Author:
Audience Rating:
Publication:
Genre:
Character Age:
TG Themes:
Permission:
Emily dressed herself nervously. This was probably going to be the weirdest day in her life. Well, maybe the second weirdest, she thought, giggling to herself. Learning that she had changed into a girl in the first place had to come in number one, of course.
An accumulation of magical residue had changed her from Gabriel Randall, popular Sophomore student and JV quarterback, into Emily Randall, his pretty, supposedly grieving cousin from Flagstaff; Arizona.
Thanks to some of her Grandmother’s magic, she was now quite comfortable in her new gender, along with being familiar with the Flagstaff, Arizona area. She had wached several videos of then Flagstaff area. Emily felt that she would be able to maintain her cover story of being the only survivor of a terrible accident that took the lives of her parents and her “cousin.”
She had chosen her clothing carefully, hoping not to stand out much. If she could just blend in, most people wouldn’t even notice her. She knew she wasn’t particularly pretty, but she wasn’t unattractive, either. She slid into her jeans, rather than put on a skirt. A comfortable red T-shirt, some ankle socks and her cross-trainers finished her outfit. It was going to be hard enough to be there, with all of her old friends, while pretending not to know them. She didn’t need some boy trying to get into her pants (uhgh!) as well.
Mom and Grandma Liz had spent most of the Easter break trying to teach her to be a “lady”, although she had every intention of ignoring most of their lessons. She didn’t want to be a proper girl today. She wanted to be just a semi-tomboyish, normal teenage girl, like most of the other girls at the school.
A horn honked from down in the garage below her small loft. “Hey, are you done staring at yourself in the mirror?” her mom called. “It’s time to leave, sweetie.”
They had decided that she would get a ride from her “Aunt Jenny” today, rather than drive
Gabe’s truck. This way, it wouldn’t seem quite as strange to Gabe’s friends on her first day at school as Emily. Too many people knew the old green Stepside, and it would attract too much attention.
She was very nervous, and her mind was racing with worry, so there wasn’t much conversation on the way to school. Her mom smiled as she stepped out of the car,
“Have a good day, Emily. Relax, it will be much easier than you think. Grandma Liz will pick you up after school. Bye, honey!”
“Bye!” Emily called. “I love you!”
She held her books close to her chest as she walked into the school, and no one said anything. She stopped at the office to see “where her classes were,” even though she was quite familiar with the school. She also had to be assigned a locker and get her temporary student ID card. She stepped up to the counter and smiled.
“Hi, I’m Emily Randall, and I’m starting here today. My Aunt said I needed to pick up some things, and I’m hoping you have a school map?”
Ms. Branch, an attractive older woman, stood and returned her smile. “Yes, I have a welcome packet here for you. I’m Jenny Branch, the school secretary. There’s a map in there, but if I remember right, you’re in Mr. Stewart’s homeroom, and that’s right at the end of this hall, on you’re right, room 110. I’m glad to meet you, Emily. Have a good day!”
“Thanks, I hope I will!”
On her way down the hall, she saw her friend, Larry, and she almost called out to him, but stopped herself in time. She put her head down and headed into the classroom, doing her best not to cry. She found a seat and opened her welcome packet. As she’d expected, there were a few papers there. She ignored the map, but read the locker assignment and put the combination sheet into her purse, along with her temporary student ID.
Mr. Stewart, wearing his usual black turtleneck and black slacks, clapped his hands and called the class to order.
“All right, everyone! Welcome back, let’s take the roll now.”
He went down the list, and when he called Emily’s name, several people looked her way.
Grace Martin leaned over to her. “Hey, Are you related to Gabe Randall? I haven’t seen him today,”
Emily had known this would happen, and she thought she was ready, so she was a little surprised at how quickly and easily the tears came.
“I’m his cousin,” she said, wiping her eyes.” I’m sorry, but Gabe was killed in a traffic accident in Arizona, along with my parents.”
The room suddenly went silent. Grace’s mouth dropped open, and her eyes began to water.
“You...you’re serious? Gabe’s dead?!” Her shocked look brought up a flood of Emily’s tears, and she quickly pulled Emily into a hug. “Oh crap, honey, I’m so sorry!”
Several people were in tears. Some had shocked looks, not believing what they’d heard. Mr. Stewart took a few minutes to let people deal with this news, then called the class to order.
“I am sincerely sorry, Miss Randall, I’m sure we can all sympathize with your loss. Gabe was well liked here at Armstrong High, and the loss of your parents must be terrible for you as well.”
“Thank you, sir,” Emily said, wiping her eyes.
“Well, then,” He said, wiping his eye, “back to regular business...”
Throughout the day, people would approach Emily and express their good wishes. As she expected, it was a long day, but no one made any comments that they might have believed that she was actually Gabe. Everyone had been friendly and sympathetic, and Emily began to relax and believe that her mother had been right, it was easy.
Feeling much better about the school, she packed up her books in her new backpack, and went out to meet her grandma. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard something that made her turn. Someone had tripped and fallen hard to the cement. She ran to help, and saw that it was Debbie!
Debbie was unconscious, and somehow Emily knew she was seriously hurt. She reached out, not knowing what to do, but truly wanting to help. A “draining” feeling started as soon as she touched Debbie’s arm, as though something was being sucked out of Emily and into the wounded girl. Debbie moaned and started to sit up, but Emily lightly held her down before she could move. Again, Emily realized she already knew that Debbie would be all right.
“Relax, hon, it’s gonna be all right. You need to stay as still as you can, you took a nasty fall and you might have hurt your back or your neck, so don’t even move your head, okay?”
“Owww,..uhh...what?”
Emily gently held Debbie’s head so she couldn’t move it.
“You fell down the stairs, hon. Just hold still until the paramedics get here, okay?”
Emily tried to call 911 on her cell phone, but before she could punch in the number, she heard sirens, and saw an ambulance approaching. Someone must have seen Debbie’s accident, and called for help.
“It’s all right hon, help is here, and you’re going to be fine.”
The paramedics quickly took over and got Debbie into the ambulance. One of them talked to Emily about what had happened.
She quickly explained as the other paramedic finished locking the gurney into the ambulance. “I heard a noise and saw her fall from the top of the stairs.” She said, indicating the low stairway, only five steps high. “She hit the ground pretty hard, so I rushed over to see if I could help. She tried to get up, but I got her to relax, and hold still until you came.”
“Who are you? Are you a friend?”
“No, I’ve never met her before. My name’s Emily Randall.”
“Well, you may have saved her life. I’ve gotta go, thanks!”
He rushed to the ambulance and they drove away, lights and sirens warning everyone to get out of the way. Emily looked up and saw her Grandmother’s car.
“I saw you helping her.” Grandma Liz told her as she got in the car. “You did very well, I’m very proud of you.”
Emily blushed. “Thanks, Grandma. I-I think I healed her, somehow, but maybe it was just my nerves.”
“No. I felt your power. I’ll admit, I was very surprised.”
“I have magic?” She asked, not sure if that was good or bad.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos!
Click the Thumbs Up! button below to leave the author a kudos:
And please, remember to comment, too! Thanks.
Comments
I have magic?
Like duh. I thought you were supposed to be reasonably intelligent.
Let's see... In the intro you admitted you were aware you had the gene, and explained that only girls brains were "wired" to actually use it. Your mother and grandmother told you that you literally became completely identical genetically except for the few details necessary to make you genetically female. You still had the magic gene. You went from someone who would potentially father a user, to a user yourself. Simple logic, really.
As to the question of whether it's good or bad for you to be a user... hopefully good, but that, dear Emily, depends entirely on your own ability to control yourself. Considering the scene we just witnessed, and that you appear to be a very compassionate sort, I mean, seriously, Debbie's the entire reason you're in the boat you're in... Anyways, considering all that, I'll muster a "YES!" here, a very definite good thing that you're now among the users.
Cute chapter... Not sure, but for some reason the crying scene just didn't get to me as being emotional enough... But that could have been intentional, the entire story seems to be taking a lighter tone. Actually, yeah, I suppose written differently the accident scene at the end of the chapter could have come across much more emotionally charged, but instead it came off as a sort of, "oh!".
If it is intended to be more emotional may I suggest you try delving into and spending time in the characters heads a little bit? The introduction went into Gabe's head quite well.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Not so surprising
With all the other things she was going through in the short time between waking up from her transformation and "starting" at the school, she was dealing with a whole lot of other things. Her most immediate priorities would have been both parts of her new identity: being a girl and having both sets of memories. Her talents - magical and otherwise - could wait while she settled into Emily's life.
Jorey
.
Like Sudoku?
sudokurose.com
Jorey
.
Wow Wren:) Good stuff.
I'm going to have to keep an eye on this one, it's pretty damned good. I liked the explanation of the healing too.
More please:)
Ha! I get to say that to you for a change:)
*Great Big Hugs*
Bailey.
Bailey Summers
Comments
Okay, gotta make a couple of points (just so you see what I was thinking). The reason she was so confused is that this doesn't fit her world view, as will be explained in the next chapter. In case I dsisdn't make it clear, Gabe is a nice guy, but very stubborn.He's never been a great one for thinking out of the box, and this is so far out of the box...
The crying scene. It was supposed to be an act, to help establish her cover. She just got a little more emotional than she planned.
It has been pointed out that I needed to put in a chapter number, and I'll admit, that was my mistake. I actually thought I did put it in. Ah well.
I thought that Emily's emotions were going to be very confused for a while. She's still adjusting to the way she is feeling. For example, while a female would perhaps be more emotional, Gabe was the kind of person to respond to a situation, then give in to the emotions. This is why she was so disoriented at the end of this chapter. See?
Don't take this response to mean I don't like your comments. On the contrary, I love them! I will freely admit to not being the best writer, but I hope you find the story fun, and please, tell me if I really messed up. I'm learning more with each story I write-sometime in this decade, I hope to get it right! As my Dad loves to say, the day you stop learning is real close to the day they throw dirt on your casket.
Wren
This makes sense.
I thought it might be intended, but wasn't really sure.
Will be looking forward to chapter 2!
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Well written
very likable characters. Magic/healing does not always continue mother to daughter, sometimes it skips. Sometimes it is spontaneous as the Goddess wishes
3 out of 5 boxes of tissue and 6 gold stars
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
I may be somewhat biased, but
Tomboys FTW! =D
I just hope it's far more than a mere phase.
Something else I've been thinking about...
Shouldn't the society depicted in this story be different to what we're used to, given that many people can do magic? Also, wouldn't the men be oppressed by the women? It's human nature for the strong to exploit the weak, after all. There might even be conflict between groups of women who wanted to overpower and enslave the men, and groups who wanted to co-exist peacefully with and/or help them.
- - -
Merry Christmas from BCTS's resident Extravagant Honorable Trans-Cat-MegaTomboy! ^_^
not so sure...
That this is necessarily intended to be a "common" ability. It's hereditary, and likely extremely recessive. Perhaps with chromosomes associated with the gene located in completely different parts of the human genome. It could be extremely rare for it to end up happening, and for a man who carries the gene to father a daughter with it, he'd almost have to marry a user.
This could lead to serious inbreeding if they tried to actually "keep the line going". So it's far more likely that it usually only shows up in a family every several generations.
After all, even grandma admitted to being surprised. That it's stayed strong for three generations in a row? Or was the surprise for some other reason? Now, obviously Wren is currently the only one who knows the full details on just how this magic or quantum gene works, and anything we say will just be guessing, but I really do suspect this is at least rare and semi-recessive.
So no, not "many" people can do magic, and no, the women in general would not be able to oppress the men, this story seems to be taking place in a mostly contemporary society. We're just dealing with a small sub-society that we aren't supposed to know exists.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
not bad chapter
although I kinda thought it was "cheating" that they made it so easy for her to adjust to being a girl.
Dorothycolleen, member of Bailey's Angels
Adjusted? Not on your high heels!
I see Emily as the kind of person who has to cope with growing up with a "no-nonsense, I'm stuck, so I've got it to do" attitude and a new, more emotional and frustatingly strange sort of attitude. I don't expect her to be adjusted for some time yet. She just covers it well, and tries to fight off the depression with a little humor.
She hasn't even begun to feel the peer pressure that being a girl is going to bring, and her sexual orientation is undecided by the author at this point. I guess we'll find out together!
I've got a lot of development to do, yet. I have every intention of being the next Angharad, because I admire the way she writes, and her dedication to her characters. I'm writing several days ahead, and now that we're started, I probably wont be posting on the weekends. I'm under no illusions that I'm anywhere near Angharad's level, I just see it as a huge challenge.
I can see in general where I'm headed, but I love the backroads, so I have no idea how I'm going to get there. This should be fun!
Wren
I Got the Opposite Impression...
...from the healing scene. Since we know Debbie can do magic and don't know Emily's abilities, I figured that Debbie had engineered the situation in order to suck vitality (mana?) out of Emily, whether for her own benefit or to Emily's detriment.
Eric
Wild Magic 1
She is at least a Healer, Could she have other Gifts?
May Your Light Forever Shine
re-read
***as always i mean for my critisims to be looked at as a tip for future writting and not as condemation***
Ya know, i thought i'd go back to the begining and re-read this story since it's been a while and im kinda behind on it.
After reading this chapter again, i remembered that the whole ambulance scene was.. "off" to me.
first of all the ambulance seemed to arrive like in under a minute... which if you're a fequent caller you'd know that you could be in thier driveway and it would take them 30 min to get to you. No matter where you are 30 minutes is the average time.
Second problem i had with that scene was the line of “Well, you may have saved her life. I’ve gotta go, thanks!â€
umm, as far as he knows all she did was run over and hold her hand while she was unconsious. So there's no cause for him to sugest that she may have saved her life. And since she's been healed her injury is superficial, a concusion at the most...
i know a lot of people found the whole crying scene to be unbelivable, but that didnt register with me at all, unlike the ambulance scene.
All in All, it's a good story though, so keep it up :)