"You're kidding, right?" Karyn asked, toying idly with what the cafeteria claimed was salmon. "The new girl is actually Sarah?"
Jon nodded. The class had been a little surprised that morning when a "new student" had shown up, but thanks to the fairly significant changes in Sarah's appearance, nobody had seemed to connect the new naga-girl's sudden arrival with Sarah's equally sudden departure from her old class. Nor had the teacher referred to her by name; apparently the faculty were willing to help transformed students stay under the radar, if they wanted to.
Jon almost wished she had known that, but she hoped not to be like this for long, and anyway, becoming a girl and having everybody think you were normally a girl would probably be even more awkward than having everyone know who you were. If she was stuck like this, she'd just have to face her problems as they came. She wondered if Sarah had any idea of how to do that; was she going to try and retain her position in the school's social structure? Was that even possible for demihumans? Jon didn't know; she had never understood this sort of thing before, but it was a total mystery now.
"Yeah," she said. "She was actually in the nurse's office the same time as me; turns out she's permanent too. And by some weird coincidence our moms met and decided that we'd make a perfect mutual support group."
Karyn laughed. "There's a picture. About the permanent thing, though...are you sure you don't know where the stone is? I mean, I don't have any particular problems with the cat-ears-and-tail package, but I'm betting you're not so cool with your changes."
Jon nodded, shuddering a little as she thought back to the nurse's explanation of what "oviparous" meant. "You can say that again. But it really is nowhere I would have put it, and nowhere I'm likely to have lost it. And if someone found it, we'd...well, I guess we wouldn't know, but since there's no all-powerful demigod ruling the world right now, I'm guessing nobody's found it."
Karyn let out a low whistle. "Hadn't even thought of that. But you're not seriously just giving up!?"
"Oh, hell no," Jon said. "Not until I know for sure there's no way to change back. I just don't know where to go from here. I'm hoping my grandpa does."
Karyn's ears perked up. "Huh? Isn't he dead?"
Jon smiled. "Not anymore. That's the one thing I do like about this reality; apparently he's a werewolf, and they're hardy enough to where he made it."
Karyn gave a very cat-like smile. "Aw, that's wonderful!" she said. "So have you asked him yet?"
Jon shook her head. "He's hard to get ahold of on the phone," she said. "But he's coming to visit on Friday, so I can ask him then. I figure if he doesn't somehow have the stone back, he should at least know how I can find it."
Just like Monday and Tuesday, that afternoon found a new transformee getting an impromptu physical in the middle-school gym. Chris hadn't needed one, being essentially human in construction, except for her wings, but she and Mikey and Erica were all watching as Ms. Leskova looked over Kevin's slug half.
Mikey looked around at their little group. Erica was, of course, marvelling at how cool "Kelly's" new form was, although she was at least being quieter about it than usual. Chris, on the other hand, was clearly weirded out and only watching Kevin out of the corner of one eye, but there was real concern evident in her expression; for all their faults, Mikey could tell that the two of them were actually friends, not just partners in crime.
Mikey herself wasn't sure what to think. She could still remember the embarassment she'd suffered at lunch yesterday, and the dread when they'd suggested she was going to grow up into some ridiculous cartoon woman, before Ms. Leskova had explained otherwise; still, it seemed hard to think of these as the same kids who had been picking on her, when they had not only changed physically, but were kind of acting differently as well.
Not that differently, but still. Chris was still pretty abrasive, but her rage seemed more focused inward, and while Kevin had always been the quiet one of the pair, she seemed to be acting less tight-lipped and more shy. Mikey didn't know for sure why this was, but she had some guesses.
It was common knowledge even among the students that Chris's father was one of those types who shrugged off any and every behavioral problem with a line about how "boys will be boys," but some of the kids had heard from their older siblings that her mother, the authority figure for Chris's teenage sister, was a bit stricter. Not like skirts-and-dresses strict, but if Chris was just coming up against her authority for the first time, it would explain why she was so angry.
On the other side of things, word was that Kevin's mom basically ignored him in favor of his two sisters. If she was suddenly a target for her mother's attention just for being a girl now...was it the sudden attention that was making her shy? Or was she maybe worried about being expected to act like a girl? She certainly didn't seem particularily comfortable with the skirt, but she had to wear because, like Erica, there was nothing covering her up underneath.
Mikey wasn't sure if any of this was at all accurate; most of her information was hearsay from the other students, and Chris and Kevin weren't saying much at this point. Still, it did seem to make sense, sort of, and it reinforced the notion that maybe they needed her help. And maybe even Erica's.
"Well," Ms. Leskova said, "it's almost as simple as it looks. I think there's several different muscle groups involved, but really the whole thing is one giant muscle. I don't think we'll need any kind of special techniques for you, just regular exercise." She placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder as the slug-girl turned to leave. "One thing, though: you're going to go through a lot of water leaving a trail like that behind you. Make sure you drink plenty of it; we don't want you getting dehydrated."
Kevin blushed brigt red at the mention of the mucus trail she was leaving, though she tried to control it. Ms. Leskova smiled. "There, there," she said, "it's nothing to be ashamed of; it's just how your new body works. Go on, now, go join the group."
Kevin nodded and slid off towards the group, and Mikey and the other girls followed.
