Be Careful What You Switch For
By ashes

James and Jane are fraternal twins, but James wishes they were identical. He's about to get his wish for one night only as he takes Jane's place at a frat party. Sometimes wishes come true.

Author's note: I only started this one and a half days ago when I found out Melanie Ezell's Ultimate Writer's Challenge 2012 Edition. I didn't have time to get anyone to edit if I wanted to get it in on time. I also didn't have time to really work out the plot and pretty much made it up as I went along, so if it looks like I cut some corners here or there that's why, but I hope you find it enjoyable anyway.

Here was the premise for this week's challenge
1. Hereditary Traits
Idea: Write a story about a character whose resemblance to a relative is a centerpoint of their gender transformation.
Length: 1000 words or more
Limitations: Have fun with the idea.

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"Are you almost ready yet?" Jane asked, barging into my room as I was pulling a shirt over my head. I shook out my shoulder-length brown hair and gave it a quick comb. I looked in the mirror, noting how much Jane and I looked alike besides the gender difference. I sighed, secretly wishing that we were exactly alike, but apparently fate decided it wasn't meant to be.

"Jane, it's a frat party. Everyone is going to be too busy drinking, dancing and making out to care if we show up a few minutes later than everyone else." She narrowed her eyes and I sighed again, but out of exasperation this time. "What's your hurry anyway? Mike isn't going to get into any trouble. He's totally into you and you know it better than I do."

Mike was her boyfriend he was almost two years older than we were, but he was our neighbor since forever and our parents were friends so that didn't really matter. He had just started college this year and the pledges at his fraternity were being welcomed as full brothers, so they were throwing a party to celebrate. Even though we were only high school seniors we were allowed to come as long as we didn't drink anything alcoholic. They didn't want to be charged with serving alcohol to minors if the cops came around, and they cared enough that they didn't want us getting in trouble either.

Jane got a little red with my last comment. She probably thought she was being discrete, but I knew she had gotten further with Mike than she wanted anyone else to know. At least I noticed the last few times she came home from being with him she seemed to have a little more of a glow than usual, so I had my suspicions, which judging by the blush were quite accurate.

"Well, I don't think that's any of your business," she huffed, "Now quit dilly-dallying and let's get going!" She turned and walked out the door, muttering under her breath but loud enough for me to hear, "God sometimes you're more of a girl than I am!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Did she know my secret? I thought if she ever did that she would be more direct, confrontational even, after all I had stolen some of her things from the wash. I heard her ask mom about some of them, obviously she noticed they were missing, but she never asked me about them. I figured she would rightly be upset if she found out that I had taken them. She probably wouldn't be very happy to learn that I had actually gone out as her a few times using those things either. I never ran into anyone we knew, but I'm positive they would have thought I was her.

I was still standing there, frozen in place like an idiot when -poof!- and a smoky cloud billowed up in front of me. It quickly dissipated, and in it's place stood a tall, curvy black woman. She was wearing a white glittering halter-style dress that went to mid-thigh. Her hair was done up in a high loose bun and glittered almost as much as the dress Two things seemed out of place about her- besides appearing out of thin air. She was barefoot, and the top ends of what appeared to be thin translucent wings stuck out over her shoulders. She simply smiled at me. It didn't take me long to come up with an explanation for this strange occurrence.

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically, "this is some kind of joke right? I bet my sister put you up to this. Are you supposed to be some kind of fairy or something? Lame. I've seen fairy costumes in every costume store I've ever been in, and I'm sure it isn't that hard to find those poofy smoke balls that the ninjas use in all... the... movies..." I stopped babbling because at that moment the 'costume' wings started to move, becoming a nearly invisible blur. She rose about a foot off the ground a floated for a few seconds before setting back down. The entire time that smile never changed.

"Sorry suga, this ain't no costume, and this ain't no joke neitha."

She continued to smile patiently while I picked the lower half of my jaw off the floor and reattached it to my face. My mind was trying really hard to work, but it seemed frozen. Finally I snapped out of it, but I was trembling a bit. I tried to remain rational, there was an explanation for this right?

"Okay, it's a crazy dream then..." She slowly shook her head. "Fine. For the sake of argument let's say that you're real and everything you appear to be. Why are you here?"

She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I know your secret."

And then I fainted.

*<*^*>*

When I came to I was in a bed, and the black lady was sitting over me. She still had that smile on her face, which was starting the annoy and worry me a little bit, considering what she knew about me.

"Oh, don't worry suga, I ain't here to hurt ya. Actually, I hope I can make you happy," she said as she leaned down to stroke my hair.

I quickly sat up and backed away from her in one motion that brought my attention to a weight on my chest. That weight might as well have been a magnet for the effect it had on me. I slowly lowered my head and stared at them for a minute longer than I should have I think, but what would your reaction be if you suddenly woke up with two rather supple breasts?

"What the hell?" I started then squeaked and raised my hand to my throat as I realized I sounded exactly like Jane. My eyes were getting wet with tears as I looked over to... my fairy godmother? I didn't know for sure, but she might as well have been. I looked at her, "Not a dream?" I whispered, a tremble in my voice.

"Not a dream," she confirmed, her smile actually getting bigger.

I couldn't think of anything to do at that moment but to hug her. Have you ever hugged someone who had wings? It feels a bit weird, but I didn't care. This woman had just done for me what no one else in the world even knew I wanted.

"So we're identical twins now?" I was getting up to look in the mirror even though I already knew what I would look like- we weren't that different before. A quick look confirmed that suspicion. I turned back grinning wildly, but that was short-lived. As soon as I saw her looking depressed I knew there was something wrong. My face fell too, "There's a catch isn't there?"

"'Fraid so suga. This magic is only gonna work for tonight. I know it seems cruel to give ya this happiness only to take it from ya later." She did look genuinely sorry for me, and I was upset at first. I thought about it though, and decided that one night was better than never having the chance. I hugged her again and told her that.

She took me by the shoulders and straightened me out as she stood up from the bed. She put her hand over my head with her index finger pointed down and started twirling it in a circular motion. A smoky cloud formed at my feet and enveloped me swirling further and further up my body until I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. When I could see again my hand had perfectly shaped red nails on it. I looked back in the mirror, and was amazed that the reflection was of myself, despite my previous expectations.

I was now wearing a red version of the halter-style dress she had on, only mine wasn't glittery, or winged. I also had red strappy four inch heels, which felt completely natural for some reason... magic I guess. My hair was down, done in loose wavy curls, so that it only came down to my chin, but it did a perfect job of framing my face. My makeup was done in a way that it almost looked like I wasn't wearing any except for a light purple shadow that brought out my eyes, a little mascara, and just a hint of gloss on my lips for that kissable sheen.

I was still admiring myself when I thought of something that got me worried. "I can't go to that party like this. Jane is going to be there, and they know that were not identical and that I'm a guy. Not to mention Jane will freak out when she sees this," I flourished my hands over myself Vanna White style.
"Thanks for trying, really, but I just don't see how this can work."

"Hey now, come here," she said as she pulled me into another hug. It was quite comforting. I decided that even after I'm a guy again, I'm demanding some more hugs. They just feel so nice don't they? This was a quick one though, as she pushed me away to get a good look into my eyes again. "You don't worry about nothin suga, it's all taken care of. Your sister is under a spell tonight. She will sleep soundly until well into the morning, and when she wakes she will have the memories of you at the party. She will remember your actions as her own. No one will eva know it wasn't her at that party... except for you and me that is."

I wanted to be upset about this. It seemed kind of like a mean thing to do, not to mention it felt a little wrong on a moral level. If she could force people to remember things that hadn't happened to them, well I didn't really want to think about it too hard. I just couldn't get too angry about it though, this was my wish coming true, at least for tonight. It was reminding me a bit of the story of Cinderella. The parts about fairy godparent and transformations anyway. Oh, wait a minute, did that mean...?

"So, um, I suppose I need to be home by midnight or else I turn back and some guy I'm making out with get pissed and beats me to death?" I asked as she was escorting me out the door, handing me the black clutch Jane was going to bring.

She chuckled, "No suga, it's the 21st century now. You can be out until 3."

She gave me one last hug, then winked and with another -poof!-, she disappeared.

*<*^*>*

I took Jane's VW Bug over to the fraternity. I really hated the car, it was too small for my tastes and Jane had picked one in that weird metallic lime green that the new Bugs seemed to have patented for how often they come in that color. If you've ever seen one you know what I'm talking about. Regardless I drove it the four blocks from our house since walking that far in those heels would not have been pleasant. I still had to park a block away due to my being late. Now I guess I knew why Jane was upset about that earlier. I guess I would be more considerate of that in the future.

When I got to the porch I was greeted by one of the other brothers, who recognized me from being around Mike.

"Hey Jane, where's James? I thought he was coming too." Thankfully I knew this would come up so I had thought of a simple explanation.

"Oh he wasn't feeling very good earlier, so he decided it would be better for him to stay home tonight. He said he'd see Mike later so it wasn't a big deal for him to be here today."

"Hey, fair enough. Hope he feels better soon," he said with genuine compassion.

"I'm sure he will," I said dismissively. "So Mike's inside?"

"Oh yeah, somewhere."

"Thanks. See you around," and with that I went in to find my temporary boyfriend. It didn't take long to find him. The foyer of the building split into a hallway leading to the back of the house and a stairway leading upstairs. Mike was sitting on the third step with one of those red plastic cups in his hand. He was obviously waiting for me- er, Jane I guess-, but also obviously getting a little bored.

"That had better not be beer in that cup mister," I teased as he came over to me, eyes wide.

He composed himself quickly though. "Nah, just water, I actually don't care for beer anyway." He left the cup on the step, so when he got to me he took my face in both hands and kissed me quite passionately. Well, I knew Jane had gotten further with Mike than she let anyone in the family see, which as far as we 'knew' was just quick kisses goodnight on the porch. I knew there was more to it! Call it woman's intuition. Hah.

He broke about 15 seconds later, grinning wildly. He looked around, and seeing that nobody was listening in said, "You wanna go upstairs? My room should be empty right now, knowing George my roomie, he won't be around for a while." He wiggled his eyebrows and I giggled at him. I took his proffered hand and he led me to his room. He closed the door, but not before putting a sock on the doorknob.

Wow. I wasn't sure they had gotten quite this far in their relationship. But if they had I didn't think Jane would be hesitant about it so I played that part. Our clothes were quickly off, and let's just say it didn't take me too long to get into it. Though the first time we made love was a little sore, Mike seemed a little concerned. He figured it shouldn't hurt since it wasn't the first time. Well, that answers that question... I assured him I was okay though, and was happy that he wasn't so interested in sex that he stopped caring about me, or Jane, or whatever. You know what I mean.

After the third time- yes, the third- it was going on 1:30. Neither of us had the stamina to go back downstairs to the party. We just talked for a while, and before I knew it I had fallen asleep in his arms, the 3 o'clock deadline long forgotten.

*<*^*>*

I woke up the next morning, immediately I noticed that I was still in Mike's room, and sunlight was coming through the window.

Fear gripped me. I would be a boy again now. It was definitely after 3. Okay, don't panic, just get out slowly and he won't wake up. He'll never know. Of course the only clothes I would have to wear would be... wait I'm in Mike's room! I can snag some of his for the drive home. The clock read 6:00a.m. so hopefully this frat was full of typical male college students who wouldn't see me leave with Jane's clutch, and her car...

I started getting slowly out of bed when something felt wrong. The extra weight on my chest was still there. Was I imagining things? I looked down and sure enough they were still there, breasts.

Now I was confused. But that didn't last long as I looked around the room again -poof!- a familiar cloud formed in the far corner. My fairy godmother was there, her expression was blank now. "Suga, we need to talk," was all she said to me.

I put my finger to my lips and pointed back at Mike's sleeping form, but she wasn't worried. "I've stopped time temporarily so we could talk without interruptions."

"Oh," I said intelligently. "I'm still a girl... not that I'm complaining, but why?"

"You stopped the magic from wearing off."

"Me? How could I have done that?"

"Our magic is based on nature," she started, " I was able to give you this night because even though your body was male, your soul was female. In other words I was able to bring out your a different part of your nature."

"So because I have a female soul nature decided I should stay like this?"

She hung her head a little, eyes closed, and shook her head, "No, ya decided it last night when ya had sex with him," she gestured to Mike.

"You didn't say that anything like this could happen. You didn't think to warn me or something?"

She looked at me, and actually looked... disappointed? "This ain't neva happened before, because normally our godchildren practice safe sex... suga, you've gotten yourself pregnant."

"So why should that stop the change back?" I asked, getting a little indignant despite an internal happiness that this change now seemed permanent.

"Nature," she said, "apparently she wants ya to have this child."

I grinned while gently putting my hand over my stomach. I was going to be a mother! Yesterday I was pretty much just existing, but now... I still couldn't believe it. Then I remembered something, or rather someone. I gasped and put my hands to my mouth.

"Oh no... Jane! What the hell am I supposed to tell her? 'Hey sis, I'm a girl now, yeah that's right I pretended to be you last night at the party. Oh, Mike? Didn't notice a thing out of place. Yeah he's great huh? In fact he was great three times! And one of those times he managed to knock me up. Congratulations, you're going to be an auntie!' I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

"'Fraid I cant help you anymore suga. I was already at the limits of my magic with what I did for ya last night. You're on your own now. I can tell ya this though... it'll work out, but the road ahead will be tough." And with that -poof!-, and I never saw her again.

I sat in Mike's bed, contemplating everything that had happened in the past six hours. Eventually there was nothing else to do but get dressed and talk to my sister. I got home uneventfully, and made my way to Jane's room with some trepidation. I opened the door quietly and peeked in, but she wasn't there. That was odd. She couldn't have left the house since I had her car, besides she was supposed to sleep 'well into the morning'.

I went across the hall to my room. It was no longer appropriate, but it was still 'mine', so I felt more comfortable going over there than being in Jane's room. I opened my door and saw Jane lying face down on my bed. She must have felt my presence in her sleep because she stirred and sat up, turning to look at me. I'm not sure of what happened after that, because I fainted.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was James's face looking back at me.

Another note: I intentionally left the ending this way. Please comment on how you think the story will play out after this. I like hearing the theories people come up with!