Reluctantly, Mikey followed Erica out to the gym. Keeping an eye on the girls was a woman in her late thirties, a kindly-looking sort of person who looked kind of like a librarian, but more fit. It took Mikey a moment to register that this was her new gym teacher; she was used to having Mr. Johnson, her homeroom teacher, who was the boys' gym teacher as well. The new gym teacher noticed her and walked over towards her.
"Hello!" she said cheerily. "I don't remember seeing you before. What's your name?"
Mikey hesitated for a moment, trying to think of what to say. This was all the opening Erica needed. "This is Mikey Madison," she said. "But we're calling her Michelle now!"
Mikey sighed; was this girl going to tell everyone that? Probably. "I see," the teacher said. "Thank you, Erica. You should go start on the group exercises now. I have to help Michelle get settled in here."
"Okay!" Erica beamed. She turned to Mikey. "See you later!"
She ran off to join the other girls, and the teacher turned to face Mikey. "I'm Ms. Leskova, and I'll be your gym teacher while you're a girl. May I ask how long you're going to be like this?"
Mikey began to choke up a bit as she thought back to the nurse's office. "Th-they said it was p-permanent," she stuttered.
Ms. Leskova nodded. "I see. Well, in that case it's important that we figure out a good exercise program for you; if you're going to have that body for the rest of your life, you'll want to take good care of it."
Mikey stared at her. She knew that it was part of the gym teachers' jobs to help transformed students learn how to care for their new bodies, but...for the rest of her life? She'd been trying not to think about that ever since she'd gotten the bad news...
"Michelle? Are you all right?"
Mikey snapped back to reality. "Um..." she murmured. She wasn't remotely all right, but she knew that wasn't really the question. "Um, I guess," she said.
The teacher nodded. "I know. It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Even smaller changes can take a long time to get used to. But I think you'll be able to handle it, and we'll help you in any way that we can."
Mikey nodded slowly, only half paying attention. "Um," she said, "my name isn't Michelle. That girl just decided to call me that."
Ms. Leskova smiled. "I expected as much; Erica can be impulsive like that. I'll respect your wishes, but I do think you should give some consideration to adopting a new name; we've found that it can help kids in your situation come to terms with their new identity. And if I may say so, I think Michelle would suit you quite nicely."
"Um," Mikey said. It wasn't a placeholder while she searched for words, it was a statement. Um. What else was there to say to that?
"Anyway," the gym teacher said, "I think what we should do for today is get an idea of how your different muscles interact; that way I can figure out a good set of exercises for you. Face that way, please."
Mikey complied, and Ms. Leskova began poking and prodding, trying to figure out the range of motion and muscle arrangement for each of Mikey's appendages. She only needed a quick glance at Mikey's arms, but her legs, wings, and tail all underwent detailed inspection, and even Ms. Leskova seemed a little surprised at what they found. Even though Mikey's wings had a span wider than she was tall, they still folded neatly up to fit unobtrusively against her back, and her tail was surprisingly prehensile, though not particularily strong; she could probably carry light objects with it, if she wanted.
"All right," Ms. Leskova said. "I think I have a pretty good idea of how you're put together. We're done with group exercises for today, but you can move around a bit, as long as you don't keep anybody from doing their personal exercises. I'll try to have a plan worked up for you by tomorrow."
Mikey nodded. "Um, thanks," she said. Ms. Leskova smiled. "Don't mention it."
Mikey wandered over to one corner of the gym, milling about aimlessly while the other girls worked on their individual exercises.
"Hey!" came a voice. It was Erica, standing a short distance away. "Hey, Michelle!"
Mikey sighed. "That's not my name," she said, flatly.
Erica frowned. "Aw, you're no fun!" she said. "You get lucky enough to get a cool body and you don't even like it?"
Mikey stared at her. "You think this is lucky!?" she gasped. Erica nodded. "Sure! Do you know how rare it is to get a really cool body like that one? I wanted something like that for years, but now that I'm getting older I'll probably never get to have a cool body."
She might as well have been speaking Martian for all the sense that made to Mikey. This girl wanted to become a freak like she was? That didn't make sense at all! But she knew Erica was right; usually kids their age were already immune to the disease. Usually, that was; she was a rare exception. She supposed it must suck to want to be something but not be able to have it happen; kind of like her, actually, wanting to go back to being a human boy, but stuck as this demon-girl thing.
"Well, I'd give you mine, if I could," she said.
Erica brightened. Really? Thanks!" she said. "...Michelle."
Mikey was about to protest again, but then she caught sight of Erica's face, just before the other girl burst into snickering. She sighed and sat down on the floor; she was never going to hear the end of that, was she?
