The next time Jon saw Carrie in the hall, she stopped the bunny-girl and asked about the new mermaids. Carrie thought for a moment before taking her aside. "Well," she said, "I think I can trust you with this. Steve Farber and one of the the others are completely permanent transformees; they'll be remaining like that for the rest of their lives. One of them is going to spend about nine months as a mermaid before regaining his masculinity, but he'll be a merman permanently. The other three are going to become human again, but they'll be stuck as girls for good; one of them is going to spend about three months as a mermaid, Biff Meadows is going to take about a year, and the other might be half-fish for up to five years, if she changes back at all."
Jon let out a low whistle. Carrie nodded. "It's pretty heavy stuff. Not to mention, it's the first mass transformation in the history of the school. I just hope that doesn't send anybody in the outside world into a tizzy." She sighed, shrugging her shoulders like the weight of the world was on them. "But, if you don't mind my asking, Jon, why do you ask? I guess I just never pegged you for the type to be interested in this."
Jon hovered there, wings flittering, as she considered what to say. Shouldn't very well blurt out something like "I feel partly responsible for their changes because I helped bring this disease into the world" without Carrie thinking she had snapped, after all.
"Well," she said, "I guess I just kind of sympathize; I mean, I'm dealing with a lot of the same things, and I guess I feel sorry for anybody going through this kind of change." It wasn't her main reason, but it was the truth.
The bunny-girl nodded, her ears bobbing. "It seems that way, watching you. I know you're still getting used to this, but...would you consider helping me with helping gender-changed students? I know you don't really have it together yet yourself, but I think that hearing from someone who's still going through their struggles would really help some of these people. I mean, I do my best, but really, I got my issues sorted out years ago."
Jon, having no idea what to say, simply stammered out an "I'll consider it," then flitted off towards her last class.
