Miranda sat there on the living room sofa in silence as Tom's parents tried to wrap their heads around what had happened. Randy Goodman had been a consistent visitor to their house over the years, so they had gotten quite used to him. Now, all of a sudden, the boy they knew as Randy was a girl named Miranda, or Randi for short. They were familiar enough with the Goodman family that they knew that Randy had no sister, but here was a girl that could easily pass as one. If there hadn't been those obvious family traits, they would have thought that Tom was putting them on. But as it was ...
"Is anyone going to say something?" Miranda asked. The silence was becoming uncomfortable.
"What does it feel like?" Tom's father asked. "Does it feel strange to be, you know, female?"
Tom's mother shot her husband an annoyed glance.
"You know what I mean," Tom's dad said, getting a little defensive. "Compared to being male, what does it feel like?"
"Different. But good," Miranda said. "I did like being male. But I prefer to be female. Don't ask me to explain that. I just do."
"I think maybe Miranda should head home now," Tom said. "She hasn't even told her parents about ... what happened."
"That's a good idea, Tom," his mom said. "We can talk later, okay?" she told Miranda.
The new girl nodded. "Okay, Mrs. Welles." And then both she and Tom left the house. The revelation of her change went smoothly enough with Tom's parents, but she had a feeling that it would be much harder for her own parents. To have a son who suddenly becomes a daughter ... how were they going to handle that?
There was a knock at Sandy's bedroom door, then it was pushed open with a creak. Standing there was her daughter.
"Mom, we need to talk about this," she told Sandy, referring to her change.
"Can't it wait? I'm in the middle of texting my friends."
Leanne held her breath as she waited for Jay to pick up the phone. She finally decided to call him. Yes, she really wanted to call him anyway, but she wasn't sure what to tell him. Now, she knew exactly what to say. She hoped that he wouldn't freak out about her change. They had been friends for years. Hopefully that counted for something.
"Hello?" she heard over the phone. It was Jay.
"Did you want to come inside?" Jon asked, once he and Karyn finally made it back to his house. His tone of voice suggested that he was inviting Karyn in to do more than just hang out. They had already kissed. He thought that maybe he could take this new relationship to the next level.
"Sure," she said, with a knowing smile.
They both walked inside, then headed up to Jon's bedroom.
Athena took one last look around her bedroom, feeling a little disgusted about it, then headed out to the mall. Soon, she'd turn things around for the better.
