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The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, some girls came and talk to me and most had a hard time believing I ever was Johnny. I had a few people looking at me strangely, specially the boys. Between classes I saw Tom looking at me at a distance sometimes but he kept his distance, something I was grateful for. Something is really off about him, every time he is around I feel shivers run through my spine and I want to know why.

After the final bell, Josh and I were leaving the classroom when suddenly someone bumped into him. The poor girl ended up with her bottom on the floor.

Opps. Sorry about that.” Josh said and extended his hand to help her up.

She took his hand, he lifted her up easily and she said. “No, I am the one that needs to apologize. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m glad you don’t seem hurt. My name is Josh by the way, and the quiet one next to me is my twin sister Joan.”

“I’m Sam, it’s nice to meet you both, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. I need to get to the entrance before my friends leave. They don’t know I’m here today.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sam.” I told her.

“Definitely” Josh said with a grin.

“Have you tried to call one of them?” I asked her.

“I wanted to surprise them, but I guess I better do it now or I’ll have to walk home alone.”

She picked up her cell phone and called one of her friends. After she ended the call she turned to us and said. “Thanks for helping me up Josh, and thanks to reminding me of calling my friend, Joan. I was in a bit of a hurry and wasn’t thinking straight.”

“It’s not a problem. If you want we can accompany you to your friends.” I told her

“Hmmm…. I think I’ll accept.” She told us and we started to walk together and talk.

“Are you new here? I don’t remember seeing you around before.” She asked me.

“Not really, I just changed a little recently. This is my first day since Monday last week.”

“I have been away from school since Monday too. I was in the hospital for some of the time and I was released Friday.” She said.

“Oh that is so weird.” I said. “I was in the hospital since Monday night and was released Saturday.”

“Why were you at the hospital for?” Josh asked her.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough so I better tell you both already. I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you. Tuesday night I had a severe allergic reaction and almost died. The next day I had to make a small operation because a part of my body could kill me because of my allergy.”

“What kind of allergic reaction?” I asked her.

“Testosterone.”

“Testosterone?” We both asked at the same time.

“Yes, testosterone. They had to remove my gonads because they could kill me apparently.”

“Does it mean you are a boy?” Josh asked.

“Josh!!!” I admonished him and punched him on his arm.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that, you look so pretty that I would never imagine.” He said rubbing his arm. “Damn Joannie. That hurts.”

“You deserved it.”

“He didn’t, he was just surprised I think.” She said.

“So are you a girl now?” I asked her.

“I kind of have too. My body can’t handle testosterone and taking female hormones is the only way for me to have a healthy normal life. I also think I always have been a girl, but I was in denial for the last few years. In a twisted sort of way almost dying might have saved my life as I was really depressed and almost over the edge.”

“You mean you thought about killing yourself?” Josh asked.

“Just about every single day for the last year or so.”

“I know how you feel.” Joan told me. “More than you imagine.”

“How so?”

“Remember that I said I was also in the hospital last week?”

“Yes, why were you at the hospital?”

“I tried to kill myself.”

“What? Why?” She said looking shocked.

“Because I couldn’t live a lie anymore. You see, I was raised as a boy because I had a birth defect and I always felt in my heart that I was a girl. Fortunately in the hospital they did find out I was really a girl and I have a small corrective surgery. Now I am a normal girl, but I still remember how I felt all those years.”

“No way! Wait a second. You said Josh is your twin brother?” She said with a spark of recognition in her eyes.

“Yes, he is. I think that now you remember me.”

“I think so. Were you the person that used to sit at the other end of the table in the back cafeteria?”

“The other end? Don’t you tell me you used to sit at that table too. If I recall the boy that used to sit there was…. Sam?” I asked her.

“Yes, but now its short for Samantha.”

“Hey, I think I heard about it today.” Josh said.

“What did you hear?” Sam asked.

“That apparently Sam has been a girl all along. I also heard the same about Joan though. I guess people are confused right now.” He said and chuckled.

“No wonder, with two boys suddenly turning into girls at the same time, who can blame them?” I said and shrugged.

“And what are the odds of something like that happening at the same time in the same school?” She added.

“I can’t even imagine, but I think it would be easier to win the lottery than something like that happen again.” He said.

  

  

When we arrived at the front of the school, Mindy and Jen were talking animatedly with a few other girls. They looked at us and one of the girls suddenly screamed almost making us deaf.

“SAM!!!” She yelled and gave Sam a hell of a big hug “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise you.” Sam said.

“Hi everyone.” Sam said.

“Hey Sam, I want you to meet Jenny and Mindy.” The girl said.

“Nice to meet you.” She said.

“I see you met my brother and sister.” Jenny said.

“Actually I bumped into Josh earlier and he helped me up.”

“That story sounds awfully familiar. I hope it doesn’t end the same way as the other one.” The girl said looking slightly jealous.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Sam said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Joan, Josh, I want you to meet Jess, Steph, Karen, Mandy and Liz.” Sam said pointing at each one.

“Nice to meet you guys.” We said.

Jenny just shook her head and giggled. “They do that all the time, you’ll get used to that.” She said.

“We also found out that Sam and I have a lot in common.” I told them and they looked a bit confused.

“Yes we do, we both were at the hospital last week and had different birth defects that in the end had similar results.” She said and I could practically see the cogs moving inside their heads.

Jess was the first one to say anything. “So did Joan have a slumber party already?”

“No she didn’t. Did Sam?” Jenny asked.

“Yes she did, but was just me, Sam, Steph and Liz.” Jess said.

“We need to have another one soon.” Liz added a little too excitedly.

“And with nine girls it will be a lot more fun than just four.” Mandy added.

“Hey, Don’t I count?” Josh asked.

“Well, only if you decide to dress up like a girl.” Steph teased him.

“No thanks. I think I would be bored to death anyway.”

“Ohhhh and we can discuss Halloween costumes. There are just a couple weeks until then.” Karen said.

“We could have it at my house. We have space there.” Mandy said.

“Space? Your house is frigging huge.” Karen said.

“I just need to talk to mom to make sure we can do it there. What do you girls think of Saturday?” Mandy asked us and we all agreed it would be a good day.

“We could go hang out earlier at the mall, too,” Mindy said.

“That’s a great idea. Were Sam and Joan introduced to girl shopping? Going with your mom doesn’t count.” Karen asked.

“If going with my mom doesn’t count then the answer is no.” I said. “Also I don’t have much money to buy new stuff.”

“Me neither. I just went shopping with mom, Jess, Steph and Liz.” Sam told us.

Jess just shook her head and said. “Girls, we need to do something. These two have no idea what girl shopping means.”

We then decided to plan things for the weekend during the next few days, exchanged a lot of phone numbers and parted our ways.

  

  

Mindy, Jen, Josh and I walked towards the parking lot.

“Sam seems to be a nice girl.” I said

“She looked pretty hot. Nice bum.” Josh said.

“Josh!!!” I admonished him again.

“What? She does. There is no way someone like her could be anything other than a girl.”

“Why do you say that?” Mindy asked.

“Because I’m not attracted to guys and I was attracted to her. A lot.”

“Then it’s too bad that she is dating Jess.” Jen said.

“What? Damn.” Josh said.

“One of the girls seemed to like you though.” I told him.

“Who?” He asked.

“Come on, don’t tell me you didn’t see how Steph was looking at you.” Mindy said.

“What? Are you serious?” He asked.

“It seemed that way.” I told him.

Jen just shook her head and simply said. “Guys.”

We all started to giggle at that and Josh simply looked confused and that just made us giggle even more.

  

  

We arrived at Jen’s car and Rhea was there waiting for us.

“Hi girls, Hi Josh.” She told us.

“Cousin Rhea! What are you doing here?” Jen asked.

“Cousin Rhea?” Josh and I asked confused.

“Don’t you guys remember her? She is mom’s older brother daughter.”

“This is getting weirder and weirder.” I said.

“What?” Mindy asked.

“She is THE Rhea.” I told her.

“You mean the goddess?” Jen asked.

“Yes, Jenny. I am or more precisely I was the Goddess Rhea.”

“But I remember you.” She said confused.

“When Joan helped me to become human, my mother created a new identity for me, an identity that would allow me to spend some time with Joan and Josh to help them develop their abilities. So she made me part of the family.”

“I wish you guys would stop messing with my head.” Jenny said angrily.

“You don’t have to worry about it anymore. The ring you are wearing protects your memories from being affected by reality shifts.” Rhea told her.

“Good. Then I’m never going to take it off.” She said.

“You don’t need to. You can just make it invisible when you don’t want it to be apparent. Also when invisible it will feel like you are not wearing it at all.”

“That’s so cool.” Jenny said and made her ring invisible, then visible and then invisible again for a few times.

“Stop playing with is Jen.” I told her. “You’ll end up breaking it.”

“Sorry.” She said.

“Don’t worry about it breaking, Joan. It won’t break just by doing that. It would need a very powerful magic to destroy that ring.” Rhea told me.

“Why are you working at the school?” I asked.

“For two reasons. First, I am human now and I need a job, and second that with this Job I can keep an eye on you girls, and you too Josh. Something strange has been happening around here.”

“Other than two boys suddenly appearing as girls and a new boy appearing from nowhere?” I asked.

“Yes, other than that. Something evil is lurking around here. I can sense it. I might be human but I still have some magic, but now its human magic. You could say I am a witch now.”

“I wonder if that has anything to do with Tom. I have been getting strange vibes from him all day. Every time he was around I would feel a shiver run through my spine.” I told her.

“Tom?” She asked me.

“Yes, Tom Arnold. He is a senior and the biggest school bully.” I said.

“And not to mention a first class jerk.” Josh added.

“But it seems he wasn’t this way a few years ago. Something happened to him and he changed completely, like becoming that what he hated the most.” I said.

“Please, tell me more.” Rhea said with a very interested tone.

I told her what me and Kelly talked during lunch and how much he changed since junior high.

“I agree with you, something probably happened to him and we need to find out what.” She said.

  

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To be continued....