Carter sat leaning over his knees, which were pressed together so his panties weren’t visible beneath his skirt. The TV was on and the commercials were droning on, but he was looking at Victoria.

She was sitting beside him, off to the side so she wasn’t too close. She was looking at him too, some disposed-of tissues on the side table nearby. Her eyes were still a little red and puffy, and she looked… defeated.

Carter sighed. He was so bored.

“So…” he said, shifting in his seat and trying not to ask about magic, “How’s school?”

Nat woke up feeling groggy. The potion had made him incredibly exhausted—

He bolted upright. The potion! He’d—

The empty vial was still on his bed table. He had tried to down it all at once, but a little bit of pink fluid still clung to the inside of the container.

It didn’t work.

Nat closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists.

It didn’t work.

It didn’t fucking work!

For all of that asshole’s promises, the potion hadn’t done anything!

There was nobody outside when Carter glanced out the front window, but he still nervously glanced around anyway. All it would take was a stray neighbor with a phone to catch a picture of him and alert his parents that something was wrong.

A strong gust blew away some of the crispy brown leaves, but everything else was still.

Carter closed the blinds, and pulled the curtains shut just to be sure.

Victoria was waiting by the couch. Carter took the Wii remote from her, feeling more than a little silly as he followed her instructions to put the wrist strap on. She was literally blowing dust off the console, and practically bouncing with excitement as she put the game disk in.

Victoria plopped down on the couch and motioned for Carter to sit, informing him that they were playing Mario Kart first.

Carter groaned and tried to get comfortable. Normally, the plushness of the couch would be super relaxing, but the way it made him sink into the cushion caused his shirt to bunch up, making his chest shift and squish as well. At this point he was seriously considering whether a bra would help or not.

Carter knew that he was awake, but didn’t want to open his eyes. What time was it? Maybe it was still early and he could get another few hours in before checking in on his sister.

Ugh… the thought still bothered him. He was glad his parents hadn’t gotten them a babysitter for the weekend, but this was the third trip out of state since the school year started. Didn’t they know he needed the weekends to himself and his own friends?

He still needed to know what time it was.

What had it said? What had it said?! Something about love? And on the flip side? He couldn’t remember exactly, but he thought the word had been… sex? Gender? He’d gotten a fortune cookie talking about love and gender, and then… the games on his bookshelf being replaced, new shoes appearing in the closet, all his underwear being replaced.

And then on and on, one change after another, until he was wearing a skirt on dates and trying on lipstick in the mall. All these recent feelings—they weren’t teenage angst or self-doubt, they were him realizing that he was doing something wrong. But then he’d forget. Even something as obvious as forgetting which table he sat at just barely registered before it slipped from his mind forever.

But the worst part, by far, was that he had almost figured it out! Just a week ago he’d been helping Tyler with his homework, and Nathan could tell that something was wrong. But every day he forgot more and more who he was supposed to be.

Nat pulled the skirt up his legs and snug around his waist. It fell just above his knees and was decorated with the images of butterflies, a lot like the ones dancing about in Nat’s stomach. He hoped Gavin liked it as much as Nat himself did.

The sandals he chose because he liked how much they showed off his fresh toenails. Nat’s top was sleeveless, exposing his bare shoulders, and it was just long enough that that it reached down to Nat’s waist as long as he didn’t bend over. His father would have a field day if he saw this outfit; it was a small blessing that he was working through the weekend.

Apparently a warm front had breezed through the region, because the next few days were going to be unseasonably warm. Nat took the opportunity to do something that he’d been eager try—he was going to leave his jacket at home and go out wearing that fashionable tank top that he’d been saving for a sunny day. Giving up this chance while he had it would just be criminal.

There came a sharp rapping at the bedroom door.

“Nat,” his mother called through the door, “I’m going out to Burger King. Do you want your usual?”

“Sure, mom,” Nat replied.

His mother had distracted him, but not from his homework. He was standing in the middle of the room with his shirt off, looking down at his waist. His hips seemed… wide, and his pants clung tightly to his legs. It had been hard to get them on for some reason. And sitting down was almost uncomfortable. But this was the third pair of pants that he’d tried on, and they were all like that. The only ones that were even a little bit loose didn’t come all the way down to his ankles.

Nathan stared down at his open sock drawer in confusion. This absolutely was not the way that it had looked the day before. He’d had maybe a dozen white socks and a few black dress socks. He certainly had not had three dozen pairs of socks of varying lengths and colors, some with pictures of animals and cartoon characters. And there was no way that he’d had a small collection of rolled-up tights and leggings of various colors and patterns.