Right when Third Period ended, Miles went out to find a private spot. He pulled out his phone and called Mr. Al. "Hey Mr. Al," said Miles. "Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all," Mr. Al answered. "Did you and Zoe find something?"

"Zoe did," said Miles. "Alan Chase told her he'd seen Brittany Meier give Isaac Schmidt a little black box. And when Zoe followed Isaac out behind the gym, Isaac opened the box, and it turned him into a girl."

"Oh, it did?"

"Yeah, but here's the weird part: the box messed with the spell on Zoe. Now she can turn back into Zack and then back into Zoe at will."

"How absurd," said Mr. Al. "I've never heard of anything like this before."

"I know, it's crazy," said Miles. "But that's not what's important. What is important is that Brittany Meier is the witch. She's the one we've been looking for."

Mr. Al was silent for a count of ten. "Brittany Meier," he repeated.

"Yeah, her. You know who she is, right?"

"Isn't she the young lady Zack had a crush on before he was turned into Zoe?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

Mr. Al sighed. "Well, it seems like Zack's going to have to sacrifice his love for the greater good," he said.

"Wait a minute. Are you gonna...kill her?"

"I'm going to have to," said Mr. Al. "Brittany's done enough damage already. We can't let her keep running amok and throwing curses around."

"Can't you just arrest her and have her locked up?"

"She's a witch. Chances are she'd just magic her way out."

Miles sighed. "You're right," he admitted. "I'll talk to Zoe, or Zack, or whoever he wants to be. I'll try to talk some sense into him."

***

Zoe had already gotten to her lunch table and started telling Skylar and Avery about the day's revelation when Miles came running into the cafeteria. "Zoe!" said Miles.

"Miles?"

"Zoe, you have to listen to me," said Miles. "I just called Mr. Al, and he and his men are going to mount a search for Brittany."

Zoe gasped. "You did what?"

"I told Mr. Al Brittany is the witch," said Miles.

"Oh no," said Zoe.

"Look, Zoe, I know you're in love with Brittany," said Miles, "But you have to let it go. Brittany's a witch. She's a bad guy."

"No she's not."

"Yes, she is. She turned Ralph, Michael, and Isaac into girls against their will. And it's because of her that you got turned into a girl too and had your life turned upside down."

"Yeah, well, it can go back to normal now," said Zoe. To prove her point, she willed herself to shift back into Zack.

"Look, can you please just not try anything stupid?" said Miles.

"Like what?"

"Like trying to stop Mr. Al from killing Brittany."

Zack felt uneasy. He'd been thinking of doing just that before he came to lunch and started telling Skylar and Avery about everything. "But Brittany's the closest thing I've ever had to a girlfriend!" he said. "I've worked hard to get in good with her and sow the seeds of a relationship with her!"

"Yeah, well, those seeds have to be dug out now," said Miles.

"Hate to break it to you, but he's right," said Avery. "You have to get over it. Brittany's not the person you thought she was."

"Yes, she is," Zack insisted. "If you'd been tutoring her or dancing with her at Homecoming-"

"Zack, open your ears!" said Miles. "Brittany. Is. A. Witch. She curses people just for fun!"

"All those guys she cursed deserved it." Of course, Zack knew that this implied he'd deserved to be genderbent too, but he wasn't going to draw attention to it. "Besides, Brittany's a human being. Just like you, and me, and Mr. Al."

Avery rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that makes EVERYTHING okay," she scoffed.

"Yeah," said Miles. "Remember that police officer who killed George Floyd? He was a human being, too. And Christopher Columbus was a human being. Hitler was a human being."

Zack sputtered. "Oh, now you're comparing Brittany to Hitler?" He shot up to his feet with his fists clenched and glared at Miles.

Miles was so startled, he stepped back in alarm. "What-I didn't mean-"

"I'm not gonna give up what I've got with Brittany," said Zack. And with that, he turned and left.

Miles stared after him. "Oh no," he groaned. "What did I do?"

"Don't worry," said Skylar. "He'll come to his senses." But she didn't sound so sure.

***

Zack turned back into Zoe and started looking for Brittany, but she was nowhere to be found. Even in Fifth Period, Brittany was a no-show. Zoe tried calling Brittany's phone, but she got no answer. So she knew she'd have to go right to Brittany's house after school to try and warn her what was happening.

The second the final bell rang, Zoe was ready. She took off and sprinted out of the school. She ran the several blocks away to where she knew Brittany's house was. She knocked on the door and prayed it wasn't too late.

To Zoe's relief, Brittany answered the door. "Zoe?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Brittany, you have to listen to me," said Zoe. "There's people coming for you, and they want to kill you."

Brittany's eyes widened. "What?"

"We should go inside," said Zoe. "I can explain everything."

Brittany took Zoe inside and sat her down at the kitchen table. "Who is it that's after me?" Brittany asked.

"It's these...people," said Zoe. She feared telling Brittany she'd been the one who'd relayed Mr. Al the information that Brittany was a witch would be suicide, but she couldn't seem to think of a good enough excuse. "They've been after you for a long time now."

"What are you talking about? Why do they want to kill me?"

Zoe hesitated. "I saw that you gave Isaac that box this morning," she said. "And I saw...you know..."

"You saw..." Brittany looked at Zoe indignantly, like she'd just found out Zoe had been sniffing her underwear. "You saw him turn into a her?"

Zoe nodded.

"But how can you still be a girl?"

"I think I know," said Zoe. She turned herself back into Zack, much to Brittany's shock.

"What the-Zack Fletcher?"

"Yes, that's me," said Zack.

"But how..."

"That cursed bathroom? I was a victim. That's how Zoe Fletcher was born."

"What...but how did you figure out that I was a-"

Brittany broke off when someone started pounding on the front door. "Open up!" said a gruff voice.

Zack's heart missed several beats. "That must be them!" he said. He shifted back to Zoe and went to answer the door. There she found Mr. Al standing there, wearing special black armor and holding a heavy blaster rifle. Five more similarly dressed and armed men were already starting to spread around the house.

"What the-Zoe?" Mr. Al asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Mr. Al, please," said Zoe. "We can try to work something out with Brittany!"

"Zoe, step aside. My men and I must deal with Brittany."

"No, please!"

"Stop being ridiculous. This is what you and Miles have been working toward for weeks and weeks!"

"Wait a minute," said Brittany. She was looking between Zoe and Mr. Al and putting two and two together. "You're with them?"

"Well...."

"Yes, she is," said Mr. Al. "I don't know what she's doing here, but she is working for us."

Brittany's face contorted in rage. "You sold me out to these witch hunters?"

"I didn't know it was you at first!" Zoe defended. "We suspected Skylar. But then-"

"You betrayed me!" Brittany roared. She summoned a magic ball of energy and hurled it at Zoe. When the ball hit Zoe's chest, her whole body shook like she'd been electrocuted. Zoe fell onto the floor, twitching uncontrollably.

"Stay down," Mr. Al commanded. He pointed his gun at Brittany and opened fire. Brittany summoned a magical shield to protect herself, but she forgot about Mr. Al's other men. Two of them crashed through the side door into the kitchen with their guns brandished. Brittany rounded on them and swept her hand at them. All of a sudden, the men dropped their guns and fell onto the floor screaming in pain. Burns had formed all over their bodies.

Fortunately, when Brittany had gotten distracted, her magic shield disappeared. Mr. Al took the chance to reload his gun and aim it at Brittany once more. Right about that time, Zoe recovered from getting hit with Brittany's spell and looked up. "Brittany..." she croaked. "Brittany..."

Mr. Al didn't even acknowledge her. He fired a round of bullets at Brittany and plugged her six times in the chest. Brittany's shirt started to stain with blood as she glared at Mr. Al. "You...you couldn't..." She didn't even finish her sentence. The light drained from her eyes, and she fell right off her feet. She did not get up.

Zoe got back up and looked down at Brittany's dead body. "You...you killed her," she said.

"Yes, I did," said Mr. Al. "Now her regime has come to an end."

"She...she attacked me..."

"I know," said Mr. Al.

"She found out I sold her out, and she just..."

"Yes, it's awful," Mr. Al said solemnly. "To have your love suddenly turn on you like that. Many relationships have been ruined by such turns of events."

Zoe started to cry. "What have I done?" she said. "All this-all of this-it's turned out horrible. I thought I was winning over Brittany, but then she turned out to be a witch, and then she attacked me."

"I'm sorry, Zoe," said Mr. Al. "I'm sorry that this might not have turned out the way you wanted it."

***

To say things went back to normal wouldn't be quite accurate. The full story of Zack's transformation to Zoe, and the subsequent witch hunt she and Miles had embarked upon, was released to the public, which drew in a lot of media attention. A morning talk show even invited Zack/Zoe on to share some insights about the experience. Everyone-Zack's classmates, teachers, neighbors, and other friends-were shocked beyond belief to hear that the Zack they knew hadn't gone away at all-he'd been Zoe the whole time. But there were certain people (read: the parents of Ralph/Ruby, Michael/Michelle, and Isaac/Iris) that were grateful Zack and Miles had stopped Brittany from causing any more trouble.

Of course, now that Zack/Zoe could change gender at will, that brought up a lot of questions about gender identification. Zack ultimately decided he'd legally be male, but he could turn female whenever he was feeling feminine. And the convenient thing was that whenever he changed, the clothes he was wearing would change with him, which made things much easier than they could've been.

A week and a half after Brittany's defeat, the Delaney Chase memorial in the park was completed. Alan and Skylar hosted an opening ceremony in the park, and everyone from the breast cancer awareness club was invited. Zack went and listened to Alan's speech about how happy he was about his mother being memorialized, and how proud he was of the club's members for coming together and making this happen. But Zack was still so depressed about the loss of Brittany, he couldn't enjoy himself. He just sort of sat there and listened to Alan talk.

After the speech and additional comments from Mrs. Fury, the opening ceremony was essentially over. But Zack stayed behind to get a better look at the Delaney Chase memorial. He admired the large smooth stone and bronze plaque with Delaney Chase's name, and a message thanking her for everything she did for the community.

"Hey," said a female voice. Zack turned to see Skylar standing there, with Miles not far behind her.

"Hey Skylar," said Zack. "Hey Miles."

"You like the Delaney Chase memorial?" Skylar asked.

"Yeah," said Zack. "It's probably the only good thing that came out of all this."

Skylar nodded. "I'm sorry about what happened with Brittany," she said.

"And I'm sorry for...for the things I said about her," said Miles.

"It's not just that," said Zack. "When I went to Brittany's house to try and stop Mr. Al from assassinating her, she realized I was the one who sold her out and attacked me."

"She attacked you?"

"Yes. I was so shocked that she did that. After all those good times we had, she just suddenly turned on me. It was like none of that even happened."

"I'm so sorry," said Miles.

"I just...it's all my fault. I should never have meddled in any of this. I shouldn't have-"

"Zack, you shouldn't blame yourself," said Skylar. "What Brittany did-that was on her."

"But she..."

"Zack, after Michael dumped me, my mom told me something," said Skylar. "She said that when your loved one reveals themselves as a cheater, or an abuser, or anything like that, then that's what you should remember them as. Clinging to those sweet memories of their false self just hurts you."

Zack sighed. "I guess you're right," he said. "But I finally felt like I might get a girlfriend. And now I'm even farther away from getting one than before."

"I get it," said Miles. "I really do."

"But, I guess there's a lot more girls out there," said Zack. "I guess I'll just...start looking again."

Skylar nodded. "And you know, I'm always here for you."

"What?"

"If you ever want to go out sometime, I'd be down."

"You mean...like a date?"

"Yeah, of course!" Skylar said with a smile. "If you'd be willing."

Whoa. This was a huge turn of events. Sweet as Skylar was, Zack had never gotten the vibe that Skylar felt romantic attraction towards him. But now she was implying that maybe she did like him that way. Zack may not have felt particularly attracted to her before, but now...maybe it would work out. Skylar was a really nice girl, and she was pretty, too.

"Sure," said Zack. "I'll go out with you."

"Sweet," Skylar said, sliding her hand into Zack's hand. "I'm free tomorrow."

"Me too. Should we go get lunch somewhere?"

"Of course."

"Then let's do it."

The End....

***

And that's the end of this serialized story. Sorry that there were some significant gaps in chapter uploads, but at least I got to finish it. I've enjoyed reading the comments on the chapters as they were being uploaded, so thank you for sharing your thoughts. Now that the story's finished, please feel free to tell me what you think about the story as a whole. I always enjoy hearing what you think of my works.