Spoiler N/A

  [colpse]"Yes. I know that it was a mistake. I've already been through this!" Maya whined.

  Her English teacher, whose name was Mr. Robert, stood to the side with his arms folded as his sister Amber talked a hole into Maya's head. Aunt Gigi smiled at their interaction, then walked past them and up to Mr. Robert and began to introduce herself. That left me, Tanisha, and Julia standing in the driveway. the girl that was standing by the car earlier walked over to us.

  "Hey guys," she said indifferently. Something about this girl, she didn't seem happy to be here right now? Like, she looked really uncomfortable. She was wearing a white blouse with a bck bow tie and a bck skirt that reached down to her knees. Her legs were covered by white stockings, and she had a pair of bck fts on her feet.

  Tanisha looked her up and down. "Damn. You look miserable."

  "I feel miserable." She decred.

  "You got a change of clothes?" Julia asked.

  "Yes, thankfully. Amber brought my stuff from school."

  "Cool," Tanisha then turned to me for some reason. "You can show us to a room where we can change clothes, right? Don't want to be rude and all that."

  "Wha- me?!" I pointed to myself in bewilderment.

  "Yeah. You. Everyone else is busy right now, and I don't want to just walk up in your aunts' house without permission. Plus, our friend needs to do something about their clothes."

  I looked at the girl. Other than her obvious foul mood, her clothes seemed totally fine. Why was this a problem?

  "Sure... I can do that." I still wanted to help her out in anyway I could. Leading the way, I marched up to Aunt Gigi, waved and pointed at the front door. She gnced my way and gave a thumbs up while still continuing her conversation with that Robert guy. Everyone else followed me inside and I lead them down a hallway opposite of my aunts' bedroom. There were a few rooms that Maya or I could sleep in if we happened to be staying over.

  "Here you go." I opened the door and gestured zily into the room.

  "Nice. There's a lot of space in here. The perfect pce to change." Tanisha marveled at the size of the room. "C'mon," she said, pushing the girl into the room.

  "You coming with?" She asked Julia.

  "Nah. You guys go ahead. I'm gonna get ready for the meeting."

  Tanisha paused, her eyes flickering down to me, then shrugged her shoulders and followed after the girl into the room. And then I was aware that I was alone with Julia. I stood there in awkward silence, anticipating what she would do next.

  "Hey."

  She suddenly spoke, startling me from my thoughts.

  "Y-yeah?" I asked, turning to her with wondering eyes.

  "I'm gonna use your coffee table in the living room, okay?"

  I gave her a couple of vigorous nods. She smiled at me. The same smile from the day she came to our house. The she turned around and walked back to the living room, sitting on the couch and opening the bag she had carried with her. I was... intrigued. What was she doing?

  I pretended that I didn't care what she was doing and walked behind the couch she was sitting at. Peering over her shoulder, I saw that she pulled out a little book from the bag first and pced it to the far side of the table. Next, she took out a little pstic bag of... some type of pins? They looked like little fgs; all of them different patterns and colors on them. Julia spread them out onto the table, then picked up one of them and pinned it to her shirt.

  I feel like I'm being a creep...

  I pulled a stool out from under the counter in the kitchen and sat down with my back facing away from Julia and listened to the muffled sounds of Maya still arguing with the dy outside.

  Wait a second... Who are these people? And what are we even doing here?

  I spun on my seat, ready to jump down from the tall stool, when I nearly came face to face with Julia. Startled, I fell backwards, but Julia grabbed my wrist and offered me some support.

  "Whoops. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that." She pulled me by the arm so I was sitting upright again and held out her open palm to me. Inside it were a bunch of those pins she had been organizing on the table.

  "Want one?" She asked.

  I eyed her cautiously, then peered into her hand at all of the random pins. From what I could tell, most of them were a design of a fg with pink, white, and blue stripes on them. My eyes flickered up to Julia. By the quick glimpse I saw of her, she was waiting patiently for me to choose.

  "I guess I'll take one..." I said, trying to grab one randomly. I reached out to her hand that held the really appealing little fgs. Pinching it between two fingers, I raised it to my face to get a closer look. I immediately tossed it back and grabbed at one that was a whole heap of colors jammed onto one fg at once.

  the first pin I picked up had been engraved with the female gender symbol. I panicked and quickly gave it back when I saw it.

  "Thanks..." I said, turning away from her. But she didn't leave, still standing beside me. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Julia's hand slowly came into view and she released the pin she was holding into my palm. The same pin I had chosen as my first.

  "You can have both," She said softly. "I have plenty."

  I stared at it for a bit, rocking it back and forth in my hand. The pin shined as the light reflected off of it. I looked up at Julia to see the very same fg, symbol and all, pinned to the front of her dress. I had to ask. I had to know.

  "Y-you're a boy, aren't you?"

  She tilted her head to the side.

  "Maya said that you were, but then you decided not to be, so now you're not?" I really hated myself right now. Why did I have to be so weird? How do I talk again?

  "Hmm... That's one way you could look at it, yeah." Julia said, hand coming up to rest on her chin. then she was quiet.

  What...? That's it? She's not gonna say anything else?!

  Her eyes shifted to meet mine and I realized I had been intensely staring her down. Maybe I was trying to get her to continue the conversation with my will alone. Either she didn't get the hint, or...

  Julia raised an eyebrow in interest and tilted her head the other way, folding her arms just underneath her chest. But she still didn't say anything. She just waited.

  Ah... So I have to do it myself...

  "H-how?" I blurted out.

  "How? How what?"

  Is she... pying with me?

  Irritation and impatience began to build up in me. So, I just went for it. The words tumbled out of my mouth all at once.

  "How are you a girl now? If you were a boy... How? That should be impossible, right? Actually... Why did you do it? Aren't you afraid of what people would think of you? What about your parents? Why did they allow you to do this? And what about-"

  Julia suddenly held a hand up. "Stop."

  My rambling immediately stopped. Oh god, I was rambling, wasn't I? Julia pulled a seat from under the counter and turned it to face me. She smoothed out her dress as she sat down, crossing her legs like I've seen some girls do, and leaned onto the counter.

  "Slow down. I'm not going anywhere right now, and I think we got some time?" She peered over my shoulder and flicked her hand in a shooing motion. Confused at the sudden move from her, I looked back just in time to see a big puff of curly hair and the grin of the girl that wanted to change clothes earlier disappear around the corner.

  "Now, take a deep breath and think about what you want to ask." Julia rested an elbow against the counter and waited for me to say something. She took out her phone and tapped away at it for a bit. I looked down in thought.

  Okay, questions. Questions... What did Maya say about her when she talked to me yesterday?

  "Maya told me that you felt like you didn't fit in with the other boys." I asked her, finally lifting my head.

  "Mmhmm." She nodded, waiting for me to continue.

  "And something about not liking boys' clothes for some reason." My eyes drifted down to what I was wearing. The clothes that I had grabbed from the usual pile and zily spped together. She nodded again.

  "And that you didn't like being... a boy. That you didn't like that other people looked at you and saw you as a boy."

  "Yup," she said simply as she tilted her head. "So what's your question then?"

  I gulped, a familiar pressure in my chest returning, just like when I talked with Maya yesterday. It beat against my heart like it wanted to finally be let out.

  "Is that why... you changed into a girl?"

  "Hmm..." Julia sat up straight on her seat and folded her arms. She directed her eyes to the ceiling, a finger resting on her chin. I guess she was thinking of an answer.

  "Yeah, you could say that."

  "How?" I asked her, impatience clear in my voice. I leaned forward, hoping to hang onto every word that came out of her mouth.

  "Well, all of that is true. It was hard to get along with other boys. It felt like I had to, like I was lying to myself just to try and fit in with them.

  Julia stared into the distance for a moment, probably reliving a memory she wished she didn't.

  Julia's frown deepened. "And it felt weird to just exist in my own skin. Like I was constantly exposed, and I needed to always be covered up." She visibly shivered. "I still kinda do. But I'm working on that. It's actually the next step toward my goal."

  Just like yesterday, when Maya told this to me the first time, I understood how she felt. But now, all I felt... was guilt. I didn't want this for her. Right when I was thinking of asking her to forget about it, she broke into a cheery smile.

  "I fit in with a lot of the girls though. When we talked, it was like I could finally be myself. I didn't feel shame just because I had to fake who I was to get along with people. I could just be me."

  She was beaming, remembering a happy memory now. She looked so much happier now than a few moments ago, and I started to wonder if I could ever be that content with myself.

  "So I lived like that for a long time, having to be the 'fake me' around other guys and being the 'real me' when I was with the girls. And after a while, I got tired of it. I hated being seen as 'one of the boys'. I hated having to push my emotions away because it was seen as weak. And not liking the things that truly interested me."

  "So?" I asked, urging her to finish the story, even though I already knew the end result. The answer was sitting right in front of me, after all, and Maya had already told me yesterday.

  "Long story short, that's when I decided that I wanted to be a girl. And here I am!" Julia thrusts her hands up in the air in triumph.

  I was fbbergasted. I feel like she skipped some steps. That can't be it. There had to be more!

  "What do you mean? You just decided? And that's it?"

  "Hmm? Oh no, there's a lot more. I didn't wake up the next day and just look like this." She pouted, pcing her hands on her hips

  "What I mean is, the moment that I decided I wanted to be a girl, that was it. I am a girl. All of this--"

  Julia stood up on the tips of her toes and twirled on the spot, her red dress fluttering up to just above the knee, causing it to fre out around her. She looked just like all of those girls that I've seen on tv shows and movies. At the end of her spin, she crossed one leg over the other, a hand on her hip and the other held up to her face, striking a super model pose. Or, at least that's what it looked like to me. It was... mesmerizing.

  "--Is all of the hard work and effort I put in. Well, what do you think?"

  What do I think? I don't know. 'There was a lot to process. once again, I thought 'That was it?!' and also 'Man, she was beautiful...'.

  "Aaanny way..." Julia said, sliding back onto her stool. Shoot. I realized all too te that I had been staring into space again.

  "The first step is the most important part. It was me realizing that something was wrong and that I didn't like it. Then understanding how I could 'fix' it." The phone sitting next to Julia on the counter suddenly rang out and she reached over to see what it was. She tapped away at it while taking quick little peaks over her phone at me, I think?

  "Any other questions?" She asked as she put her phone back onto the counter.

  When she asked me that, the dam that was holding the pressure back broke.

  We were the same. I thought. The answer I had first came to when Maya first told me about her. The way we hurt; the way we think. It was... relieving to know that I wasn't some weirdo walking among normal people. There were others out there that felt the same as me.

  "What do I- What did you do after the, y'know, accepting thing you did?" There I go, giving everything away and embarrassing myself. If Julia caught on or not, she didn't show it. She put a finger to her temple and scrunched up her face like the was working on a particurly difficult math problem.

  "Hmm... well, for me, I did some exploring."

  "Exploring?"

  "Oh yeah, I got into some of my mom's clothes, just to see if I would definitely like it. Then, I told some one that I was close to. Someone that I could absolutely trust with a secret. Turns out that person was my mom."

  Someone that I trust...

  "Another person was my friend from school," she continued. "Me and Leon did some clothes swapping. That was fun!"

  Leon?

  "Hey. You guys done in here?"

  I jumped. Maya had poked her head in through a crack in the front door.

  "we're basically done. Right?" Julia looked to me for an answer. My eyes went wide as I stared at her.

  I don't know. Are we?

  "Oh. Um... How about you join us for our club meeting? We can answer a lot more questions for you?" She offered.

  "A-ah. Nah. I'll just... sit here." Besides, I think there's too many people here now. I watched as Aunt Gigi walked in after Maya opened the door, followed by the two other adults.

  "We ready to get started?"

  I looked over my shoulder to see Tanisha exit the opposite hallway followed by the girl from earlier. She had changed out of her white blouse and bck skirt for a pair of jeans that were slightly too big and bck t-shirt. From the quick glimpse I got of her as she passed by me, I could see that her chest had almost completely disappeared. Our eyes met and she smirked at me. Shoot, I had been staring again. I snapped my gaze away, turning away from the gathering of strangers in my aunts' living room.

  "Oh..."

  A voice, I think belonging to Amber, was looking down at the pins sitting on the table.

  "Well, there goes my button making activity..."

  "We can still do that. These--" Julia swiped all of the pins to the edge of the table and into her hands. "--Were for something else."

  "Oh. Okay. Robert, should we move on to introductions and why we are here?"

  "Absolutely!" He said, loudly cpping his hands together.

  "Hey, kid." Aunt Gigi walked over to the kitchen and sat down beside me. "Not gonna join in with everyone else?"

  "Hmph." I grunted and shrugged my shoulders. The pressure in my heart had been released and for some reason, I felt a wave of exhaustion. I think that I had talked enough today, so I gave my aunt the universal sign that this was the end of the conversation and id my head down across my arms. There was a sigh and a gentle pat on my shoulder as my aunt left me to join the group. I tuned them out while they did their instructions, my attention on my muddled thoughts as I twist the pin between my fingers.

  "Hey again."

  My eyes snapped from the pin up to Julia, who was standing next to me with a few papers and a box of colorful markers.

  "Yes?"

  "Do you want to join us? We're about to make our own buttons." My eyes wandered down to the example buttons that she had on hand. It was basically a round, cut out piece of paper csped between some clear pstic. The design on the paper was hand drawn; the same fg that Julia still had pinned on her dress.

  "Uh, No. I'm good." I turned back around and id my head down on the counter. I hoped that would be the end of it, but Julia didn't leave immediately. Instead, she stepped closer and pced a few sheets of paper and the markers next to me.

  "If you decide you want to." She whispered.

  I watched her walk back to the group. Aunt Gigi looked like she was in a deep conversation with Ms. Amber and Mr. Robert. I followed the gaze of Leon, who for some reason had been watching Maya intensely. Much to their annoyance, Tanisha had caught on and started poking them in the shoulders and ribs while she giggled. Maya was wrapped up in her own little world, surround by markers and paper. She had all colors of the rainbow, spyed around her and her phone on hand as she looked between a reference she was looking at and the paper.

  No one seemed to notice me, even while I watched them for a few minutes. I looked at the paper with six bnk circles on it sitting on the counter, then back over my shoulder at the group in the living room. Still, no one was paying attention to me. I opened the box and took out a pink and blue marker. From what I could remember of Julia's pin, I drew the female gender symbol in the middle of one of the circles and carefully colored a fg behind it.

  HenshinTetsuya