"So, you can't remember anything about how you got to be this way?" Jenny asked. "Just something about a stone?"
Michelle nodded. "I can remember up until a couple days before Jon and I found out we'd changed, and that's it. I can't even remember what the transformation was like, if there was one. Just a normal day as my normal self, and then all of a sudden I was a mermaid, in the pool here. The same goes for Jon and Karyn, all of a sudden they were at the park and Jon was a girl."
"Huh," Jenny said. "That must be weird, not even knowing what it felt like."
Michelle shrugged. "This whole thing is weird. And I'm actually pretty glad that I don't know what it felt like. How did Benny deal with that?"
Jenny was taken somewhat off-guard by this. "You know about Benny?" she asked.
Michelle nodded. "The whole school knows; she kind of had her cover blown yesterday. She said she had some kind of disease that left her better off becoming a girl?"
Jenny pondered this for a moment. She had an idea, but she'd have to be careful about it. "Michelle?" she asked. "Can I...can I trust you with our secret?"
Michelle looked surprised. "Sure, I guess," she said. "I won't tell yours if you won't tell mine."
Jenny smiled. Finally, she had someone she could talk to about this! "Okay," she said. "Benny was never actually sick. The truth is, we had some mysterious thing happen in our family, too. See, a couple months ago we found this note-"
"A magic post-it?" Michelle interrupted.
Jenny stared at her, mouth agape. "Yeah! How'd you know?"
"I...I don't know," Michelle said, confused. "I thought I remembered something about magic notes, but...I don't remember what. I dunno, maybe it's nothing."
Neither girl said anything for a bit, but Jenny finally collected her wits. "Anyway," she said, "we found this magic note, and it switched all our parts around. So Benny got my girl parts and I got his boy parts, and Mom and Dad switched too. Only the note got kinda messed up for Benny, and he started growing up as a girl as well as just having girl parts, so after a while he was all the way a girl."
Michelle stared at her. "You mean...you're actually a boy 'down there?'"
Jenny nodded. "Yeah, but the cool thing is, I get to grow up as a girl even though I have boy parts."
Michelle looked weirded out. "So you're...you're going to be a lady with a...a penis? That's just weird!"
Jenny grinned. "I guess it is weird," she said, "but I think it's kinda neat, too. I'll be just like my mom is now!"
"I guess it's better than having to be all the way a girl, even if it is weird," Michelle said, with a hint of envy in her voice. Jenny noticed her tone. "I'm sorry," she said, "did I hurt your feelings?"
Michelle shook her head. "Nah," she said. "It's not your fault, it's just...I don't want to be a girl, is all. I want to be a boy again, but I don't even know how I stopped being one in the first place, and then you were all cheerful about what happened to you and I got kinda jealous."
Jenny felt sorry for the other girl. "Well, being a girl isn't so bad," she said. "You don't hafta be all girly and stuff if you don't want to. I'm not, even when I was still all the way a girl."
"I guess," Michelle sighed. "But...I'm still gonna grow up into a lady, and I can't pretend that didn't happen. People are gonna see me as a girl even if I don't act like one."
Jenny really felt bad for Michelle; she'd been enjoying her own change just fine, but it must be really awful to be stuck with a change you didn't want; she thought back to Benny and how miserable he was back when he was changing.
"Michelle?" she said. "I don't know if I can help you with this or not, but...if I can, I will. Do you wanna be friends with me?"
Michelle looked up at her and smiled slightly. "Yeah," she said. "I'd like that."
Becky and Andrew sat next to each other on the bus, as usual. They were getting a lot more attention than usual, but it was confined to stares and whispers; Ed the bus driver tolerated no nonsense on his bus.
"I can't believe you took them up on it!" Andrew said. "A slumber party? Seriously? They're going to be doing everything they can to try and girlify you up, you know."
Becky shrugged. "I dunno," she said, "I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and if I get really uncomfortable I'll tell them to stop. I just want to take the opportunity to make some new friends. You're my best friend, but I don't want you stuck being my only friend."
Andrew nodded. "All right, fair enough. I just think you should know, is all."
Becky smiled. "Consider me warned," she said.
