When Jon next saw Biff in the hallway at school, Biff had breasts. They poked out oddly from in front of the football player's T-shirt and looked pretty big, even though Jon hadn't specified the size. Otherwise, he looked the same as always--he could just as well have been the normal Biff wearing a bra stuffed to form fake breasts under his shirt. Jon tried to look for signs of Biff acting differently, but it was hard--Jon usually tried to avoid him, after all. He only knew so much about Biff.
One thing Jon was able to notice was that just before lunch, Biff passed by Sarah in the hall and leered at her. Like a rude guy would leer at a girl he had no chance of getting. Then later in the day Jon was astonished to see Biff kissed by Steve Farber in the hall. Right in front of everyone. "What's up?" asked Jon. "Biff, someone who looks like you has a boyfriend?"
"I can't believe you dorks are still complaining about that," said Biff. That didn't really tell Jon much.
"Jon!" said a voice from behind him. "That's terrible!"
"Karyn?" replied Jon.
Jon turned to face Karyn, who seemed upset with him. "I'm not sure what you're trying to say but it isn't good. If Biff is a girl, you're body-shaming her. And you should respect Biff's decision to be considered a boy. He's not really bad looking as a boy, anyway."
"Karyn," explained Jon, "Biff hit me yesterday. For no reason. If Biff doesn't shape up, he or she is going to be in jail a couple years in the future, but that's not going to help anyone who was in his way in the meantime. I think that now that I have the stone to make it safe, I have the right to insult him. How would you like it if he hit you?"
"Yeah, but... it's the wrong kind of insult. That's not something he did. It's something he is."
"Karyn, I see what you're getting at, but let me explain at lunch, okay?"
"So Biff used to be a plain guy?"
"It was a wish, Karyn. I gave him a vagina and breasts and I made sure he was the same as he was otherwise. I suppose he's a boy in a girl's body, but the girl's body is basically him. I know there are people who really have to struggle with that kind of thing and I'd never make fun of them, but Biff is Biff."
"All right, but... Nobody's going to see you picking on someone because he hurt you. They're just going to see you making gay jokes."
"Fine. I just said that spur of the moment anyway. I was surprised more than anything. I certainly didn't plan it."
"Okay, then."
"You're not going to lecture me on how using the stone on him at all is the first sign of me turning to the Dark Side of the Force?"
"I don't know if I have the right to say that," replied Karyn. "I can't blame you for doing something. A vagina isn't obviously worse than a jail sentence. I suppose you could have completely rewritten his own personality to make him harmless. That really would be a step towards the Dark Side. You know, though, it's still hard to believe. Biff dating Sarah?"
"It's hard for me to believe he's dating Steve. How does that make sense?"
"From what I hear, Jon, he doesn't want to look like a dyke."
"Hmm." Jon thought. "But I still don't get it. If dating girls makes him look like a dyke, dating guys makes him look like a straight girl. And if dating guys makes him look like a gay guy, dating girls should make him look like a straight guy. Either way, he has no reason to date guys. It doesn't help. Not wanting to look like a dyke may be the excuse he tells himself, but it can't be right."
"Don't ask me. I'm not exactly in his social circle. I'm probably a step closer with this hair and breasts, but I don't have the attitude."
"Maybe he prefers being thought of as a guy to being thought of as a straight girl, but he still prefers that to being thought of as a dyke. Wait a minute, you should be able to tell me. Does it work? Do people call him a dyke, or a straight girl, or a guy?"
"He wants to be called a guy, but he'll tolerate being called a girl if it's from his friends."
"I know you're not supposed to do that to transgendered people, and anyone who does isn't their friend."
"I don't think he's really transgendered. Maybe he fits the dictionary definition, but he's no Janine Gordy. Anyway, that's about all I know. If you really want to understand this whole 'looking like a dyke' thing, you'll need to use the stone."
Jon nodded. "Let me think...."
