A full two seconds later, Nick flinched. Then the world seemed to snap back into real time. Sounds suddenly roared. The radio seemed to blast. Nick jumped out of the car, not even taking time to turn off the engine. The car rolled forward and bumped into the curb before it stopped. As Nick raced towards Vic, he fumbled out his mobile phone and punched in 9-1-1.

The Wrong Side of the Bed

Nick touched the ivory keys of the grand piano then lifted his fingers. The final note lingered in the air for a moment and was over powered by the sound of the shoppers rushing by. A baby was complaining two floors up, its echo drifting down the escalator shaft connecting the three floors of the department store. Nick sighed. The piano was beautiful. One of the most beautiful that he had ever played on, yet no one seemed to notice. Everyone was too busy getting from one place to another. Nick gathered up the bit of music that he used only to refer to and closed the lid of the keyboard before heading to the employee's locker room. As soon as he was through the door, he pulled off his tie. Nick hated ties. He spent half of his time at the piano trying not to rip off the constricting accessory.
"How did it go?" Vic asked as Nick entered the locker room.
"The usual." Nick shrugged. "Half of the people stare at me being so young, torn as to whether or not they should alert the staff. The other half don't know good music when they hear it." he opened his locker and stripped out of his black and white get up, switching it for his jeans and sweatshirt.
"Would it do any better if you were allowed to play your sax?" Vic asked.
"It might, but mostly it would make a difference with more modern music. People today don't know what good music is."
Vic nodded agreement. "Nothing like Led Zeppelin."
Nick snorted. "I was referring to Rachmaninoff or Chopin."
"Oh." Vic looked abashed. "You working tomorrow?"
Nick nodded. "I get to play one of the best pianos in town and get paid for it."
"See you later." Vic exited the locker room.
Nick slipped on his Chucks, shouldered his backpack and left a few moments later.
"Hi Nick." Darlene greeted.
"Hi Dar." Nick smiled. "Cute earrings, are those new?"
"Yes, thank you." the young woman smiled.
Darlene had graduated from high school last year and was doing her time at community college. Working at the store was money for her books.
"You sounded great out there."
"You actually listened?" Nick was surprised.
"Whenever I can." She smiled.
"Thank you, I guess." Nick didn't know what else to say.
"You are here tomorrow, right?"
"Yep." Nick nodded.
"I haven't seen Nikki around much lately." Darlene observed.
Nick shrugged, "Neither have I."
Darlene giggled. "I kind of miss seeing her."
He didn't really know what else to say. There was an awkward silence.
Darlene smiled. "Have a good night, Nick."
"Thanks, Dar. You too." Nick logged out of the computer that acted as his time clock and headed out into the night sky.
The air was still crisp, but the increasing sunlight was a sign that spring would be in full bloom. It was senior year and he would be graduating in June. He had already received a music scholarship to the University. This summer was going to be a last hurrah before he had to hit the books.
Nick climbed into his blue VW Bug and began pulling out of the parking lot. Chopin was playing on the radio. He spotted Vic talking to someone by his car and nearly ran into another car when he saw three small flashes and heard three popping noises. Nick slammed on his brakes to avoid the other car. His racing heart nearly stopped when he saw Vic fall to the pavement and three figures race away from Vic and hop into an old Cadillac.
"Oh shit! What do I do?" Nick screamed. "What do I do?"
Everything seemed to slow down. Everything seemed to go quiet. Even the radio sounded muted as the Cadillac came racing right towards him. Nick couldn't scream, or even blink as the car rolled by. Lil' Foot, the local drug dealer glared at him from the passenger seat as the car sped by. The drug dealer pointed a finger at him as if it was a gun and snapped it up as if he had fired.
A full two seconds later, Nick flinched. Then the world seemed to snap back into real time. Sounds suddenly roared. The radio seemed to blast. Nick jumped out of the car, not even taking time to turn off the engine. The car rolled forward and bumped into the curb before it stopped. As Nick raced towards Vic, he fumbled out his mobile phone and punched in 9-1-1.

Nick opened his eyes and rolled over in bed. Something didn't feel right. Somehow alien, but something he had felt before. He looked down and cursed.
"Mom!" a panicky, alto voice called across the house. "Mom! I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
Nick whipped back the navy blue covers and sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. His mother padded down the hallway and poked her head in the door. "Again?" She questioned.
Nick nodded.
"You are as bad as your father." She shook her head. "You had a rough night. Are you alright?"
Nick nodded. "I'm just very hungry and thirsty."
"I'll bet you are. It's from the stress last night, isn't it?"
Nick thought about it for a moment. The whole night seemed like a nightmare. Vic was in surgery the last he had heard. The police questioned what he saw, but there was no way he was about to tell them that he saw who had done it. Lil' Foot saw him and could find him. Nick's parents were called to the hospital where they picked him up. The Doctor had given him a shot of something and that was about all he remembered. . . wait, he remembered taking a long hot shower, but that was definitely the last thing he remembered.
"Do you want to stay home?" His mother asked.
Nick shook his head, "I've missed too much school as it is."
"Okay, but if you need to come home, give me a call. I'll give Mrs. Greer my permission." His mother turned and disappeared back down the hall. "I'll start breakfast in a moment." her voice carried to him.
Nick stood and sighed. It was a morning for sighing. He grabbed his mobile, then went to his second closet and pulled out a bathrobe and stumbled to the bathroom.
"Whoa. Hi, Nikki." Alicia greeted. "Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, huh?"
"Can I just get in the shower already, please?" Nick begged.
"Yea, sorry." Alicia squeezed by and giggled. "Dad woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning too."
"Crap!" Nick swore as he closed the door. Dad hardly ever woke up on the wrong side of the bed. This was all his fault. Guilt swept over him. As he stood at the sink, dreading to look in the mirror.
Sighing yet again, he looked up to see a young woman looking back at him. Thick short blonde hair stood up at weird angles in some spots and lay plastered to her head in others from a night of tossing and turning. Large blue eyes scanned the soft skin and the cute, pink bow which frowned back at him.
"How long this time, Nikki?" Nick asked the young woman in the mirror. She wouldn't be able to even try to reverse the process until tonight.
Nikki filled a small glass with cold water from the tap and soaked her parched throat.
Nature called. Nikki sat on the toilet and took care of business while texting on her phone.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Nikki will be attending school today.

"Don't use all of my shampoo." Alicia called from the door. "Or my razor."
Nikki finished her business and climbed into a hot shower. Hot showers always helped when waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Unfortunately she had to spend a little extra time seeing to hygiene issues so she wouldn't be able to enjoy the hot water this morning.
As she washed, she began to wake up and started feeling better. She was singing in her alto voice by the time she turned off the water and slipped into her pink fluffy robe.
Nikki finished up in the bathroom and padded back down to her room. She wrinkled her nose at the smell and opened the window to air it out.
The room had two personalities. Each side of the room had a single sized bed; one bed had a blue coverlet the other a dark lavender comforter with white lace edging. The blue side had hockey posters and pictures of beautiful cars, the other wall, painted a softer lavender. At the foot of the bed was a dressing table backed by a mirror and extra lighting as well as electrical outlets. Pictures of friends and cute guys decorated the perimeter of the mirror.
Nikki fished in one of the drawers and pulled out a bottle of perfume and misted the blue side of the room before digging in her closet. Nikki pulled on some tight jeans, a soft blue angora sweater and slipped into some silver flats.
"Can you take me to school this morning?" Alicia poked her head in.
"I'm going to be late." Nikki warned.
"I don't mind."
"You had better ask mom."
Nikki pulled a blow drier out of a drawer of the dressing table, put a dab of product in her hair and took the two minutes it took to dry her short hair. She added a bit of molding wax to key parts of her style and quickly added a bit of eye shadow and mascara. She slipped some silver hoops into her ears and pocketed some lip gloss.
Nikki switched her books from her red back pack to her pink one, checked to see that she had her wallet and headed down stairs.
"Feeling better, sweet heart?" her mother greeted.
"Yes, thank you."
"I called the hospital this morning. Your friend Vic is doing well. He is listed in Critical but should be moved later on today or tomorrow. It sounds like you saved his life." She beamed.
Nikki shrugged. "I'm glad he's doing okay."
"Mom said that you could take me." Alicia finished off a bagel and hurried up stairs.
"Did you plan on working tonight?" Nikki's mother inquired.
"Yes."
"You had better remember to call them and remind them who is showing up tonight."
"I'll do that at lunch."
Her mother nodded and set a large stack of pancakes before her. "Call me or your father when you are done. I think one of us should drive you home especially after what happened last night."
"Mom." Nikki groaned.
"After your friend got shot? It was a good thing that you found him, so that he didn't just lay there and bleed to death."
Nikki just nodded. She wasn't about to tell her mother that she or Nick had actually witnessed the crime. If she kept her head down, Lil' Foot wouldn't have a reason to come looking for her.
"Do you have the appropriate work clothes?"
"Yes, I have two lockers there, mom." She thought for a moment. "At least I don't have to wear a tie." She smiled. "I'll trade a tie for a skirt any day." She looked at the large pile of pancakes and moaned. She was starving, but eating so much made her look like such a pig. Sometimes she dreaded waking up on the wrong side of the bed just because of all the food she had to eat.
"You aren't wearing my shoes, are you?" her mother looked down at Nikki's feet.
"No." she protested. "You got the gold ones, I have the silver ones."
Her mother nodded. "Just making sure. You need to ask before you start borrowing my clothes.
"Alicia said that Dad, woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning too."
Her mother nodded, setting a mug of coffee before her.
"I'm sorry." Nikki apologized around a bite of pancake.
"He worries about you." Her mother stated. "It's a parent's job. Your father just happens to be a Gendermorph. When you two stress too much, it triggers your morph. It isn't bad, it just is."
"Did dad transition a lot when he was younger?" Nikki asked.
"You two have had this talk." Nikki's mother stated.
"I know his version. I'd like to know your version." Nikki smiled and sipped at her coffee.
"Our first few dates, I didn't know who would show up to take me out, Mike or Mary." her mother sighed.
"And you still married him?"
"I love him. . . and her." she stated. "I get the best of both worlds. A man to be my companion and a girlfriend to shop and gossip with." She smiled.
"Dad say's that most Morphs have a hard time finding a spouse."
Her mother nodded. "Not everyone can see past the fluidity of the Morph's life."
Nikki looked down at her half eaten plate. "Ugh, the food alone is going to make me balloon up." Nikki complained. "Especially if I'm transitioning every other day."
"You're mind is still a bit slow in transitioning, but it is getting faster." her mother noticed. "Perhaps once you've gotten your body and mind a little more in sync, you'll transition less often."
"I hope so. It's hard enough being a teenager. Imagine being a teenager with a real identity crisis." she smiled.
Her mother kissed her forehead. "That sweater is darling on you."
"Thank you." Nikki smiled. She took a bite with one hand and looked at her phone with the other.
Two of Nick's friends groaned about the change. But Nikki's friends wanted to throw a party.
She texted them and explained that she had to work tonight and that she didn't know how long Nikki would be around.
"I'm ready when you are." Alicia showed back up in the kitchen with her book bag.
Nikki nodded. The two went out to Nikki's blue VW Bug.
"Good morning, Mr. Flynn." Alicia greeted.
The older man looked up and scowled when he saw Nikki. "Freak!" he growled.
Nikki ducked into the car and tried not to growl herself.