn’t you not have done that if you didn’t want to be a girl?”

“Well…” May said, and looked at Drew, who was being the world’s most supportive salt pillar, “I just… want to be May, I guess. But I already am. And like, who wouldn’t make changes to their body if they could, right?”

“Not everyone wants to be a girl, May,” Drew said. “That’s a bit bigger than “I wish I could be a little shorter,” you know?” 

“I… I guess.” She turned back to Maddy and Gaia. “But the point is that that’s not up to you. I’m sure a lot of the girls are really glad you did that for them, but—“ she looked at Heather, who was somewhere between crying and committing an act of justified and justifiable violence, “— some really aren’t.” 

“Well I mean if only, like, one person regrets it—“ Gaia started. 

Heather practically snarled as she stepped forward. “The regret is supposed to be my decision, you colossal bitch!” She shouted. Gaia took a step back with every word. “You don’t get to make decisions about other people’s lives and identities! Do you not see how fucked up that is?!” She turned around and stormed off, only stopping when she got to May again. “Figure it out,” she said. 

“Heather! Wait!” The girl paused but didn’t turn around. May caught up to her. “What about your parents? Where are you staying? What are you going to do?”

“I’ll be fine,” Heather said. “I made a GoFundMe.” She giggled. There was a slight hint of hysteria in her voice. “Everyone loves a fucking sob story. I might actually have a place to sleep next month.”

“Don’t be stupid,” May said. “You can stay at my place. My parents are a lot but…” Heather looked at her and then looked really, really tired again. The rage was no longer coming off of her in waves but seemed to have sort of… leaked out. All that was left now was exhaustion. 

“I’ll message you,” she said. “I’m gonna go declare my absence for the day.” With that, Heather walked out of the door. Maddy took a few steps towards May. 

“Uh,” she said, “do you still, like, want the wish?” she looked behind her at Gaia who was looking at her nose in a pocket mirror. “Like, we expected you to just use it to turn into a girl, so it’s not really as powerful as a real wish, you know, but like, we can still give you a prize.”

“Can it help Heather find a safe home to stay for now?” May asked. “Pay for one?”

“Uh, no,” Maddy said. “It turns out that you’re not allowed to use a wish–” she repeated words she’d clearly had looked up not too long ago, “– to might influence, destabilize or otherwise affect the current rates of currency or commerce.” She gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry. No money. Well, no large sums of it. Oh, also, no changing other people’s minds against their will.”

“Ironic,” May said. 

“But like, you can change about yourself whatever you like. Wink wink.”

“Can I give it to someone else?” May asked. “Changing myself into a girl with a wish feels wasteful, you know? Not to mention disrespectful of the difficulties people like Heather have gone through.”

“You can’t be serious,” Gaia mumbled, but May pretended to ignore her. 

“Uh, sure!” Maddy said. “Don’t sell it though, or we could get in biiiig trouble!” She handed May a small bottle with what appeared to be a tiny cloud inside of it. “Just pull the cork and say your wish and uh, if it’s possible for the wish to do it, it’ll happen.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Uh, then nothing, I think,” Maddy said. “The spellbook was a little unclear on it but the principal was adamant about making it not very powerful so the winner doesn’t turn the school into a coconut or something,” she said with a giggle. 

“Okay,” May said, and put the bottle in her pocket. She had an idea, although it was something she wanted to run by Drew and her parents, first. “Do you think you’re going to get into trouble?”

“Uh,” Maddy said, “probably. But we didn’t do it to get praise, you know? We just–”

“– wanted to help,” May said. “I know, I know. But, and don’t take this the wrong way… I don’t think this was right. Like, if they ask me what I think, I’m gonna say that. No matter how some people feel… This week was the most stressed I’ve been in high school and middle school.” She reached out to Drew, who took her hand. “Even if some good things came of it.”

“Uh,” Maddy said. “Thanks?” May raised an eyebrow. “For playing, I guess. Anyway, I’m going to go get Gaia to the nurse’s office, I think.” The other girls sheepishly followed them, leaving May and her friends in the middle of the room. Noticing the show was over, the students all retreated to their various classes, easily fifteen minutes late. 

“That was, uh…” Drew said. Matt and her new girlfriend joined them. 

“A lot,” May said. “You okay?” She asked, and then paused. “Uh…”

“Ash, for now,” Ash said as she put an arm around Matt. She already looked comfortable in her new body. She hadn’t lost any of her muscle and she was, indeed, an inch or two taller than she had been. Matt couldn’t stop staring and biting her lip. “And yeah, I am, I think. I had some stuff to work through.”

“You’re so pretty,” Matt said.

“So, now what?” May asked. “Do we… just go to class?”

“I guess so. Life goes on, right?” Ash said. 

“I guess so, yeah.”