Eli couldn’t help but be nervous as they made their way through the twisting corridors of the Caleb house, the walls twisting as they went up and down sets of stairs. Some doors were open, showing distant worlds with vast different biomes and other pnets, but most weren’t even there. One time, Eli saw a group enter a door and went to see what was behind it, only to see that the door had disappeared. Only the painting of a door on the wall remained. Eli didn’t know how long they had been wandering through the house, but he could tell they were getting near their destination. Finally, after emerging from a descending staircase, they entered into a hallway that ended at a tall, solid wooden door.

  “Alright, it seems like they’re just behind that door.”

  The door seemed to loom over Eli. It looked made of a dark wood that seemed to absorb the light around it, its presence getting heavier and more menacing the closer they got to it. His thoughts kept racing: what if they didn’t like him? What if he said something to upset them? Then they would hate him, which would inevitably lead to him having to leave the group, and then he would be alone in this mansion with a maze for its corridors. Then Amy would start to hate him, and then she would get him kicked out of school, and he’d have to move back in with his parents and live with his father again.

  A warm hand nded on Eli’s shoulder, pulling him to a stop.

  “Eli calm down, for crying out loud, no one is going to judge you here, least of all my friends. Listen, they are just inside this room and are super friendly. So take a few deep breaths and just take your time.”

  “I’m fine Amy.”

  “Really Eli? I thought you would think more highly of me, I am standing right here and can see you hyperventiting. Look me in the eyes Eli.”

  Like a command, he could not resist. Eli looked up into Amy’s glowing green emerald eyes, which seemed to radiate light from within. She towered over him. He initially felt intimidated when he met her, but now he knew she was really kind.

  “Alright breathe with me”

  As Amy started breathing slowly, counting down between breaths, Eli, still staring deep into those mesmerizing emerald pools, began to follow along. In and out. In and out. This seemed to go on for hours as Eli could only focus on Amy. Finally, after his heart stopped beating like a jackhammer in his chest, she let go of him.

  “There, that’s better now isn’t it?”

  “Thank you Amy.”

  “Anytime, alright now are you ready to meet my friends.”

  “No, but I doubt I will ever be so let’s do this.”

  “Alright”

  Amy opened the door and led Eli into the room, which was surprisingly cozy. Large plush pieces of furniture were situated around the room, with a circle of bean bags in the back left corner beside a bookcase that seemed to be stuffed full of books, manga and other assorted literature.

  Sitting in one of the beanbags was a small, slender girl with blond hair and brown eyes peeking over the rim of her gsses as she looked at them across the room. Her hand moved back and forth as she slowly brushed the thick bck tail resting in her p. In the chair beside her was another tall girl, taller than Amy, with short bck hair and bright yellow eyes. Easily sitting at over 6 foot 8, she was muscur, well-toned, and quite slim. She seemed to be not paying attention, with a dopey smile spread across her face while the blond continued brushing her tail. Last but not least was Rachel.

  “Hey Rachel”

  “Eli, gd to see you could make it, I figured amy would text if you were coming but apparently not.” Rachel was gring at Amy now as if she was disappointed in her.

  Amy could only scratch the back of her head awkwardly. “Sorry we got to talking about aberrants on the way over and Eli is just so enthusiastic about the topic, it completely slipped my mind.”

  “Abberants? I wonder how they come about anyways?” Rachel was looking at them with a curious expression

  “The same way that all other Xenos species manifest, shenanigans.” Amy replied with a smile on her face.

  “Actually, it is a really interesting phenomenon, it is well documented that Xenos gene manifestation is very affirming to one's gender and can cause physical transformations in Xenos that are entirely separate from their manifested power. This caused alot of people to change very rapidly after The Advent, leading to multitudes of species around the world. The southern states did not take kindly to this as they were and still are incredibly Xenophobic and was one of the main factors that caused the southern half of the USA to splinter off about 40 years ago, though there were a bunch of other factors that led to the separation and founding of the United Imperial States of America. Either way, I am getting sidetracked here. It is generally acknowledged that when your Xenos gene manifests, if it involves a physical component, the changes that happen will always be affirming to your subconscious in some way. Its recognition was a major ndmark in the equal rights movement for Canada. Which, of course, led to the passing of bill Xe 1337 in 2038 some 36 years ago.”

  “You know all of that about queer culture but don’t know what ab enby is? You aren’t one of those LGB weirdos are you?”

  Eli could only blush in return as he realized he had just made a huge info dump on what was essentially a bunch of strangers. “LGB? No, that was a far right political group that was founded early on in the 2000’s as a form of astroturfing to sow discord among the LGBT community.”

  Amy stared at Eli with a dumb expression on her face. “How?”

  Eli couldn’t meet Amy’s eyes. “Sorry, I’m just a huge history nerd and when researching Xenos history there is a quite a bit of crossover with the LGBT community. Unfortunately my parents were really careful about how much information i had access to in regards to both communities regurly checking the history on my devices, so i had to do research in the small amounts of time i wasn’t home or being monitored so while i have some knowledge of LGBT topics it is far from comprehensive. On top of that a decent amount of information that is avaible online is either conjecture or just straight up lies.”

  Amy smiled. “Eli, while you could probably go on for hours about Xenos history and stuff, this is a party, so we should have some fun.”

  Eli looked away from Amy as he tried to hide his disappointment. He had made things weird again. God, why couldn’t he get anything right? He should have just listened to his father and stopped studying the topic a long time ago.

  Amy turned her gaze to Rachel “Hey Rachel what css do you share with Eli again?”

  “We share English together, why?”

  “Whose the teacher?”

  Eli decided to chime back in, “Honestly, I don’t remember his name. I just know he is terrible.” Eli couldn't help but frown at the thought of his English teacher.

  Rachel turned her gaze to Eli with a look of pity before she looked back at Amy “Yeah even though Eli has specifically told him to refer to him as Eli he specifically goes out of his way not only to make sure he calls him Elliot but to call on him as often as possible just so he can keep using his name and then proceeds to berate him when he doesn’t get the answer right.”

  “That’s awful, what’s he look like?”

  “Tall, old, wrinkly, bald, pale skin, honestly, like a giant walking sex toy.”

  “Yeah that’s definitely Mr. Frankfurt and that is a pretty accurate description, he’s part of the housing committee too, somehow, and is one of the reasons I am stuck in the men’s dorms.”

  “God, what a tool.”

  “May… Maybe he’s just really bad with names.” Eli tried to add in, trying to see some good in the mean teacher he had.

  “Eli don’t even try, he’s a total piece of work, through and through. Honestly I only think he is still employed because of tenure.”

  “Honestly, that bastard can die in a tire fire for all I care.” This time the voice didn’t come from Rachel or Amy, looking across the room towards the sound of the voice, it was the blond girl. She was still brushing the girl's tail. Now, staring at their group, her brown eyes seemed to hold endless contempt.

  “Oh yeah, guess I should introduce everyone. So the blond one is Maddison, she’s the responsible one in the group and is banned from drinking.”

  “Why is she ban-”

  “We don’t talk about that night.”

  “Rea-”

  “We don’t talk about that night.” Rachel responded this time, and a faint blush crept across Maddison’s face.

  “Alright noted.”

  “Next up we have Rachel, who you have already met, and finally we have Amber whose mind is somewhere on cloud 9 still, she really likes getting her tail brushed, it’s kind of adorable. The st member of our ragtag group, Jennifer, seems to be missing however.”

  “Jen said she thinks she saw someone she wants to stay clear of and didn’t want to risk seeing them at the party.”

  “Well that’s unfortunate but that doesn’t mean we can’t still do stuff even if Jen is missing out.”

  “That’s right!” Amber said, seeming to have finally made her way back to the present and having pulled a deck of cards out of nowhere. “The party’s just getting started, Wooh!”

  “The party” turned out to be a retively rexing evening filled with board and card games, with minimal drinking and more just hanging out. What Eli started out dreading turned into something he quite enjoyed. After returning to his dorm with Amy after the party, he took a shower, feeling pretty dirty after everything that had happened that morning. So, as usual, he grabbed his toiletry bag and headed for the shower, making sure not to look in the mirror and turning off the lights before climbing in. After all, no one wanted to see his gross body, especially him.

  Afterwards, Eli emerged feeling refreshed and revived, only to see Amy sitting in the kitchen staring at him.

  “Um… hi Amy, need something?”

  “Not really just a quick question.”

  “Alright shoot.”

  “Why were you showering with the lights off?” Amy was looking at him across the room with a look of concern and confusion but also seemed to be smirking slightly

  Eli’s mind started to race. He couldn’t expin it. It was just something he had done since he was 13, right around when puberty began, but he couldn’t just say that. She would think he was crazy. Eli tried to come up with a logical excuse quickly. “Um…uh…no reason, just an old habit.”

  “Alright,” the smirk on her face seemed to have bloomed into a full-on mischievous smile as she strode across the room towards him. She stopped when she was towering over him, the over-a-foot difference in height being made very clear.

  “Afterall who doesn’t shower with the lights off, next you are going to tell me that you avoid mirrors like the pgue?”

  “Um…” Eli could only look down at the floor, which was incredibly interesting. The kind of hardwood they had installed in the kitchen area didn’t seem too old and wasn’t stained in the slightest, though maybe it was minate.

  “Eli, I was making a joke.”

  “Oh yeah… hahaha.” Eli could only let out a rather hollow ugh as he began to walk backwards toward his door. If she found out, she would probably think he was weird and not want to associate with him anymore. He had a lot of fun at the party and wanted to meet everyone again. Eli slowly started to open the door while Amy was still staring, hoping to block the view of his room slightly, failing to remember that Amy was still 6 foot 2 compared to his short 5 foot 4.

  “Eli, why is the mirror in your room in the corner?”

  “It was like that when I found it.” Eli was currently looking anywhere that wasn’t Amy, like the ceiling with its speckled surfacing, which came right out of the 1980s but had a major resurgence in the 2050s.

  “Eli, look me in the eyes. Really?”

  “Yes,” Eli said while still looking anywhere that wasn’t her eyes for fear that she could somehow see into his soul with those green emeralds that she had, instead focusing intently on her tail as it swished back and forth.

  “Alright, I believe you.”

  “Really!!” Eli perked up at this. Maybe his retionship with her wasn’t ruined after all. Maybe he was fine and didn’t have to worry about her thinking how much of a weirdo he was. Maybe-

  “Not in the slightest but I can tell that this is something you don’t want to talk about so I won’t keep being pushy just know that if there’s anything you ever need to talk about I will listen, I don’t care what it’s about, I will listen. There’s a reason I’m the head of The Society.”

  “The Society?”

  “I’ll tell you ter okay?”

  “Okay”

  “Alright get some sleep now”

  With that, Amy turned away and headed back into her room. Eli could see a rge blue, pink, and white banner hanging above her bed, with a giant shark stuffy sitting atop the two pillows, her tail swishing back and forth hypnotically before she closed the door behind her. Eli turned around and headed to bed. ‘I wonder what that banner is for? Eh, probably not important.’

  Sleep was not easy that night as he tossed and turned, thinking about what had happened that day. It seemed like so much had happened in such a small time frame, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Amy. The way she walked, her demeanour and those eyes, those deep pools of emerald green that seemed so vast and deep that you could get lost in them. ‘God I wish I could be like her, but not like her in the sense of being her but rather, oh what am I saying?’ Eli quickly tried to roll over and drown out the noisy thoughts in his head. Finally, eventually, sleep took Eli.

  It didn’t seem like he had been asleep for a long time. It was almost like he had just closed his eyes and opened them again, only to find that he stood in a field of flowers once more.