Maria awoke and looked around confused, wondering where she was at first. Then as it all came rushing back to her she tried to grab her crotch with both hands but discovered herself restrained. She called out as struggled against the straps, “H-hello? Could somebody please untie me before I start screaming?” As she struggled she felt something flopping around between her legs. She was afraid she knew what it was and just as she was about to scream the door opened and a boy walked in. Maria’s scream became a startled peep as she saw him.

“Hi, I’m Christopher. I would have been here sooner but when you were transitioning you apparently zapped the nurse on duty a good one because she forgot she had anyone here and went to bed. I’m sorry about that. Once you learn to control it the power should be useful but in the meantime only empaths like me and strong telepaths are immune. I’ll introduce you to some of them later if you like.” He smiled as he walked towards the new boy and started unstrapping him.

“Can you tell me why I was restrained?” Maria asked.

“To keep you from hurting yourself as you changed,” he said.

Given that fresh reminder and having her hands free she grabbed herself with both hands then blushed as she remembered she was not alone. “It’s okay,” Chris soothed, “Everyone does that. I did it myself.” He released the last of the straps and came over to the front of the bed. “It does get easier as time goes along and you will have a lot of support. We’ve all gone through it too so we know what it’s like and we’ll help.”

“Wow, you’re so different from the boys at school,” Maria marveled.

“The fact that we’ve all gone through it ourselves makes us tolerant.” He frowned briefly, “Well most of us. I hope you’ll be tolerant with those who are having a harder time than most and the premenstrual.”

“I’ll sure try, I know how it goes,” she, now he smiled. “I guess I’ll need a new name, Maria just doesn’t fit this body.”

“Hmm, come stand in front of the mirror and we’ll see if we can come up with one you like,” he said.

He got out of the bed with a steadying hand from Chris and walked slowly over to the mirror. The mirror showed a very tall boy with shoulder length black hair, black eyes, and a sharply planed face with a square jaw. He removed the paper gown, wanting to see his new body fully. He now had an athlete’s body, all streamlined muscle and very little body hair on his bronzed flesh. He was surprised to find he looked Native American now.

“What the freak?” he said then flinched at the bass voice. He wondered if that was really what he sounded like.

Chris smiled reassuringly, “Yes, that is what you sound like now and it is a good voice, trust me on this. As for the ethnic change, we don’t know why that happens sometimes but it’s harmless at least. You’ll see people of all sorts here at the Center. Two dozen of us now and I think all ethnicities are represented.” Chris took a deep breath, “Now before I go get you some clothes and take you to get oriented I have one last delicate matter to advise you on. Hey, are you listening?”

She, no he, hadn’t been, he’d been staring at his crotch. It looked huge ungainly, and vulnerable. He noticed with some satisfaction that his new complexion hid blushes better. “Sorry, is it just me or this larger than normal? I mean I’ve never seen one close up but it looks too big.”

“It’s proportionate to your height don’t worry about that but my advice concerns it,” Chris grinned. “In no time at all you’ll be wishing it was larger by all accounts. Listen up now though, you will probably have to pee soon if you are like the rest of us new guys. I’ll leave you to go in peace while I scare up some clothes that fit well enough to leave the infirmary in but I warn you if you try to go standing up and make a mess the nurses will make you clean it up yourself! So sit until you get the hang of things.” He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “We usually practice in the bathroom of the boy’s locker room since the janitors are responsible for that one and they can’t pin it down to any one person. Just don’t tell anyone,” he grinned again. “It’s our little secret right?”

Maria snorted, “If you say ‘Bros before hos’ I’m going to hit you.”

He broke up into laughter, “Nope! Not going to say that.” When he finally got the laughs under control he continued, “The other piece of advice is that you will get erections. Don’t feel bad about it but don’t flaunt it either. There are some ways to deal with the problem and we’ll share them with you but it will probably take you a little while to master them. If a girl is upset just apologize sincerely and that will usually be all that’s needed. In fact you may not even need to do that, as I said, we are a pretty tolerant bunch here because of our circumstances so as long as you aren’t trying to be offensive or flagrant nobody should get in a huff.”

“Thank you but I can’t imagine...” he paused remembering yesterday. She had been wishing she was gay and now she was a he so he couldn’t rule it out. “Well let me just say thank you.”

“You’re welcome! I’ll just go get those clothes now. Be back in a jiffy.”

Soon he was back with button fly jeans and a muscle tee. “Sorry,” he said sincerely. You’re pretty tall and this was all I was sure would fit until we get to wardrobe. At least there is no zipper to worry about.”

Soon Maria was dressed and as they were leaving he said, “Mark.”

“What?” Chris replied.

“I decided I look like a Mark,” he answered.

Chris smiled, “That’s a good name. Come on Mark, let’s go get you some clothes and find you a room. Once we’ve done that we’ll go get some lunch. Sound good?”

“Sounds good yeah,” Mark replied. On the way to wardrobe he discovered he had a type. She was tall and slender with black hair and dark blue eyes. Her skin was pale and shining like fine porcelain and her lips were very red. He actually stumbled over his feet he was staring so hard.

Chris looked back, “Are you okay?” Then he smirked a little on realizing what happened.

Mark blushed, “I’m not used to being this tall yet.” He said thinking it sound plausible.

“Sure, whatever you say. We’d better you some looser pants soon though,” he repied his eyes going down then back up to Mark’s eyes.

Mark blushed again as he followed Chris, it was true his pants felt a few sizes smaller just then but he hadn’t realized it was so obvious. Fortunately embarrassment worked as well as any cold shower and by the time they reached wardrobe it wasn’t a problem.

Inside were enough clothes to start a store. “Wow,” he said. “I get to pick from all that?”

“Okay chuck that junk and we’ll get some uniforms that fit and help you pick some other stuff,” Chris said. Another boy came up from inside the stacks. The new boy was about 5’6” and a sandy blond with watery blue eyes.

“Hi, I’m Anders. Still got the shopping bug?” He held out a hand and Mark shook it.

“Never really had the chance to indulge before,” Mark replied.

Anders smiled, “No problem, you can now. Let’s start with boxers. Later you might get be able to switch to briefs but at first it’s boxers and sleeveless tees.” They led mark to a set of drawers they contained a large variety.

“The boy’s uniforms are rather … plain,” Chris said. “Either black or gray with white shirts and tee shirts so if you want to express your style on school days it will have to be with these and to a lesser extent your tie.”

Mark nodded and chose several wild prints. The only one that was black and white had peguins sipping martinis on an ice shelf. The wildest was four colors and had tiki idols in aprons making waffles in a giant kitchen.

“Wow, I love them! I would never have the stones to wear them but I love them!” Anders said and they all had a chuckle.

The boy’s uniform turned to be white shirt with mandatory tee underneath, “As a guy you can show your nipples when topless but not through your shirt,” Chris said shrugging. “Not sure I understand it but them’s the rules.”

The trousers were slacks in either grey or black, the shoes were black loafers, and the ties were black, white, or grey but a pattern was allowed as long as it followed the color scheme.

“Surely not all boys are this boring?” Mark asked.

“Not at all. This is merely the uniform. We have considerably more leeway in our leisure time,” Anders looked at Chris and started to say something then stopped.

“What?” Mark asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Chris replied. “Now let’s see if we can find you some Hawaiian shirts to match those boxers.”

“Sure,” Mark nodded. He also got some solid colored polo shirts as well. Along with sneakers and some shorts he was set.

Chris said, “It will get sent to your room once you pick it except for the outfit you wear out of here. Since it’s Sunday you can wear whatever. Once you’re dressed we’ll head off to lunch and I’ll introduce you around.”

Mark ended up wearing a shirt with tropical birds on it and cargo shorts over sneakers as they left for the cafeteria.