As lunch rolled around, Ryan found out a definate perk of being in this class.  
Lunch was catered to the room!  

"Bon aptetit all", Ms Jacobs cheerfully said as the cart of food was wheeled in.  
It was the basic cafeteria lunch food plated up already for them.

"Why do they deliver lunch to us?", Ryan asked Todd.

"We are kept sheltered from the rest of the school as we go through out  
transiton. It's supposed to ease our social strain as we go through all of  
this.", Todd explained.

Ryan was still thrown off by Todd's feminine voice, but sort of understood why  
they would do that. He knew some of the kids in school and realized that they  
would have a picnic with kids like Todd.

"So how are you handling the fevers? It's wierd isn't it?", Ryan asked.

"It's crazy! I mean it is scary but I'm not freaking out as much as I originally  
thought I would be. It's hard to explain but you kind of get used to the changes  
to the point where they seem kind of ok."

"Not me. I'm never going to get used to this. How much have you changed...I  
mean, you look pretty girly. Don't take that the wrong way, but I would have a  
hard time telling if you were male or female.", Ryan responded.

"No worries. I'm accustomed to talking about it. Well, I used to be 5 foot 10  
and weigh 165 pounds and now I'm 5 foot 5 and weigh 125 pounds. I look up to my  
younger brother now which is a tad odd. I've lost all of my strength too. That's  
one of the biggest things that has struck me. No more pickle jars for me. My  
voice, as you can tell, is a girl's pitch also."

"Ummm, what about your thing?", Ryan asked with some embarassment.

"It's smaller...quite a bit smaller...maybe half of what it used to be."

"Dang"

"Like I said, it should bother me, but it doesn't that much. The biggest advice  
I can give you is try to accept what is happening and go with it. I've had alot  
of anguish over this, but at the end of the day I am going to become a girl.  
There's no denying it and there's nothing I can do to change that fact.", Todd  
explained.

"Yeah...ok", Ryan replied brushing off that advice as quick as he got it, "Do  
you have any breasts?", he asked with a high level of embarassement. He was  
asking a boy if he had breasts for crying out loud!

"You sure are full of questions. My chest kind of hurts but there really isn't  
anything showing. Ms. Jacobs says that they will start to hurt right before they  
start budding so I'm sure something will happen soon."

"Dang", Ryan replied with a loss of words.  

"Can I sit with you guys?" Karen asked as she approached the dining area of the  
room.

"Sure", Todd replied.

Ryan's eyes went straight to Karen's chest and he couldn't take them off of it.  
He had seen Karen's bra straps a few minutes before, and now he saw why she  
needed that bra. Protruding from her chest...HER chest (ryan couldn't even get himself to address Karen using him or his due to her feminine appearance) were two definate mounds. Karen had  
breasts!   

"Yes I have breasts Ryan", Karen joked as she saw how fixated he was on her  
chest, "it's amazing how men's eyes are drawn to these things like a homing signal."  

"Oh sorry, it's just that you look so much like a girl...I mean...breasts?",  
Ryan replied blushing but in disbelief at the same time. He was a guy afterall  
and breasts were breasts. He had to careful...he was getting excited about  
looking at boobs on a boy.

"It's quite a change isn't it? I wear a b cup now and I think they are getting  
bigger. I know you've probably heard it before, but you will get used to the  
changes. Are you scared?", Karen asked.

"No, I'm not scared...what would I be scared of?", Ryan answered throwing out  
his bravado act.

"Of becomming a girl Ryan. It's happening. How do you feel about it?"

"I don't want to talk about it.", Ryan replied. He felt so confident that he  
could beat this thing. This whole idea of "mental remapping" was ludricrous to  
him. Physical changes were one thing, but he was strong willed and knew that  
sheer determination could do wonders.  

"Okay, if you do though, I'm here for ya. You are going to have lots of questions and I suggest you ask away. Don't fret too much though cause the changes are way more frightening during the initial fevers. Once your mind gets accustomed to the transition everyting gets easier to handle."

As Karen spoke, Ryan noticed how she even acted like a girl. She effortlessly exhibited some things that seemed innate in females such as the way she ran her hand through her hair and tucked it behind her ear or how she gently gestured her hands as she verballized her points. She even sat with her legs together with ankles crossed in an umistakably girlish fashion. The way her voice went up and down in volume to accent her thoughts was as well done as any female Ryan had ever heard.  

All this stregthened Ryan's belief that these kids were different from him. No amount of physical or mental change could make him that passably feminine in appearance and act. It seemed to him that his classmates had given up and were giving in to whatever was happening. Not so with him. He was never the kind to back down to adversity and was hell bent on not starting now.

"What's up with Eric over there. Why isn't he sitting with us?" Ryan asked.

"He's having a very hard time so far. You should talk to him Ryan. You are both 1st fevers.", Karen replied.

Maybe Eric held more in common with Ryan than he previously thought. He may have an ally in the fight against this change.

"Hey, you mind if I finish my lunch here?" Ryan asked as he approached Eric on the other side if the room.

"Whatever"

"Why aren't you sitting with the rest of the class?"

"Look, I am here cause I have to be. My life sucks and it's getting worse by the minute.", Eric replied.

"So we are both 1st fevers and it sounds like you are about as excited as I am over it. I've got news for all of you. I'm gonna beat this thing. I'm not becomming a girl.", Ryan quietly stated to Eric in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh yeah, and how do you think you're going to do that?", Eric snidely replied.

"Mind over matter. From what I see here, everyone has given in to the change and it seems like the more they give in the more they change. I'm keeping my wall up and will not give in. Through my football experience, I've learned that alot of the success I've had is because I've been able to "will" myself to succeed and excel. I'm tellin you I can beat this."

Eric listened with much interest and although Ryan sounded a little wacky, he did sound extremely confident in his thoughts. It was a bit of a thrill for one of the most popluar kids in school to be paying attention to him as well. Eric was a boy of fullscale geek status afterall.

"I could use another teamate in this battle Eric. What do you say? We could tackle this thing together?", Ryan pleaded.

Eric was amazed at how convincing Ryan was. He didn't buy into it at all but, at the same time, what could it hurt?

"Yeah, that would be cool"