Announcementcontent warning: dysphoria; brief mention of alcohol; brief mention of dui"Hi mom, hi dad," Harper greeted his parents as they came in.

  Ellie added, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Hudson."

  I kept quiet, curled up at the end of the sofa with my hoodie around me as I focused on my phone. We were hoping that with my head down they'd just see the hair which was the same as always, and maybe not notice that I was smaller and cuter and also a girl.

  It wasn't a very good pn, but we all kind of panicked when we saw them pull up outside so this was the best we could come up with.

  Harper's dad didn't even respond. He just stumbled straight past us on his way to the washroom. Mrs. Hudson stopped though, partway through the living-room.

  "Hi son," she responded. "And Ellie, Bke. Try and keep it down tonight, ok? Bob and I are going to bed, we don't want to hear any loud noises down here."

  The blond jock nodded, "Ok mom. We've mostly just been watching TV, but we'll make sure to keep the volume low."

  His mom nodded, then continued into the kitchen. She got herself a bottle of water from the fridge, then as soon as Mr. Hudson came out of the bathroom Mrs. Hudson went in and took his pce. And a minute or two ter both of them had retreated up the stairs.

  I finally breathed a sigh of relief after that. Then I looked at Harper and half-whispered, "That was lucky. I was sure they'd notice something. Especially your mom, since she was right here looking at all of us."

  "Nah," he sighed. He looked and sounded embarrassed and unhappy as he added, "Dad was probably too drunk to even notice we were here. I'm pretty sure mom drove them home, but I sure wish they'd just stayed at the Miller's pce. Maybe you didn't notice, but I could tell my mom was slurring her words a bit."

  Ellie made a face, "Crap. I'm sorry Harper, that sucks."

  Our friend sighed again, "At least the Millers don't live too far away, only about a kilometre up the road. It's still no excuse though."

  "Anyways," Harper added as he looked to me, "I guess the good news is neither of them noticed anything. And even if they did, they'll probably forget all about it by morning."

  After that it was hard for any of us to get back into the rexed mood we had going before. We were all trying to keep quiet, we had the volume on the TV turned down, and it felt like we were all painfully aware of our friend's parents being upstairs.

  About the only reason the three of us didn't just call it a night was we were all still waiting for me to change back to my guy body. Which was another reason my mood was down. It was almost like a growing sense of dread, just waiting and knowing that sooner or ter I'd transform and be a guy again.

  Ellie and Harper were both quietly watching the TV, and they continued nibbling on chips and sipping their drinks. Meanwhile I found myself thinking about the stuff Ellie brought up earlier. Like about non-magical girl-me actually being the real me, if it made me happier than my original body. And how it felt to hear them use she-her pronouns for me, or when they called me cute.

  I ended up staying sort of curled up inside my big hoodie as all that stuff went through my head. I tried to imagine what I'd tell my mom, how she'd react if I told her I was a girl or that I was trans.

  It was hard though, trying to guess how mom would respond. I was pretty sure she'd be accepting and supportive, but I couldn't be a hundred percent positive. And I could definitely imagine there being some rough spots at first, like before she got used to the idea. Same with Amelia, I could easily imagine her giving me a hard time about it.

  Work was easier to guess. My boss wasn't what you'd call open-minded or enlightened. I had a feeling he'd find some reason to fire me if he found out I was 'one of them queers' as he put it. Or if he didn't outright fire me then he'd find some way to make me quit. Like to make sure I couldn't sue him for discrimination.

  As for school, that was probably a non-issue at this point. We only had a few days left and assuming I didn't mess the with magic ring at the wrong time I could just be guy-me for the final csses. If I started the transition stuff over the summer then maybe by the time I was at college in September I could go as a girl.

  College would definitely be a good time for a fresh start, since it was nowhere near this tiny little vilge. The campus was in a city of over a hundred thousand people, which would be a huge adjustment from our popution five-hundred community.

  The nice thing was both Ellie and I would be going to the same pce, although we were taking different programs. She'd be studying engineering stuff, that fit in with her interest in computers and automotive tech. I'd enrolled in their digital arts program. Then it crossed my mind, if I was a girl then maybe me and Ellie could even share a room in residence.

  That almost got me smiling for a bit, before my thoughts drifted in another direction. As cool as it was that my best friend and I were going to the same college, our other friend was not. Or rather, technically it was the same college, but Harper would be going to a different campus.

  He got accepted into a health sciences program that could get him into either nursing or EMS work, depending on how he specialized in the second and third years. It was also a little closer to home than the campus Ellie and I were going to, so instead of going into residence there he'd continue living with his parents and just drive to school and back.

  That wasn't for a few months though, and I had more urgent things to think about first. So I focused again on the whole 'am I really a girl' question. And the more I thought about it, the more excited those butterflies in my tummy got. Because now that I wasn't trying to ignore stuff or avoid it, I found myself starting to agree with my friends.

  Yes, I liked this shape better than my guy body. Yes, this body made me happy. Yes, it also made me happy hearing people use she/her pronouns for me. Yes, I wanted to stay this way. Yes, the thought of going back to my guy body made me sad. And all that added up to the st big one.

  Was I really a girl? Y-

  "Hey Bke?" Ellie asked softly. "Are you ok? You got kind of an intense look on your face."

  I grimaced, "Oh sorry. I'm ok, I was just thinking about stuff. Um, I mean I was thinking about that stuff you two were talking about earlier?"

  She and Harper exchanged a look. Then he asked, "How's that going? Anything you want to talk with us about?"

  "Yeah," I nodded slightly. Then I took a deep breath and braced myself before saying, "I think um, I think you two are right? That maybe I really am -"

  Just then I felt that wave of dizziness, then that big ball of frozen lead settled in my gut again. There was a moment of blurriness, then it was over. I didn't even have to look down to know I was back in my original shape. And just like that my mood plummeted. I felt nauseous, I felt sad, listless. Like all the life just drained out of me.

  "Ah crap," Ellie muttered under her breath.

  Harper gnced at the time then said, "It's quarter to one. That's four hours. From eight-forty-five to twelve-forty-five. Twice as long as we were expecting."

  I just shrugged, I didn't feel like talking anymore. Instead I picked up my gss and drained the rest of my co, then set it back down.

  "Bke?" Ellie sounded like she was worried about me. "You could always trigger the transformation again? If it'll make you feel better, I mean."

  I thought about that for a few seconds then sighed. I braced myself before speaking, but this time it wasn't what I wanted to say that had me anxious. It was the sound of my voice I wasn't looking forward to.

  "If it's four to one then I'd really have to watch the timing right?" I half-whispered. "Like Harper's folks will be up at some point in the morning. And I have to work again tomorrow too."

  Then after a sigh I added, "And I need to go home at some point, I really have to talk to my mom about this stuff."

  Ellie gave me a sympathetic look, "Ok first off you don't have to do it for a full hour right? To be honest I was going to suggest you try just five minutes. Because if fifteen minutes st night led to a half-hour cool-down, and an hour this evening led to a four-hour cool-down, then we need a third data-point to find out what's going on. Because I'm positive yesterday afternoon it was more like a minute or two in the magical girl form led to only a minute or two as a non-magical girl."

  "What are you thinking?" Harper asked. "That the time she spends in magical-girl mode means exponentially more time in normal-girl mode?"

  My best friend nodded, "That's one possibility. Doing a five-minute test should let us confirm that. If it led to say, between five and ten minutes of non-magical girl mode, that'd prove the hypothesis."

  "Or," she continued, "The other possibility is it's not based on how long you spend in magical-girl mode. Maybe it's more about how many times you use the ring? Like the first time was one to one. Second time was two to one. Third time, four to one. And if that's the case, then maybe five minutes in pink will turn into forty minutes as a normal girl."

  "What do you think Bke?" she asked as she looked to me again. "It might make you feel better? And it'd definitely help figure out how this thing works, so you'd know what to expect and how to use it best in the future."

  I looked down at my left hand, at the shiny bck gold ring around my little finger. And I was definitely tempted. I forced myself to hold off though. Instead I sighed once more, "I don't know Ellie? If I do that then we'll probably be up for another hour doing tests or just monitoring the time. Maybe we should all just get some sleep instead?"

  "We still don't even know if this thing is safe, right?" I added.

  She had a sad look on her face as she replied, "It's up to you. I just hate to see you looking so glum."

  Then before I could respond she asked, "Anyways you were about to tell us something important, right before you changed? Do you want to finish that thought now?"

  "Yeah," Harper nodded. "I'm dying to hear that."

  I grimaced as my eyes drifted down to the ring yet again. Then I felt my cheeks heating up, while I tried to muster the courage once more. In the end the best I could manage was a barely audible whisper, "I think maybe I really am a girl..."

  "Except now that I'm back in this form I feel really stupid and fake saying it," I added, as my throat started choking up and my eyes began to burn.

  Next thing I knew Ellie had moved across the sofa and wrapped an arm around me. She pulled me into a hug as she stated softly, "You're still a cute girl Bke. It doesn't matter what shape you're in or what you look like on the outside."

  I tried to respond but I couldn't get the words out. Instead I ended up just crying quietly for the next couple minutes. At some point Harper joined us, and I found myself being hugged by a gorgeous tomboy on one side and a handsome jock on the other.

  By the time I finally calmed down someone had refilled my gss, so I had a few gulps of soda before mumbling a quiet thank-you to both of them.

  Then after one more gnce at the ring I admitted, "I'm scared of using it, even for a few minutes, because I know when it's over I'll have to go through this again. I um... I think I cried a bit st night after the half hour was up? And um, well you saw what happened just now."

  "I get it," Ellie nodded. "I'm sorry Bke, I can only imagine how much it must suck for you. But think of it like this? If there's some kind of exponential factor going on, then once we figure out the pattern it won't be hard to make some calcutions? And if the pattern holds, there's a good chance you'll be able to make it so the time in normal-girl mode is measured in years, or decades even. Exponential stuff adds up really big really quickly."

  I sniffed a bit then frowned at her, "What? What are you saying?"

  She gave me a hopeful smile and stated, "I'm saying it shouldn't be that hard to make it so you'll be in normal-girl mode for the rest of your natural life. If that's something you'd want."

  "Oh," I mumbled as my eyebrows crept upwards. I looked down at the ring again then added quietly, "That's um... Wow."

  PurpleCatGirl