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by Saless
Chapter 17
Sean awoke suddenly and felt disoriented and confused. He looked around himself and he was still in his bedroom, but something felt wrong. Then he remembered what happened the previous night. He silently prayed it was just a dream and looked down at himself. Sighing, he saw that it wasn't. Have to remember I'm Sarah now, argh! Why me? she thought. Then she remembered that she had to go to her classes today, as a girl. Grumbling, she got up and went into the bathroom to take a shower. She undressed and looked down at her cursed body. She shuddered and hurried through her shower and threw a robe on and got started on breakfast.
Jill arrived just as Sarah finished mixing the pancake mix. "Have you eaten yet?" Sarah asked. Jill shook her head. "Want some pancakes?"
"Sure, if there's enough." Jill replied.
"I'm not that hungry, there should be plenty." Sarah said. She noticed that Jill was carrying a bag and worried about what kind of clothes she had brought while she cooked up the pancakes.
Jill watched Sarah cook and wondered if Sarah could really handle this, not that there was any real choice. Before long they were slathering on their favorite toppings and eating. Jill helped Sarah clean up afterwards. "I know you're not comfortable with this, so I thought we'd ease you into it gradually. So, no skirt today." Jill said as they worked.
"That's a relief!" Sarah said. They finished cleaning up and Jill picked up her bag and followed Sarah to her room.
"I picked out clothes based on what fit you yesterday. You're still a fair amount taller than me, so I didn't have much that would fit you. Dresses and skirts would work best, but we'll save those for later. We'll probably have to buy you some clothes of your own, though." Jill said as she pulled clothes out of her bag and laid them out on Sarah's bed.
"I'm not going to be a girl that long." Sarah said determinedly.
"Hopefully not, but you can't be sure how long it will take." Jill replied. She left Sarah alone to dress.
A few minutes later Sarah walked out. "Okay, maybe a few things would be a good idea." She admitted. The shorts Jill had left her with were very short indeed, especially on Sarah's long legs, and very tight to boot. The T-shirt was tight enough to emphasize her breasts and small waist. "I'm going to freeze in these." She grumbled, gesturing at the shorts.
"Sorry, but the only things I've got that will fit you are skirts and dresses, and even those are liable to be pretty tight. Did you shave your legs?" Jill asked, looking at Sarah's long smooth legs.
Sarah frowned. "No, I didn't. That's strange."
"It'll probably grow in soon, enjoy it while you can. How are the shoes?" Jill asked, referring to the sandals she'd brought with the clothes.
"They fit okay. I guess if I don't want to freeze to death I'll have to get some clothes after my classes." Sarah said regretfully.
Jill nodded, "It's either that or wear nothing but dresses and skirts and, like I said, they'll probably be pretty tight anyway."
Sarah nodded and picked up her backpack and keys. She stared down at the keys and then turned and held them out to Jill. "I don't have a driver's license anymore, it was destroyed with my wallet when I was cursed. I think you'd better drive."
Jill took the keys. "That could be a problem." She mused. Sarah nodded.
They climbed into Sarah's car and drove over to the college. Sarah was shaking as she climbed out of the car. "It'll be alright, Sarah, try and relax." Jill suggested.
Sarah snorted. "Yeah, right." She scoffed.
Jill sighed as she walked with Sarah to the office. This early in the morning there weren't many people around, which Jill and Sarah were both glad for. They only had to wait for one other person before they were able to talk to someone.
"How may I help you?" the woman at the desk asked.
Sarah was shaking even worse now, so Jill said, "My friend here wants to change her name on her records."
"Do you have a marriage certificate or court order?" the woman asked.
"Uh, no, we don't." Jill said uncertainly.
"Well, I can put a note in her file that she wants to go by a different name, but we can't actually change her name without one or the other." She explained.
"That's fine." Jill replied, realizing this would actually work in Sarah's favor, since she would be changing it back later anyway.
"Okay, what is your old name?" she asked.
"Sean Kinsley." Sarah said softly. She typed into her computer and brought up Sean's information.
"Hmm, that's odd. Looks like we've got you listed as male for some reason. Might as well fix that while I'm at it." She said, typing away.
Jill and Sarah glanced at each other and both decided it was easier to let her believe Sarah had always been female. "What's your new name?" she asked.
"Sarah Kinsley." Sarah replied. The woman looked up for a moment at that.
"Oh, I thought you changed your last name because of marriage, don't get many people changing their first name. Oh well." She said, still typing. After a few moments she stopped and said, "Okay, all done. You'll still need to tell your instructors about your new name, but that's quick and easy. Unless they thought you were a guy!" she said with a laugh. Sarah and Jill laughed with her weakly, knowing they would think she had been a guy, since she had been!
They thanked her and walked on towards the astronomy class. "That was easy." Jill noted.
"Yeah, too bad it won't be that easy with my classes. Maybe you should get the car going and be ready for a quick get away." Sarah joked weakly.
Jill laughed, glad that Sarah was keeping a sense of humor about this. "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be that bad." She said hopefully.
"Here we are. Class starts in just a few minutes, so I'd better go in." Sarah said.
Jill hugged her and whispered, "Good luck!" into her ear and then watched Sarah walk into her class. I hope she can handle this! she thought.
Sarah walked in and was disappointed to see that the instructor wasn't there yet. She took her usual seat and waited. Half the class was there by the time the instructor arrived. Sarah self-consciously walked up to him. "Excuse me, Mr. Verne. I'm changing my name to Sarah. I've already taken care of it at the office but they said I had to talk to you, too." She said fearfully.
Mr. Verne, a fairly young man who was nevertheless almost completely bald, looked up at Sarah and frowned momentarily. "Oh yes, Sean, right? Yes, Sarah suits you much better. I'll make a note in my records." He said off-handedly, as if nothing unusual was going on. Sarah gaped for a moment, then thanked him and hurriedly retreated to her seat.
He took that well, I wonder if he's had transgender students before? Sarah thought as the rest of the class filed in.
A few people gave Sarah odd looks as they sat down, but no one said anything. The only person in class Sarah had ever talked to before was Jim, and only to tell him no when he asked her out. He was late, so he didn't get a chance to say anything, though his gaze turned towards her more than once during class. Each time he had a pleased smile and winked at her. Great, what's he up to now? she thought worriedly.
Class went by as it always did. She was almost surprised by how normal it was, though she felt far from normal. Once class was over she put everything back in her bag and hurried towards the door. Mr. Verne called for her to wait a moment. "Sarah, I just wanted to say that it's nice to see you not hiding yourself away anymore. Still, something a little warmer would be wise, I think." He said with a wry smile. Sarah nodded numbly and hurried out.
Jim caught up with her just as she reached Jill. "Hey, Sean, wait up!" he called out. He ran over and smiled widely at her. "I knew you would look great if you'd stop trying to look like a guy! Want to get lunch? My treat?" he asked hopefully.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "No! How many times do I have to say it?" she growled.
Jim held his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! I'll just have to…try again later!" he finished with a grin, running off to his next class.
When Sarah turned around Jill was looking at her in shock. "What?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah, he thought you'd always been a girl!" Jill whispered.
To Be Continued…
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Comments
You're joking, right?!
I mean, come off it. Jim always thought Sean was a girl!? The teacher too!?
In chapter 1, I distinctly remember you wrote Sean was even larger, bigger, or whatever, than Mike. Who is six foot and a few inches. So Sean had had to be something around six and a half foot. That's six feet and six inches.. I know, here on the continent we use the metric system, so I had to use all my fingers -and some toes- to convert your feet and inches to centimeters, but... Wow! They thought Sean was a girl! A big girl. NWBA big.
That's . . a little steep. Imho. So, but like, wow. I said that already, right? :)
And oh, uh, nice tale. I like it. :D
Jo-Anne
Just wait and see, it's not
Just wait and see, it's not a simple situation, by any means! ;)
Thanks Jo-Anne!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
It's magic!
No, really!
Hey, if Venus can change him to a her, what's so difficult about changing a few memories? Or, maybe reality itself. She is a goddess, after all.
It'll be interesting to see what happens at work.
It's looking more and more like Sarah is going to be stuck that way. We can only hope that it doesn't ruin her relation with Erica -- or maybe Erica will become Eric. Stranger things have happened.
I'm particularly sensitive to that area because the only thing that would bother me if I had a run-in with the SRU wizard or Grandma Bikini Beach or whoever is if it messed up my marriage. The kids, I'm sure, would adapt.
Ray
Maybe Not Quite THAT Steep...
Mike's six feet two inches tall, according to the first chapter. Sean's "even taller", and about ten inches taller than Jill (whose height we don't know), since her head almost reaches his chin. Sarah's tall for a woman -- too tall, at least in the legs, to wear Jill's long pants, though Sarah fits tightly into a pair of her shorts. She can also wear Sean's baggy jeans with the pant legs rolled.
I'm picturing it as about five feet six for Jill (if she's more than five-eight, I think it would have merited mention), six-four for Sean, and five-ten for Sarah. I'd agree, though, that two inches more on each of those wouldn't be out of the question.
(Remember, though, as I noted in another response, that it's only an assumption that the teacher thought Sean was a girl all along, and we're taking Jill's word for Jim thinking Sean was a girl before, though if he wanted to date both Sean and Sarah, he'd either be bi or have so heavy a crush as to make gender unimportant to him. Another alternative, as everyone points out, is that some liberties are being taken with many people's memories or attitudes.)
Eric
So if the whole college
thinks that Sarah was a girl all along, Just what was Erica seeing when she became Sean's girlfriend?... Maybe she liked the girly look and is in someway involved in all of this?
Kirri
Do they?
I've been throwing hints and clues at all of you from the start, but some are intentionally misleading. I'm not saying which kind this one is! ;) It's a lot of fun to see what ideas you come up with. Down side, I have to keep my mouth shut a lot or ruin the surprise!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Maybe the curse
influences people who look at Sarah and makes them think they remember her as a girl, all along? Anything's possible, right? :)
Thanks again Saless!
In this story...
more than any other, anything really is possible! ;)
Thanks grlygrl!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Wondering
Saless you have me wondering just how much of any of this is 'real'. I mean is Sean like Neo in the Matrix and can control reality? Are they all in a dream or hooked up to a computer? Is that why we never hear or see Erica? Whatever it is you certainly have my attention night after night waiting for the next post and more clues! Great Stuff!
Hugs!
grover
Thank you grover, I'm glad
Thank you grover, I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
What If The Curse
Is changing reality? What if Sarah now has Eric as a boyfriend, or Erica is a lesbian? What if Erica is a witch, changing Sean for some reason? What if another dream gives the answer?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
So many 'what ifs'
So many 'what ifs'! Please keep reading...and you'll probably have more! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
You know we will.
I am beginning to consider that Venus, in fact, was not actually aiming to CURSE, but rather to get herself an avatar. So she targeted Jill, but it went off on Sean instead. The power of Venus needs a female vessel, so Sean became Sarah. The power of Venus can change genders (because Greek Gods Are Perverts), so this is where Seanshift came from. Venus is a goddess of beauty, so Sarah is beautiful and groomed without effort. The power also changed the memories about the person, to ensure the vessel to have no problems, but in our days of countless records and high-tech it was not absolutely effective, since Venus probably never knew about those.
OTOH, if this was a CURSE, Jill could have become a male, who was percieved by his acquaintances as a male with overly girly behavior, crossdressing etc. Needless to say, it would have been most unpleasant.
It, however, does NOT give answer to the nature of Erica/Sean relationship post-Venus. It seems that neither Mike and Jill nor Erica are influenced by the memory shift. Possible reasons include:
1)It takes time to kick in, and it did so overnight. Jill and Mike were witnesses and thus are not affected.
2)It does not work on people who are in close relationship with Sean, as strong emotions of friendship and love provide protection more potent than the influence.
3)A variation of the above, it does not work on those who care enough for Sean to accept her whatever state he/she is in.
4)It affects everyone, BUT Jill and Mike were there and, being witnesses, were protected. Erica is special.
The 4th one seems to be the leading version in the readers' minds so far.
The situation itself is very similar to Allystra's Accidental Magic, here on BCTS.
Faraway
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
I hadn't thought of it, but
I hadn't thought of it, but there is a similarity there, isn't there? I hope we'll see more of Accidental Magic soon... ;)
Saless
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
However...
Easiest answer to the memory question at school is that Jill's accompanying Sarah, and if she's the vehicle for these changes as some suspect, she could be deflecting any potential problems. (The fact that she was outside the classroom door, or had magically sneaked in unseen, seems relatively minor.)
But I'm not sure everyone really WAS affected. People did register that something was different:
A few people gave Sarah odd looks as they sat down, but no one said anything.
It could be that they were surprised to see her dressed for summer in late fall, or that (as Jill says about Jim -- remember that we're taking her word for it) they thought she was female but had never dressed in girls' clothes before. But the easiest answer is that until now they always assumed she was a guy (not to mention about six inches taller).
If Jill's the agent here, she might have had to work one-on-one on everyone, and hadn't succeeded in changing everyone in the room yet at that point. But one doesn't have to assume that everyone's thinking differently now.
Eric