Beth's afternoon classes were hectic. Her lab partner in her basic chem class was a bore. Ty was a nerdy know it all that liked to speak to her as if she was a product of a by gone era. Ie little better than to breed children. It was comments such as this that usually raised her hackles. But he was always like this no matter how many times she had proven to him she actually had a brain in her head.

However Beth had other things occupying her mind today so having a lab partner that preferred to do everything himself provided she handed him whatever he asked for was a relief in some ways. Beth mindlessly handed over whatever compound he asked for during the class. At first Ty appeared smug and made a few comments that she had finally learned her place as an inferior female. It was therefore a shock when he stopped what he was doing, putting down the beaker of ammonium chlorohydrate or whatever it was she just handed him.

"Beth what is wrong?" Ty asked in a surprisingly sincere voice.

"Nothing." she replied holding a test tube for him to next use.

"Beth usually when I tease you, you say something or strike back. Today you seem preoccupied. This is not like you at all. Hence, what is wrong?"

"It's nothing, or at least nothing you can help with. Please let's just.." she was going to tell him to drop the subject.

"No. I ...care about you. Your the closest beautiful woman I have ever been able to speak with and I always make a mess.. scratch that. Your.. you shouldn't marr that pretty face with a frown. It's, well it's just not right." Ty was actually looking down at his hands as they twisted over each other. His usual condescending attitude was displaced with an incredibly shy one.

Beth stood there for the longest time with her mouth literally open. She couldn't believe what had just happened. The one person she was sure hated her didn't. She couldn't understand why her of all people did this Ty actually like. Her previous thoughts were lost as she stared at this geek of a man. His glasses slightly askew, his small fringe of hair parted on the right was starting to come down into his eyes. Eyes she had never noticed before were a deep forest green.

If Ty had lost his glasses he could perhaps be considered almost handsome. His white dress shirt minus tie was wrinkled and missing a button. But what did it also hide? As she looked more there was other signs of stuff hidden that just might be more. Such as the baggy looking jeans. Did they hide a shapely butt in them? Beth reached her hand up, stopped for a second or two halfway, then continued as she brushed the stray hair from his eyes back into its position on his head.

"Thank you." She didn't want a boyfriend. She knew that especially right now. Still she knew at that moment that should the need ever arise she could almost count on him for accompaniment to any social obligation she had. Beth turned back to the desk and stared down at it looking at the project they were supposed to be mixing up. She was reading the words of the assignment. Words she had neatly printed in her flowing, graceful handwriting. Words she could not seem to put into her head for meaning.

"Beth I mean it. Please tell me what is wrong. I can help. Well maybe not but I will certainly try."

"Ty please. I know you mean well but I'm just not sure what is going on." Beth bit her lower lip." When I do, and if I need your help, you'll know. Sorry but I need to figure some things out on my own first."

"Alright. When your ready I'll be there." Ty said to her in a warm voice before a small grin appeared on his face." Now woman, make yourself useful. Pass me the third vial on your left if you can manage that."

"Asshole." Beth smiled as she passed said vial.

"That's my girl."

The rest of the class passed uneventful as they finished mixing up a simple soap solution. It was supposed to smell like strawberry yogurt however theirs smelled more like vanilla extract. They got a passing grade as it was soap. The one pair in class that managed to make vanilla extract got a reprimand.

As the classes ended for the day Beth did not stick around to chat with her girlfriends. Instead she made her way back to her sorority with the excuse that she needed to study. It was one of the few lies she had ever told to someone but she needed the time to think about what she had uncovered during her lunch.

The underground corridors of the university were warm if not lit all that well as she walked. She had not even noticed that she missed the turn back to the sorority as she continued to walk. She felt a burning need to make sense of it all. Why was Eric's name listed for Project 14. Who was Professor Tandy and what was the involvement with the government have to do with it? Did the government have anything to do with it?

Her intuition said it did. A disappearance of this scope would surely be something the government could pull. But was it a disappearance? But how was she involved? Where did she come from? She was a girl and had always been one there was little doubt of that. Still if her mother and father, who she truly and deeply loved were not her parents then who were?

As her steps continued down the halls of the passages her thoughts got deeper. Was she really a person? To Beth it felt like everything she had done before, all her many accomplishments were nothing. Less than nothing. Was she real? If she was real did she have a place somewhere other than here?

Ultimately the question she asked herself was who am I? What am I? The same puzzling questions that had plagued mankind for centuries. She didn't even notice till she walked into the old door. Rubbing her sore nose she looked up and saw it was an old door leading to the offices for professors. The almost black door not from paint but ages old varnish drying out in the underground heat had caused it to blacken. The door had been re coated many times over the years. Even the once clear glass had become wavy with age.

However the lettering on the glass was still easy to read. No admittance, staff only. The door had a simple lock that was easy for a girl to pick with her nail file. A simple insert and turn and the lock came undone. The once polish brass door handle now brown with age turned under her hand. Someone had once oiled this door and kept it up. A spring that was angled against the door and the wall next to it closed the door behind her.

Before Beth was an older staircase, brown edging over grey and white patterned tiles of the well worn steps lead up to the first floor of the staff offices. Beth mindlessly walked down the rows of glass and oak doors, many refinished, to an unfinished door on the end. A plague next the door labeled simply A. Tandy gave her pause.

Beth tested the door and found it locked. When she looked down she found the ancient locks had been replaced with a push button lock. This was not a door she could get through unless she learned the combination or was an expert lock picker. Having neither numbers or skill she made her way back down the stairs, hopefully, with noone the wiser to her transgression.

It was past supper when Beth walked into the front door of her sorority house. Although she had not realized it, her stress from the day seemed to melt off the shoulders that had carried it for so long that day. As she removed her coat she wondered what had brought her to the staff area and finally that door?

"Hey Bethie. Long time no see. Whatca been up to? Studying with a cute boy in a secluded corner of the library?" Jane used her eyebrows to hint that it wasn't studying that she had done since her hands were full with a metal bowl that was no doubt filled with salad. Jane's current diet junk food.

"You know dear," Beth started as she walked up and retrieved the bowl from Jane. She had missed supper and was hungry." Some of us actually use the library for something other than necking with boys in corners made dark by pen clips in light sockets."

"Pen clips? How barbaric! I'll have you know paper clips are far easier to come by!" Jane put on a fake air of indignation.

Both girls commenced giggling at the same time. Jane really wasn't that bad of a girl. She sometimes went a bit overboard around guys but for the most part was a 4.0 student like Beth. Jane was almost always on some sort of diet. From fish to beef only, from chicken only to vegetables Jane was always after the elusive perfect figure. Elizabeth's figure was quite trim as well as Jane loved to share her diets with her sorority sisters, always with an explanation of how it was supposed to work.

While Beth was in possibly the best shape she had ever been in, and healthy, she did not need to go to extremes like Jane did. Jane wasn't exactly skeletal by any means she just carried around a few extra pounds she wanted to get rid of but so far had been unable too. Over the last two years Beth had lost over 30 pounds while Jane had lost 20. Beth's original clothes hung loosely on her frame now.

Beth suddenly wondered if they were clothes that were for Eric. This caused her grin to fade from her face. Even the jubilant Jane noticed that.

"Bethie hon I know something is troubling you. Please talk to me."

"I..I'm just ... I want to but I'm not ready. I'm sorry Jane I know you mean well but I'm not ready. When I am you'll be one of the first I'll tell promise."

"One of the first! You mean to say THE FIRST don't you?"

"Well no first would be my mom and then the cat and then that flower bed over by the..."

THWACK!

Jane gave Beth a good mock slap on the arm with her hand and the two girls went into the kitchen. Beth dished out half the bowl into another bowl and used some chicken leftovers to spice up her half of the salad. The two girls giggled and gossiped the evening away over the countertop of the kitchen island eating at first salad then sharing a tub of chocolate icecream.

Beth related how she had found out Ty had a crush on her which led to Jane giving Beth a good tease on being the country girl and then Beth teasing Jane about being the city slicker that couldn't even learn how to exercise properly and so forth. The banter of the two girls calmed and relaxed Beth far more than was needed. So much so that Jane had to help the lethargic Beth up the stairs into her room and then get undressed for bed. Beth thanked Jane just before she fell asleep still wearing the makeup from the day.

The alarm blared next to her bed and she fumbled with the sheets to extract her hand enough to search for the offending alarm. She found the offending device on the floor and not on the bedside table where it should be.

As she started to wake up she crawled out of bed and was hit by a slight chill to her breasts. She yawned and used her one hand to scratch at an annoying itch between her two breasts. Beth looked down only to gasp as she saw thick black hair sprout in slow motion all along her chest as her breasts seemed to deflate like balloons whose air has been let out.

That was not the only change as she looked at her gracefully slim arms change becoming thicker and sprouting more hair even on her now thick knuckles. Her trimmed and polished nails disappeared as well leaving her with broken and chewed nails that almost looked stubby. As she watched the skin darkened to be almost stained in spots with blackness.

She stood up to find she had no nightie on anymore nor any clothing of any kind. Immediately she reached down as well as bent down to find her vagina closing as her clit grew outwards before two lumps popped out of each side and hung below it. When it finished with even more gross black hair it was male genitals.

Beth was forced to watch as her slim waist gained weight while her hips disappeared. At the same time hair formed on her legs with muscles. Hair that was long and far past the need for shaving or waxing. She stood there in shock for a moment before she stood up more or less as she was unsteady on her feet as the balance was all wrong, horribly wrong the same as her body.

Her room seemed to shimmer in waves as things began to change. The pink and rose walls changed to white and then blue. Her dresser changed from the antique wood of her grandmothers to a dumpy cheap simulated wooden dresser. Her vanity changed to a table with strange car parts on it amid electronics in pieces and other model stuff. Her barbie doll house changed into a weird wooden post thing. Her clean floor began to change. Not just dirty but clothes appeared. Boys clothes, jeans tshirts, underwear.

She watched in horror as her body bent down and picked up a pair of mens briefs sniffed them and then put them on one leg at a time. This was followed by a pair of jeans with oil stains on them. She desperately wanted to rip off the offending dirty garments but her hands were no longer under her control. Two socks were found neither of them matching and put on to her feet then a tshirt with a few holes in it far past the time when it should have been tossed out was put on. A stained flannel shirt was also put on and tucked into the top of the jeans since the buttons to do it were missing. A hand was put up to her face and she could feel unshaven wiskers all over her face.

The door to her room opened and her father entered. Elizabeth's father had never looked at her like this before. This was the face of a father that was excited and proud to see his son. He approached her and grabbed one of her arms. He bent down and spoke or tried too. The words were not words just muffled sounds. Her father's face changed to one of concern and he pressed harder. Her arms came up and she tried to move his arms away. They would not move nor would the clothing allow her to move her arms outwards. She struggled harder and harder as the clothing seemed to get tighter and tighter around her. She went to scream but her father put a hand over her mouth cutting her off.

Beth sprang her eyes open as her scream was still going into her pillow. As she tried to move she found her breasts were painfully compressed under her along with her bedsheets tightly wrapped around her. It took her a few minutes of contortions to undo the cocoon she had gotten herself into. As she got the last cover off she realized that her nightie was plastered to her skin. She has worked herself into a sweat so bad that the fabric of the bedsheets felt damp as well.

Beth felt far to dirty and needed a shower this morning. She looked to her dorm room's bedside table and found her old Barbie alarm clock there with the strawberry scratch n sniff sticker long past its smell date still on it where she had put it when she was 12. The clock had been a gift from her Aunt Barb to her when she was 11.

She peeled off the nightie and flicked on the bedroom light. As usual Carrie was not back on her side of the room. Carrie was on yet another dig with her professor at a Dugald pit of some sort. How dirt grubbers could work in cold weather such as this was beyond her. The mirror on the back of the closet door showed Beth that she was still the same. She grabbed the robe off the door and tip toed lightly down the hallway to the bathroom. Once inside she turned on the shower and stepped in closing the glass door behind her.

The sweat had briefly chilled her but the pulsing hot water soon warmed her up. Beth soaped herself down giving her time to make sure that the dream was just a dream. She checked everywhere on herself. No hairs, no signs of boy parts, and her breasts were as full and shapely as before.

Clean once more she made her way back to her room. Her clock showed the time as being early morning just before 6 am. Her first classes were not till 9:45. She had time, too much time to kill. Beth changed into one of her workout outfits. The outfits were something her and her mother had once put together. Tights under a leotard with leg muffs above the running shoes. Really it was more of an 80's outfit but she always felt it was the outfit she would wear to have a workout in.

With her still damp hair in a high ponytail hidden under a warm hat and herself in her jogging coat Beth dashed across the walkway into the entrance to the underground maze of passages. She used the coin she had brought to put her coat and toque in the locker before putting the card on its lanyard around her slim neck.

Beth used the cement walls and the stair railing to aid her in her stretches before she took off in a steady jog towards the students gym. Her chosen path this morning would give her a 1 mile jog before she got to the gymnasium to complete her workout. The gym at this time of morning was mostly empty so access to the complex looking weight machine was without wait. She did her usual twenty repetitions of each and every possible use of the machine itself. T

The weight she used was twenty to forty pounds. Not much really when the boys would spend time benching hundreds but she found that the purpose was not to build up muscle but tone it. Once done on the machine she moved to the mats and did what her mother called calisthenic exercises. To her they were simply aerobic exercises and not the anaerobic exercises that many of the men seemed to feel was necessary.

Jane could probably tell her just how much calories she had burned but it was not calories that Beth was interested in burning but frustration. She was frustrated at the existence of one Eric Tanner and, more importantly, the disappearance of her childhood. She knew her parents loved her, that had been made clear when she left yesterday. Still she felt it was her responsibility to find Eric.

She finished her exercises in the gym and used the disposable paper cups to drink three cupfuls of water to replace that which she had lost. The last thing she wanted to deal with was cramps. The long walk back to the locker for her coat and toque gave her plenty of time to formulate her plan. As usual the mere act of exercise had cleared her mind enabling her to focus.

A quick dash back to the sorority and up the stairs found her divesting herself of her workout clothes. A grab of her bag and robe still damp from her earlier shower and she was soon relaxing in the bathtub as she washed away the final vestiges of sweat. She did not spend too much time in the bathtub as she had a schedule to keep.

Back in her room Beth took the time to properly dry and set her hair. It was a tedious process that kept her mind occupied. So did choosing an outfit for the day which consisted of a long dull green skirt and brown sweater. The sweater did not hide her assets nor openly display them. It was a comfortable outfit that let people know that she was comfortable in her femininity without being a showpiece.

Her makeup and understated jewelery also displayed this. Beth was dressing not for classes or to attract unwanted male attention but still enough to call the attention of seriousness for what she had to do. She wore a pair of green flats to complete the outfit. As a student necessitates such as purses were incorporated into the more noticeable school bag most students wore. She could wear a purse as many other girls did but most, like her, chose instead to use a bag that was built with a purse of sorts on the inside. Into this she shoved her keys, some change for a salad at lunch and her student id card.

The trip this time across into the tunnels once again was not as rushed. Beth took her time walking around the campus through the maze and across buildings. She had fully intended to go to her morning macro economics class but her feet it seemed had other ideas.It was therefore no real surprise to her that she finally stopped her long walk outside that same door in the professor's wing of the university.

Beth chewed her bottom lip for a minute or two before raising her small hand and gently knocking on the door of one Professor Tandy at nine thirty five in the morning.