When Genesis' grounding was over, her parents let Jesse come over. When Jesse came, he sat right down with Genesis in the living room.

"Hey beautiful," said Jesse. "How's your sister?"

"My dad talked to the doctor this morning," Genesis answered. "He said Ramona's doing a little better. She's staying awake for longer periods of time."

"Ah," said Jesse. "Has her hair started falling out yet?"

"What?"

"You know when you do chemotherapy, your hairs starts to fall out?"

"Oh, she's not quite there yet," said Genesis.

Jesse nodded. "Well, hopefully Megan will teach you a healing spell soon," he said. "Then she won't have to get to that point."

"Let's hope so." Genesis tossed a strand of hair over her shoulder before saying "What about you? How are you doing?"

"Pretty good," said Jesse. "I went to my school's Senior Banquet last night."

"Ooh," said Genesis. Jesse had told her about that the day before. She'd wanted to go to support her boyfriend, but it was the last day of her grounding, so she couldn't. "Did you win any awards?"

"Yep. I won Most Likely To Be President."

Genesis laughed. "Jesse Pindle for President," she said.

"Well, I'll definitely be better than Trump. Or Biden."

"Oh yeah, definitely," said Genesis. "Especially Trump."

"I know, right?" said Jesse. "I can't believe people still support him."

"Definitely."

"Oh, and I also got invited to a party tonight," said Jesse. "It's being held at my friend Carl Raxton's house. Wanna come?"

"Sure!"

***

Carl Raxton's house was one of the fanciest buildings Genesis had ever seen. It was three stories high with columns, balconies, and a finely tiled roof. The lawn and hedges were neatly trimmed, and the gates and fences were made of a dark metal. The property must've cost hundreds of thousands of dollars at least.

"Whoa," Genesis said when she and Jesse pulled up in front of the house. "Imagine if Megan saw this place."

"I know," said Jesse. "Her mom could never afford something like this." He put his car in Park and said "You might wanna be careful. Carl's parents are kind of strict about keeping their house clean-even when they're having a big party like this."

"Got it." Genesis and Jesse got out of the car and went up to the front door. Already, they could hear music blaring inside.

Before they could even knock, the door was opened by Carl Raxton. He was a six-foot-tall guy with short black hair and green eyes. "Hey Jesse," said Carl. Noticing Genesis, he grinned and added "I see you've brought your baby."

Jesse put his arm around Genesis' shoulder. "Yep, I did," he said.

"Well, welcome to the party," said Carl. "Come on in and have fun!"

Inside, Genesis and Jesse saw that there were already a lot of other kids there. They were talking with one another while eating pizza and chips and playing party games. "Wow," Genesis said, looking around. "This is a great party."

"Yeah, it really is," said Jesse.

"Hey Jesse!" said a guy Genesis recognized as Michael Benson. She'd met Michael once before when Jesse introduced her to him. "Wanna do a round of Battlefront 2?"

"Sure!" said Jesse. "Genesis, want to join?"

"I'll pass," said Genesis. She'd tried playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 with Jesse and Michael before, and she'd been absolutely creamed.

"Your loss," said Michael.

While Jesse went to go play with Michael, Genesis went to get some food from the food table. As she was getting a plate of pizza and Doritos, she ran into another girl about her age. "Oh hey," said Genesis.

"Hi," said the other girl. She was short and blonde, with a thinned-out face and a wiry body frame. The tank top and short shorts she was wearing somehow made her look even thinner. If she claimed to only eat one meal a day, Genesis would've believed her. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tina," the other girl answered. "Tina Peters. What's your name?"

"Genesis Rookwood."

Tina's eyebrows shot up. "So you're Jesse's girlfriend," she said.

"Yeah, I am," said Genesis. "How did you know?"

"Because I go to school with Jesse," said Tina. "I have English and Calculus with him."

"Ah," said Genesis.

"So how did you and him meet?"

"I got an internship at the lab where he was working," Genesis answered.

"Oh yeah. The one that just put out that gender-changing serum."

"Yep."

"You know, my cousin got the serum," said Tina."

"What?"

"My cousin Brianna was a closeted trans man," Tina explained. "But when Pride Laboratories put out their gender-changing serum, she took it. Now she's a he. And he goes by Brian now."

"That's great," said Genesis. "Are you a senior?"

"I am," said Tina.

"Me too," said Genesis.

"Do you have a job?"

"Not yet. How about you?"

"I work at Tommy's Burgers."

"Really? My friend Charlotte just started working there."

"Oh, that's so cool!" said Tina.

Tina paused when she heard someone calling her. "Oh, I gotta go," said Tina. "But it was nice meeting you."

"You too," said Genesis.

***

Genesis mingled with some of the other people at the party while Jesse did his video game rounds with Michael. Eventually, she was talking to Carl Raxton when she saw Jesse come back into the kitchen area and get a glass of fruit punch.

"There he is," Genesis said to herself. But before she could go up to Jesse, she saw Tina approach him. Jesse put down his drink so he could talk to Tina.

"What's wrong?" Carl asked.

"Oh-nothing," said Genesis.

Carl followed Genesis' gaze and saw Tina talking to Jesse. "Oh, Tina Peters," Carl chuckled. "That girl is so..."

"Sweet?"

"Well...yeah, she is," said Carl. "But she can also be kind of flirty with guys."

That should've worried Genesis, but it didn't. Jesse was faithful to her. Surely he wouldn't fall for a girl like Tina who-

"Wait," said Genesis. "What's she doing?"

Carl squinted and saw what Genesis saw. Tina was affectionately taking Jesse's hand-and he didn't even seem to be objecting! On the contrary, he seemed totally into it. He finished drinking from his fruit punch cup and then took Tina's other hand. "What the...is he actually..."

Genesis and Carl couldn't hear what Jesse and Tina were saying over the rest of the noise from the party. Without thinking, Genesis started towards Jesse and Tina. Which probably wasn't the best idea, but she did not like what she saw.

When she was within earshot, Genesis could hear Jesse saying "Yeah, you are really hot," to Tina.

Genesis' jaw dropped. She watched in horror as Jesse took Tina in for a kiss. The two of them kissed passionately, as if they were trying to eat each other's faces. "Hey!" Genesis shouted.

Jesse broke free of Tina and looked at Genesis. He looked a little woozy, as if he'd had a shot of alcohol. "What the...Genesis..."

"What are you doing?" Genesis asked. "Cheating on me?"

Jesse wilted guiltily. "Genesis, I...I'm sorry..."

Genesis shook her head. "Oh, Jesse," she said. "I thought you said you wouldn't cheat on me!"

"Please...I can explain..."

"Oh, Genesis," said Tina. "I should've told you. Jesse's been hitting on me for weeks! Just last week he said he was thinking about breaking up with you!"

"WHAT?"

"No, I didn't," said Jesse. "At least...I don't think so..."

Genesis slapped her forehead. "Jesse...how could you do this to me?"

"Genesis..."

Genesis' first instinct was to yell at Jesse that they were breaking up. But then she remembered what Megan had told her, and she got an even better idea. "Save it. I know just what to do with you."

"What..."

Genesis placed her hand on Jesse's shoulder. She mustered up as much of her magic as she could, since this would be a pretty major transformation. She imagined Jesse as a girl, just like how Mirna had imagined Gene as Genesis. Before her very eyes, Jesse started to change. He shrank in height, his hair grew out, his body lost fat, his pectoral muscles swelled into boobs, his package shrunk down into a vagina, and his thighs thickened while his legs slimmed out.

Jessie gasped when she felt her new body. "What-Genesis!"

"That's what you get," said Genesis. "You cheat on a girl who's a witch, you get turned into a girl. Then maybe you'll learn a lesson about cheating on your girlfriend."

"But you can't do this!" Jessie protested. "You can't turn me into a girl!"

"Oh, don't worry," said Genesis. "I'll change you back. Eventually."

Jessie glared at Genesis. "So you're gonna make me live my life as a girl? For how long?"

"As long as it takes for you to feel remorse."

"Then we're through," said Jessie. "We're breaking up." She turned and stormed off toward the front door.

Tina, who had been mesmerized by the whole affair, watched as Jessie left the party. "Did you really have to do that?" she asked.

Genesis closed her eyes. In the midst of her anger at Jessie, she was also feeling despair blooming inside of her. "Well...he did cheat on me," she said.

"You're right," said Tina.

"I never thought he'd actually do that," said Genesis. "Jesse and I, we..."

"Hey, it's okay," said Tina. "I totally get it."

"Do you think he-or she-will forgive me?"

"Maybe she will. Once she's learned whatever lesson you want her to learn."

Truthfully, Genesis wasn't sure what she was expecting Jessie to learn as a girl. Did she want her to end up with a cheating boyfriend of her own? Or did she just want Jessie to see how rough life could really be for a woman? Now that her anger was dying down, and the rational part of her was kicking into high gear, she really wasn't sure.

"Don't worry," said Tina. "You'll be okay."

To be continued...