“What's wrong with Petra?” Ella asked, as her group arrived back at the beach house.

“We're not sure,” Clarice said. “She was almost run over by a riding dragon, and was saved by Reginald. But they both ended up naked when a street cleaner sucked up their clothes. She was shaken up, but we got them some replacement clothes and everything seemed OK. Well, OK by Petra's standards at least. After we got to the second location, she asked Reginald to be in a picture. She took a few shots, then ran away screaming. We found her here a little while ago, curled up in the chair punching her pelvis.”

My friends looked at Clarice in confusion. Then they turned to me, looking even more confused. For my part, I just stayed sitting in the chair, wrapped up in a light blanket, holding a cup of tea the staff had kindly made for me, trying not to think about how good looking Reginald was.

Stupid Reginald, why did he have to look so handsome?

I realized what I'd just thought, and whimpered. He wasn't handsome or cute. He was annoying and deserved to be hit over the head with a club. And I didn't get butterflies in my stomach when he looked at me.

“OK, this is weird, even for Petra,” Naomi said. “Did she do anything else before running away?”

“She kept side-eying Reginald, while acting nervous. She played with her hair a lot, and kept looking away whenever he glanced at her,” Gold said.

All the girls went, “Oh!” and Honey Suckle's eyes got very large.

“All right,” Ella said, “let me deal with this. We're going out for dinner in about two hours, so get cleaned up and relax until you need to get ready.”

Dinner. I shuddered at the thought.

We were supposed to have it with the Stirling's who were taking us all to the most expensive place in the city. It was Reginald's parents way of apologizing to us for him trying to kill me. Of course Ella had accepted because it was the polite thing to do. It would also give us another useful character witness that we clearly weren't planning anything criminal.

“Come on Petra. You and I need to talk in your room,” my best friend said.

“I don't wanna. Something is going to go horribly wrong and I'll end up humiliated, horribly injured, or dead.” I wasn't proud of whining, but after my day? Month? Life? I thought I deserved some self pity.

“Too bad,” she said.

Grabbing my arm, she pulled me to my feet. She didn't let go as we went to my room on the second floor that overlooked the beach. There was a small balcony we could use but Ella sat us both down on a comfy love seat. Wrapping my hand in hers, she gave me a tiny, sympathetic smile.

“So you have a crush on Reginald.” It wasn't a question, just stating a fact.

“I don't want too! I just couldn't stop looking at his body and remembering what it felt like being held by him.”

“He is handsome. And he saved your life, or at least kept you from having to go to the hospital. Don't worry crushes tend to be stupid. You had something scary happen and your feelings are overreacting.”

“But I don't want to like boys. I like girls, I always have.”

“OK. I understand.”

I reluctantly pulled my hand free of hers so I could hide my face. I felt like crying, or maybe screaming, and I didn't want her to see me like that. “What am I going to do?”

Ella put her arm over my shoulder, and leaned against me. I was very aware of her flowery perfume, her thick hair brushing against my ear and cheek, her soft body pressed firmly against mine. It made me feel a lot like I did when I looked at Reginald, right down to the butterflies, which just made me even more confused.

“You've been transformed a lot. And most of the spells and potions weren't exactly legal or worried about side affects. Your body, mind and hormones are probably all over the place. And you had the shape of a lust demon for a few days, that can't be healthy. So it's probably natural to feel all mixed up and confused. What do you want to do about it?”

“I don't want to stare at Reginald's butt whenever he's around, or wonder what it would feel like kissing him.”

“How do you keep from looking at my butt all the time?”

The room should have caught fire from the heat that came off my blushing cheeks. If it had been humanly possible I would have disappeared on the spot. Fur erupted from my arms and my breasts vanished, replaced by a boyish chest.

“I was not expecting that,” Ella said. “Petra, you don't have to be embarrassed at liking me. I'm actually flattered by it, even though I'm not looking for a relationship right now. Like I told you before, you've been a perfect gentleman for the most part. You have a goofy smile sometimes, and I know you sneak peeks, but you don't leer or stare.”

I squirmed a little, trying to deal with my bikini top that was now empty and sagging. It gave me a moment to think about what to say. “But you're not Reginald.”

“And I'm eternally grateful for that. I can't believe his parents managed to raise such an arrogant, muscle brain. But that's not the point.” She squeezed my shoulder to show her support. “You're suffering from a temporary crush. He's a very handsome young man. Even boys would have to admit it. You also have strong feelings for him, and he just saved your life. With your current... confusion it's easy to see how it happened.”

She gave me a moment to think about it before continuing. “Now, you just need to keep yourself under control for a week or two and you won't see him for months. That will give you enough time to get over the crush. And if you come home with me for vacation we'll have you all fixed up and back to being a boy when you see him again.”

“But what if I do something around him?”

“Are you planning on jumping him and giving him a kiss? Slapping his butt? Asking to see his sword?”

“NO!” I wanted to throw up just thinking about those things. Although the sudden heat and butterflies in my stomach seemed to want to do something else. I was tempted to punch myself again but I already had a bruise from doing that.

“All right then. Keep it to a few quick glances, and some awkwardness and you'll be fine. And look on the bright side, he already thinks you want to seduce him. This will just confirm his beliefs and he'll make sure to never be alone with you, or anywhere that things could get slightly romantic.”

She made it sound so easy, I could almost believe her. But then I realized there was a problem.

“What are we going to tell him about my running away earlier?” I asked.

“A spider landed on your hand. It scared you. Why did you run away screaming anyways?”

I blushed again. “I'd rather not say.”

Reginald sat on the couch beside his mother. He was wearing sensible clothes again, not the hideous, fashion disaster that he'd been forced to wear after the humiliating experience earlier that day with the temptress Petra.

“I'm quite proud of you Reginald,” his mother said. “You saved Petra twice. And while it must have been very embarrassing, you didn't overreact when you had the wardrobe malfunction. Before that happened were you having a good time?”

“It was... tolerable,” he admitted. Clarice and Gold had been fine, and even Petra hadn't annoyed him too much. They had really liked taking pictures, which had taken up a lot of time they could have been doing something interesting. Still he knew girls liked taking pictures, so he'd tried not to be impatient and had even joined in a little.

She grinned and patted his knee. “That's great. Maybe tomorrow it will OK.”

“I don't know about that. The way that Petra ran away screaming for no reason, I'm not sure if she'll want to do anything tomorrow. Or they may throw her in a mental hospital to get her head examined. It would do her some good.”

“Hey, be nice. We don't know what happened, so don't assume the worst. Now do you have some pictures?”

Pulling out two demon eyes, his own and the one Petra had dropped he handed them over.

Taking a magic mirror, his mother impaled Petra's onto a pop up needle. The last ten pictures appeared on the reflective surface. They showed Reginald standing in front of an old tavern. He was wearing the too small shorts and shirt. His face glowed red as he was reminded of that humiliation.

The first few pictures were fine, showing a lot of the building with him being almost an afterthought. Then they began focusing more on him. There was a close up of his face, then his chest. And then there was the final picture, a very close up shot of his crotch.

“Well...” his mother said, removing the demon eye. “I... She's an interesting girl.”

Somehow Reginald's blush grew even brighter.

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Doom Valley Prep School will be updated every Monday. My other story Necromancer Unmanned will be updated every Tuesday.

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