Day two of Jon and Mikey's changed lives began about as normally as possible. It was still a shock for them to wake up in in unfamiliar bodies, but the trauma of the previous morning didn't recur, and after a brief bit of panic, they were able to calm down and get ready for the day. Jon was helped in this by the hope that she'd still be able to get ahold of the stone and fix things, if only her grandpa could help her.
Mikey had no such hopes, but she had one comfort, at least: Mrs. Madison had made good on her promise the previous morning, and had bought her some pants. They weren't even girly or anything; just plain, loose blue jeans with a second fly in the back for her tail to pass through. On the other hand, her mom had also bought her girls' underwear, similarily engineered around her new appendage, but at least it was plain and white, and it was just the bottoms; it would be a while before Mikey would need any kind of support up top.
Jon, on the other hand, wasn't doing quite so well on the clothing front. For one thing, there was no denying that the new naga-girl needed a brassiere, though these too were thankfully plain and unremarkable. The shirts, though...well, they did satisfy her mother so that she didn't have to wear a skirt, but this required them to hang down far enough to where they looked less like shirts and more like baggy minidresses. It was ridiculous; why should she have to cover up what was already hidden behind her ventral scales? She'd live with it for now, but she was definitely going to be taking a stand about this in the near future.
After they had gotten dressed, the girls headed downstairs for breakfast. Fortunately, their transformations hadn't messed with their tastes, at least not that they'd noticed; Mikey was still content with a bowl of the off-brand Cocoa Puffs that her mom bought, and Jon nursed a cup of coffee and munched some toast with jelly (she'd never been a big breakfast eater.)
"By the way, Jon," Mrs. Madison said, "I got to talking with one of the other ladies at the salon yesterday, and it turns out her daughter went through a change like yours recently. We talked about it, and we thought that you two should get to know each other, for support. They're coming over this afternoon, so make sure you get home from school on time."
Jon stared at her. "Uh, thanks for the thought, I guess, but you realize that the half-snake thing isn't my real problem, right?"
Her mother nodded. "I understand, and you know you can ask me if you have any questions about being a girl. But we thought it would be good for you to have someone to turn to if you want to talk about your new species. You don't have to become inseparable companions, we just want you to get to know each other."
"Um, okay." Jon groaned inwardly. It was a nice thought, but the last thing she needed right now was another person to figure out how she related to as a naga-girl rather than a human guy. And anyway, she'd prefer to not have to worry about adjusting to this until she knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to get the stone back. But her mother had that look right now, and she knew that there was no way out of it. Oh well, she'd just have to make the best of it. Finishing up her coffee, Jon grabbed her backpack and slithered out to the bus stop.
Mikey's bus was fairly uncrowded, since there weren't that many kids her age in the neighborhood, and it arrived later than most of the other buses, so she was hoping that she could get to class without drawing too much attention to herself. That hope was dashed when she set foot in the hall and remembered how much her new hooves tended to clop on the linoleum tile; there was no way to stop it short of carefully measuring each step, which would have required her to be more familiar with her new body than she actually was. Adding to that the fact that her changed leg structure put her about half a head above many of the other kids her age, and her striking red skin, she'd be lucky to get to class without getting mobbed.
Indeed, she got a lot of stares, and a few kids even grabbed at her tail, though they let go quickly, surprised by the smooth, rubbery texture of her skin. By the time she reached her classroom, she was dreading the reaction from her classmates; at least the kids in the hall didn't actually know her. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped inside.
To her surprise, everyone's attention was focused elsewhere. On the other side of the room was a girl with the lower body of a very large spider. The top of her abdominal segment came up to her mid-back, and the bottom hung about halfway to the floor; it was like she had a small desk attached to her backside. Oddly, she seemed totally okay with being half spider; in fact, Mikey almost thought she looked happy. She took advantage of the distraction to move to her seat without being noticed, but something about the drider-girl seemed familiar...
Oh, she was the girl from yesterday! No wonder she looked excited about her change. Mikey was grateful for the diversion, but before she could get too relieved, Erica turned and spotted her. Grinning, she rushed towards Mikey, nearly bowling over several of the students who were in the way. "Michelle!" she cried, embracing the demon-girl with such force that she nearly knocked her off her feet. "Er, sorry, Mikey! It happened! I finally got to become something cool! And the nurse says it's permanent! I get to be like this forever!"
"That's...that's great!" Mikey said, forcing a smile. It was weird to hear someone saying this kind of stuff, but at least one person was happy with the result of a change. Erica grinned. "Just you wait!" she said. "I'm gonna be the best drider there ever was!"
Mikey wondered how you would even judge that, but then she noticed everyone staring at the two of them. Her heart sank as she realized that Erica had just referred to her by both her real name and her alleged "new" name in front of the entire class. Any chance of avoiding or even delaying the revelation of her identity had just been shot to hell.
Jon had ducked into the girls' bathroom, after almost entering the guys' by mistake, before heading off to class. If nothing else, at least the naga body had the relevant exit located a good ways down the tail; she didn't even need to be in the stall to take care of business. Which was good, because there was no way she would have fit. The handicapped stall, maybe, but not the regular ones.
She was standing in front of the sink, waiting to be finished, when she heard a whisper. "Psst! Madison! Hey!" She turned to look and saw none other than Sarah MacMillan peeking out of the handicapped stall. Jon looked around, but they were the only two people in the room, so presumably Sarah must be referring to her. She slid over to the other naga-girl.
"Uh, hi, Sarah," Jon said. "What's going on?"
"Not so loud!" Sarah hissed. "Here, get inside."
Jon complied, reluctantly. "Okay, okay. What's the deal? Why all the secrecy? Don't want to be seen talking to me?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Look, I know you're not fond of me because your friend and I don't get along, but I'm at the top of the ladder around here; I talk to whomever I want, whenever I want. I'm just trying to keep people from finding out I'm Sarah until I figure out what to do about this." She gestured down at her red and yellow-banded tail.
Jon cocked an eyebrow. "From what the nurse was saying, it doesn't sound like there's a lot you can do. Anyway, why'd you want to talk to me?"
Sarah sighed. "Well...did your mom talk to you this morning about meeting someone else who'd become a naga?"
"Yeah, but how did you..." Jon's face fell. "Oh."
Sarah nodded. "I don't know about your mom, but mine isn't the kind to be talked out of an idea like this. Hell, I don't even know what we're supposed to talk about. You're a snake-thing, I'm a snake-thing, books on the subject are available for further reference, end of discussion."
Jon sighed and nodded, and Sarah continued. "But it'll be awkward if we just sit around staring into space the whole time. So I propose that we call a truce. You don't project Karyn's resentment onto me, and I won't expect you to fit into the school's social hierarchy any better than you do now."
"Gee, thanks." Jon crossed her arms, then winced and loosened up the hold; it was going to take a while for her to get used to having breasts.
Sarah shrugged. "Look, I know you don't like me, but I didn't invent the system, I just try to hold my own in it. Like I said, I don't know about your mom, but mine isn't going to let go of this unless we at least pretend to give it a try. So I say we make an attempt to get along until they're satisfied that they've set us up with some support. They'll be happy, we'll be off the hook, and we don't have to feel obligated to do anything else. Can you do that?"
Jon shrugged. "Sure."
Sarah nodded. "Okay. See you this afternoon, I guess."
