The next few days were pretty much the same old routine other than basketball practice after school. The time passed quickly and soon the school week was over. Looking back I still find it amazing how normal life seemed now that I’d got used to all this girl stuff I have to do.

I was really looking forward to Saturday. I was going to be going on my first official date with Amy. I had a hard time going to sleep Friday night and was late to wake up Saturday morning. I rolled out of bed, but really wanted to crawl back under the covers. I felt like crap. My nose was all stuffed up and my throat was a little sore. ‘How am I sick? I have healing powers!’ I walked over to my window and started absorbing the morning sunlight. I could feel the energy bottling up inside me, and my throat seemed to get better, but my nose stayed all plugged up.

Promising myself that I wouldn’t let a little cold mess up my date, I went about getting ready for my day. I tried my best to look a bit more boyish for Amy, but at 4’10” with long hair, a pretty face and B-cups, it’s not really possible to have my image say ‘boy’. Girls jeans, a tee and a baggy hoody and I was ready to leave. I looked out the window and it was sort of half snowing, half raining, as the snow melted in the warm air. I grabbed my eCom and put it in my pocket before heading out of the house, yelling a quick goodbye to my parents as I went through the door.

I was about halfway down the block when my eCom went off.  “Hello?” I answered.

“Nura,” said Mom. “You’re going to the mall, right?”

“For a little bit, why?”

“I’m going to transfer some money to your eCom. You need to get yourself something nice to wear at our picnic with your Grandparents tomorrow.”

“What’s wrong with what I already have?” I asked.

“Because you don’t have much in the way of dressy casual,” replied Mom.

“Dressy casual? What’s that?”

“Well you have plenty of nice skirts for school, and you have lots of jeans and shorts for being casual. But you don’t really have much in the way of casual skirts and dresses. It’s a picnic, so it’s not like I want you to buy yourself a party dress. Just a casual skirt, like a denim one or something like that.”

“Oh, okay, yeah. I can get one of those.”

~~~

“Sir, the cage is complete. We’ve field tested it with high energy signatures, it should withstand her energy as well.”

“Good. Await my command to commence the mission.”

~~~

I was sitting perched on the top of a light post waiting for Amy when I saw her rushing towards the mall, followed by what appeared to be a pack of squirrels. It looked like they were chasing her, so it was time for me to come to the rescue. I leapt off the top of the pole and landed right between the squirrels and Amy. I let out a low feline growl, something I didn’t even know I could do, and the squirrels froze in place, so I turned towards Amy, “You okay?”

“Yeah, they’ve just been following me. It’s weird,” said Amy. “Where did you come from anyway? You just dropped out of the sky.”

I was about to answer her when I was suddenly pounced on by two dozen squirrels. I let out a small burst of energy and they were thrown off but were right back on me within seconds.

“STOP!” shouted Amy. I froze. So did the squirrels. “Leave her alone and go away!” the squirrels dropped off me and looked at Amy before running away.

“Amy, how did you do that?”

“I have no idea. That’s the second time that animals have listened to what I tell them to do.”

“That is weird, maybe it’s a power you got from Morfs,” I said. “You should have Trance check it out sometime.”

~~~

“So what do you want to do?” I asked Amy as we walked into the mall. “We could do a movie, but matinees don’t start until around 2pm.”

“We could do some shopping,” said Amy. “I’ve always wanted a boyfriend who would go shopping with me, and maybe we can even make out a bit in the change rooms when no one is looking.”

“Uhhhh …” what was I supposed to say to that? “Okay, shopping it is. Mom wants me to pick up something to wear tomorrow. We’re having a family picnic with my Grandparents.”

“Ooh, when I’m finished with you you’ll be the cutest little granddaughter ever.”

“Amy, you really want to do that? Wouldn’t you rather have me look like a guy?”

“Nura,” chuckled Amy. “No offense Sweetie, but there’s no way you’d look like a guy, no matter what you were wearing.” I wasn’t happy to hear that but unfortunately I knew it was the truth. “Hey, cheer up. All that macho stuff is overrated anyway.”

“So what store you want to go to first? I honestly have no idea what to look for,” I said. “This is the first time I’ve been shopping without being dragged around from store to store.”

“There’s a really good store over here. I’m thinking we should get you a nice sundress. Something that’s going to be light and comfortable, but at the same time, look really pretty.” Amy grabbed my hand in hers and I followed her through the mall.

We arrived at a store that was crawling with girls our age. Amy and I both joined in and started rummaging through the racks of clothing. It still seemed weird to be picking out dresses for myself, so I had to mentally remove myself from the equation and just picked out dresses that I thought would look good on Amy, but in my size of course. After about half an hour we headed to the back of the store to use the change rooms. We each had an armload of clothes, containing both things for ourselves, and for each other. I had to admit to myself that I was having a lot of fun just shopping with Amy. We would each try something on and then come out and model it for the other. I was about halfway through my pile of clothes when I pulled out a sundress with a halter style neck. The material of the dress was really thin and felt really soft. I slipped it on and took a look in the mirror, immediately falling in love with that dress. The skirt ended just above my knees.

It fit me perfectly. I stepped out of the change room to model it for Amy and I could tell by the look on her face that she liked how it looked too. I turned towards the mirror and did a little twirl. The shimmery fabric sparkled prettily in the light.

“I think that’s the one for you,” said Amy as she came up behind me. “They had that one in a few colours, so I think you should get a couple, though you need to wear a different bra ‘cus of the halter top.”

“I have some at home already, the bras that is. I’m going to get this one and I think I have a few of the other colours in my pile already.”

I went back to my change room and tried on the remaining dresses and skirts. The other colours of that dress looked good on me too, and they went into the pile of things to buy. I liked a few other dresses, too, so they also went in that pile.

Once we were finished, Amy and I went to pay, and after swiping my eCom and taking my receipt, we both headed towards the movie theater with a few bags full of clothes. I bought our tickets and we went inside. We got seats in the theater before I went to get some food for us while Amy guarded our bags. I had a huge smile on my face when I returned to our seats. The day was going so well. If only I could get rid of this stuffy nose, then it would be perfect.

We were both chatting away waiting for the movie to start when I looked over and saw something very strange. Amy’s hand was completely black. It startled me, and it was a few seconds before I could think of what to say. I ended up just saying her name and pointing to her hand.

“What’s going on!?” she exclaimed holding her hand up in from of her. Before both our eyes, her hand quickly changed back to its normal coloring. I could tell she was close to freaking out, but I, on the other hand was recalling what we had learned in class last week about Cell Shifters.

“Amy, it’s alright. I think I know what’s happening. I think you just discovered an ability you got from Morfs.”

“What, the ability to turn my hand black?” remarked Amy with nervous sarcasm.

“I think you can do a lot more than that. Remember when we were swimming and you kept messing with me in the water and I couldn’t see you?”

. Amy nodded. “Well I think that’s because you changed colours. I caught a glimpse of a hand when you grabbed my ankle, but it was totally white and blended in perfectly with the white sand.”

“So you’re saying I can become whatever colour I want?”

“I think so.  It’s called cell shifting. Basically, through concentration you should be able to change the colour of any cell in your body. Here,” I said, taking her hand in mine, “ Just concentrate on your hand being the same colour as my fur.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” Nothing happened at first, but after a moment her hand started to darken until it was the same charcoal color as my fur. “I did it!” she exclaimed. She held her hand up and turned it green, then red, then back to its normal color.

“You should get Trance to take a look at that, too.”

“I will, now let’s enjoy the movie, it’s starting.” I leaned my head against her shoulder and she put her arm around my waist. I know it seems backwards, but with her being bigger than me, I often find myself taking the female role in our relationship.

~~~

“Captain, prepare the soldiers. By Monday we will have her in our custody. Then we’ll find how exactly she’s creating this unknown energy.”

~~~

“So what now?” I asked, after stealing a quick kiss while we were still alone in the girls’ room.

“I was thinking maybe we could go over to Trance’s and see if he can help me figure this cell shifting out.”

“Okay, but I want you show you something on the way there,” I said as I took her hand and we walked out of the mall. The rain and snow had stopped and it was now another beautiful sunny day in Sun City. “Okay, I need you to hold all our bags for this to work, okay?”

“I guess so.” She held our bags to her chest and I quickly picked her up in my arms. “Sanura, what are you doing?”

“Just trust me,” I said as I crouched down. I leapt into the air and landed softly on the roof of the mall before jumping again. Amy kept her eyes closed tightly and let out a little squeal each time I jumped. Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked around as we soared through the air. We traveled quickly and were soon at the Klein household.

“Nura, that was crazy,” stated Amy after I had put her down. “It was like a roller coaster.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. So are we going to tell Trance about, you know, … us?” I asked.

“I guess we should, I know we can trust him to keep it a secret,” said Amy.

*Two beautiful young women, seeking male companionship, journey long and hard until they approach the man they have been searching for.*

*Trance, knock it off and let us in your house,* I said to the booming voice in our heads. After a few minutes the door opened and Trance waved us inside.

“I was only kidding, Nura. I know you two only have eyes for each other,” said Trance. Amy whipped around and looked from Trance to me and then back to Trance before raising her eyebrows.

“How … do you know that,” asked Amy.

“Umm … you guys do remember that I’m psychic, right?”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Stop reading our minds then.”

“Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“Amy wants you to take a look inside her head and help her figure out her powers. I’m pretty sure she’s a cell shifter.”

“Okay, you want to do this right now Amy?”

“Yeah, I want to figure this out. Nura told me you set up some triggers for her powers. Can you do that for me too?” asked Amy.

“I’ll have to see. The triggers have to already be there, I just kind of unlock the,” said trance. “Now just sit down and relax and try to clear your mind.”

~~~

“Sir?”

“What is it, son?”

“We just got a report that they’re going after that girl again. How should we proceed?”

“Normally I would say that we should set up a counter strike, or get to the girl before they do. I feel like that would be a mistake, though. It’s against my better judgment but I’m going to trust my gut with this one. For now, just keep a watch on the girl; this is an opportunity to let them lead us to their HQ. I also have a feeling that they don’t realize what they’re dealing with, with this girl. They know she has some powers and that she can take out their trained men, but we know that she can take out a group of elite morf agents.”

“So we just let them take her? Even knowing how much power that will give them?”

“We’re not giving them any power unless they can break her will, and from what I’ve seen, that won’t be done easily. No, from what I’ve seen her do, we’re going to let them take her, if they can, and then we’ll sit back and watch her destroy the place trying to get out.”

~~~

“Okay, now picture yourself with white skin,” said Trance. Amy’s skin quickly bleached out. “Okay, now lets try something a little more difficult. Put your hand on the table. Now picture your hand with the same wood grain as the table.” Amy’s hand changed to the colour of the wood. “Okay, you’re doing good, but concentrate on duplicating the grain pattern that the table has.”

Slowly, the dark wood grain started to appear on the back of Amy’s hand.  “Wow! My hand blends right in with the table. This is so cool!” she exclaimed. “Too bad there’s no real practical use for this.”

“Are you kidding? You can pretty much throw out all your makeup now that you can do this,” I said.

“I hadn’t even thought of that,” said Amy as she stood up and walked over to the hallway mirror. She was already wearing pretty light make up, but after a moment, her lips turned a deep rich red, her eyelids took on a shade of copper and her eyelashes darkened to a rich black.

“Did you just change the colour of your eyelashes?” asked Trance. Amy nodded. “Try changing your hair and eye colours.” The whites of Amy’s eyes changes to a deep blue as the iris changed to white. Her beautiful autumn tones hair changed to a dark black, similar to my own.

“Nura? Could I talk to Amy for a minute, in private?” asked Trance.

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine. But I want her back when you’re done,” I said jokingly. I wandered outside and sat down under a tree in Trance’s front yard. ‘I wonder what they’re talking about.’

~~~

“Amy, you have another ability that I want to talk to you about,” said Trance. Amy reverted to her normal looks and sat down at the table across from Trance.

“What other ability do I have?”

“You’re a Tamer.”

“A what?” questioned Amy.

“A Tamer, someone who can tame or control animals through the use of special pheromones. You have those pheromones all around you, but only animals can sense them. Has Sanura done anything irrational around you since you morfed?”

“She kissed me, totally out of the blue, at our sleepover last week,” said Amy. “And she’s been acting a little weird around me, not anything big, but not herself. She’s been quieter, and I’ve caught her just watching me a few times. She got in trouble in class for not paying attention a few times ’cus she was busy looking at me.”

“That’s what I figured,” said Trance.

“But she’s been acting normal around me all day,” disputed Amy.

“That’s because she has a cold,” said Trance. Amy raised an eyebrow at him. “I haven’t seen her breathe through her nose yet and she sounds a bit congested.”

“Oh … so you think she’s going out with me just because of my pheromones?”

“I wouldn’t say that. She definitely likes you. The fact that she still has those feelings for you despite her lack of a sense of smell says a lot for how she really feels for you. The pheromones aren’t helping her though,” said Trance. “Which is why I want to set up one of those mental triggers on your pheromones for you.”

“You can do that?” asked Amy.

“The trigger is there, I just have to unlock it and teach you how to use it. Close your eyes.  We’ll get this done quickly.

~~~

‘What am I suppose to do with these tickets now?’ thought Colin. ‘So much for surprising Nura with them. She did say she still wanted to be friends, why can’t we go to the concert just as friends?’

‘Because she’ll think you’re just asking her out on a date, idiot.’

‘Maybe I should just give them to her and she can take her girlfriend with her. I can’t believe she broke up with me for another girl!’

~~~

“I had a really good time today, Nura. Thanks.”.

“It was my pleasure,” I said as I rose up on my tiptoes, and luckily, Amy leaned down just a bit so that I could give her a kiss. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later.”

“Okay, see ya later,” said Amy. She gave me one more kiss before opening the door and going into her house.

I still had that warm fuzzy feeling as I soared through the air while I jumped home. I landed on the back patio, where Dad was busy cooking what smelled like chicken on the barbeque.

“Hey there, Kitten. Dinner’s almost ready. Can you go set the table?” asked Dad. I nodded my reply and then went inside to get some plates and silverware. Despite the earlier precipitation, it was now nice and sunny, so I set the outside table. Actually, it was a bit too sunny and I had to keep squinting to see I was doing. I complained about it to Dad, who just told me it wasn’t that bad. I finished setting the table and went to get some drinks, but the moment I walked outside I was once again hit in the face with the blinding glare from the sun. Both my arms were full of stuff, so I was unable to shield my eyes. That’s when I cam up with a brilliant plan and formed a very thin energy shield in front of my eyes in the shape of some stylish sunglasses. The shield probably cut out around eighty percent of the light and with my ability to see in low lighting, it worked out great. I kept the shield up and just lounged around on the deck sipping some lemonade until dinner was put on the table.

Mom ushered Crystal out to the table, saying that she needed to eat something. Crystal looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She was wearing pajamas and looked really tired.

“Hey Crystal, you just wake up or something?” I asked innocently.

“I’m sick, okay!” she snapped back at me.

“Fine. Sorry I asked.”

The meal was good and I told Mom and Dad all about my date. It struck me as odd that my parents didn’t mention anything about me now dating Amy after being with Colin. ‘Maybe they just think the thing with Colin was just a phase, which I guess it probably was.’

After dinner I helped Mom clear the table while Crystal went back to bed and Dad cut the grass. After we finished cleaning up, Mom scooped the three of us some ice cream. I was content to just sit out on the patio, licking my ice cream cone and letting my hair be carried on the gentle evening breeze. For the first time since I morfed I felt truly happy with my life.

Things weren’t perfect but I had a family that loved me and a girlfriend which I was pretty sure that I loved and just sitting there relaxing, I felt comfortable in who I was.

~~~

“Well you’re up early,” commented Mom as she came into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee pot.

“Not that early,” I said, glancing up from the frying pan to look at Mom. “I’m making eggs and sausage. You want some?”

“I’d love some, Sweetie, and I’m sure your father will, too. He’s just checking on Crystal and then he’ll be down,” said Mom. I went over to the freezer and pulled out another pack of sausages since Dad would be joining us. “By the way, I like that dress on you. It’s very pretty.”

“Thanks, Mom. Amy and I both liked it as soon as we saw it.” I continued cooking away while Mom sat at the table nursing her cup of coffee. Dad came downstairs and came up behind me. If I hadn’t heard him coming, I would have been startled as he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug from behind. What did startle me was when he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time Dad had done anything like that. Not since I was a toddler at least. “Uhh … morning, Dad.”

I dished up our food and took it over to the table. “is Crystal going to be eating?” I asked.

“No.” Dad shook his head. “She’s not feeling very well. I’m not sure whether she’s going to come on our picnic today either. I know she wants to, but she really is feeling sick.”

“Is this like the flu, or what?” I inquired.

“She’s got a stomach flu, she should get over it soon,” said Mom.

“Maybe its Morfs,” I commented. “You morfed when you were her age, Dad.”

“That’s true, and I suppose it could be Morfs. We’ll have to wait and see.”

***

“Hey, Sis,” I said as I knocked on her open door. “Can I come in?” She waved me in and I took a seat on the edge of her bed. “So how ya feeling?”

“I’ve felt better. So you ready for the picnic?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am. Are you going to go?” She nodded her head. “Well if you need anything, let me know. We all want you to get better.”

“Sanura?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you being so nice to me? We’re usually always fighting.” Crystal looked over at me and I could see the pain in her eyes. I didn’t like seeing that.

“We used to fight because you would always bug me, and I usually saw you as my annoying little sister. But … now that I’m a girl too, I just figured we could probably relate to each other better as sisters then we did as brother and sister. I just thought that maybe we could be more like friends. I do need your help with this whole being a girl thing too.”

Crystal put down her hair brush, walked over to sit beside me and put her hand on my paw.  “So you really want to be sisters?”

“Well, technically we already are, but I want us to have a friendship like most sisters do.”

“Oh Sanura!” she exclaimed as she hugged the air out of me. “I’ve always wanted a big sister. This will be so much fun. And if you need any help with learning girl’s stuff, just let me know and I’ll do my best to help!”

“There is one thing,” I said. I held up the new curling iron Mom had bought me. “How do I use one of these?”

“Come sit in front of the mirror and I’ll show you.”

~~~

It was short drive to the park where we were going to have our picnic. It was another beautiful sunny day and I was once again wear my energy shield as sunglasses. Crystal had done a great job curling my hair and I was still getting used to the feeling of the curls bouncing around my head. Mom had insisted on taking a picture of my curly hair before we left the house.

I pulled the truck into the parking lot and parked it beside Aunt Mika’s van. I killed the engine and Dad made a big production of unclenching his hands from the seat. We got out and I helped Dad carry stuff over to the picnic area while Mom and a sick Crystal went and sat down with the family that had already arrived. I was carrying a big cooler, about my own size, over to the picnic table with little effort when Aunt Mika’s son, my cousin Alex rushed over to me.

“Here, let me get that from you,” he said, taking the cooler from me. He seemed to struggle a lot more than I had been with the weight. “A girl your size shouldn’t be doing this kinda stuff.” I wasn’t sure whether to be lazy and let him unload the rest with Dad or to be offended, as my masculine pride was being severely beaten. Alex stumbled with the large cooler again and I went over to him.

“Here,” I said as I put my hand under the middle of the cooler and lifted it with one hand. “Go see if my Dad has anything else to unload if you really want to help. I can handle this little cooler by myself. I’m a big girl.” I carried the cooler over to the table and set it down. When I turned back around, Alex was still standing in the same spot, mouth open, looking defeated. I just walked past him with a smug smile on my face. Dad was carrying the barbeque over, so I closed the trunk and locked up the truck before heading back to where my family was.

I knew that Aunt Mika and Uncle Jack and their kids  were there, and Aunt Roselle and Uncle Nathan had just pulled into the parking lot with their car. They got out and enlisted their kids to carry stuff over to where we were. Something was different and it took only seconds to spot the difference, there was an extra kid with them. I recognized my cousin Logan, but the unhappy looking girl beside him was definitely a new face, even though she looked like she could be related to us. In fact, she looked a lot like Logan. I glanced around at the rest of the family and the rest of my cousins looked just as confused as I felt.

“Well I think there’s some introductions in order,” Uncle Nathan announced. “There are some new faces in the family this year.”

“I think we should wait for Mom and Dad to get here first, Nate,” said Dad as he sat down next to Mom. “And we might as well wait for the rest of the family too. Kaylie and Dan both said they’d be here with their families. Actually I think that’s Kaylie right now.” Most of us turned to see My Aunt Kaylie getting out of a van with a baby in her arms and a few younger kids piling out of the back seat and being herded over to us by her husband, Uncle Tom.

Uncle Dan, Aunt Lana and their kids arrived at about the same time Grandma and Grandpa did. A bunch of the younger kids ran over to greet our Grandparents, while the teenagers for the most part, stayed where we were. Alex and Logan were recruited to help get stuff from the newly arrived cars. After a few minutes of people running around and finding seats, we were finally all sitting together in a big makeshift circle.

“Okay, Nate,” said Dad. “Now we can do the introductions. I’ll start off. First, I want to thank you all for coming today. I know this was kind of thrown together at the last minute. As many of you know. There have been a few members of our affected by MORFS since we were last together. This picnic was planned so that these members of our family can be re-introduced and shown the love and support that I know this family will show.”

“We’ll start off with my new daughter.” Dad motioned for me to stand up, so I did. He put his hand on my shoulder. “A couple weeks ago, our son Jason had MORFS and underwent a very drastic change. Jason is now our daughter, and her new name is Sanura, although we often call her Nura for short. This change has been really hard on her, but I’m proud of the progress she has already made in adapting to her new self.” To my surprise, I was given a round of applause from my family. I blushed, and trying to be funny, I made an attempt at doing a curtsy. I guessed I did it well enough, because it got all the adults and some of the kids to laugh. “Okay Nathan, your turn.”

Dad and I sat down while Uncle Nate stood up.  “Okay, as many of you have noticed we have another child with us today. I’d like Logan and Laura to stand up, please.” Logan and the unhappy looking girl who I now assumed was Laura, stood and waited for Uncle Nate to continue. “I’d like to introduce all to our son Logan and his twin sister, our new daughter Laura.

“Around the end of February, Logan was diagnosed with MORFS. Over the next week we saw some very strange changes take place. According to the doctors, Logan was splitting into two people, just like a fetus would to produce identical twins. We were worried that the two of them would end up as conjoined twins, but by the end of the week they had split apart completely. We’re not quite sure how Logan split into both a male and female child, but the important thing is that they’re both healthy. Laura also apparently has all of Logan’s memories, so you don’t need to treat her as a new person as she already knows all of you. Just try to support her as she is just as new to being a girl as Sanura is.” Again, we all clapped and I made a mental note that I needed to talk with my new cousin.

“Okay, I guess we’ll go next.”  Aunt Mika stood up and dragged her daughter Mandy to her feet with her. “ Mandy here just finished morfing last week. She’s a telekinetic, but doesn’t have full control of that yet. So if you see stuff floating around her, please just ignore it.” Mandy was blushing bright red as she and Aunt Mika sat down.

Uncle Dan stood next and said, “I think we’re the only ones who haven’t made our Morfs announcement yet. Unless Kaylie has anything?” he looked at his sister, but Aunt Kaylie just shook her head. Her kids were way too young to get Morfs. “Okay then, as we all know, our family tends to have a few hybrids and we’ve got a new one in our house.”

My cousin James, who was the oldest of all my cousins at age nineteen, stood up. “We had all assumed that James here had avoided Morfs, but just after Christmas he caught it. James is a bird Hybrid, and a flyer.” James unfolded a large pair of black wings on his back. I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed them earlier. We gave him a round of applause and then Dad, Uncle Nate and Uncle Tom went over and fired up the barbeque.

“Sanura! Laura!” I turned as Grandma called our names. “Come over here. I want to meet my new granddaughters.” I made my way over to the table where Grandma and Grandpa were sitting. I sat down and remembered to smooth out my skirt.

Laura just plopped down into the seat beside me. “Laura, stand up, and smooth your skirt when you sit back down.” Laura sighed loudly, but did as Grandma had asked. “I know that this must be hard for you both. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have my sex changed almost over night. But what I do know, is that I’ve been a woman all my life, and it’s not that bad. Another thing I know, is that neither of you have ever been quitters. Your parents raised you better than that. Sanura, you seem to be adapting to this pretty well. You move and talk like a girl from what I’ve seen. Your mother even told me that you have a girlfriend.”

“Ummm … yeah, I do. And the whole moving like a girl just kinda come naturally,” I said. “I just try not to fight it.”

“Well I want you to know I’m proud of you for not trying to hide the new you,” said Grandma as she patted her hand on my paw. “Now Laura, you can learn a lot from your cousin. You’ve been a girl for nearly two months now, and you still want to fight it all. That display earlier when you sat down is a prime example. I know that your mother has been after you to sit properly and act like a lady, and all you do is rebel against it. Now I don’t mean to nag, and I don’t mean to preach, but your parents would give the world for you, and they want to see you adjust to all of this. They’re just trying to help you. None of us expect you to be all girl all the time. Girls are allowed to do nearly everything a boy can … but, they also get to do so much more. You can still play rough with your brothers, but you also need to learn the things that all girls know, like makeup and fashion, how to sit properly in a dress, the list goes on and on. Will you at least give being a girl a chance?”

“I can try, but I … I never asked for this, I never wanted to be a girl,” said Laura. You could hear that she was on the verge of tears.

“Laura, I never asked for any of this either, but it’s not the end of the world. You can pull through this,” I said.

“But it’s different for you,” she said. “At least for you, your male self is gone. For me, I have to see Logan everyday, living the life that I should be living. Hanging out with ‘my’ friends, wearing ‘my’ clothes. I’m reminded everyday of everything I’ve lost!”

“I’m sorry, I never really thought of that,” I put my arm around her and let her cry. “It will take time but you can have a life of your own. I’m sure your old friends will still hang out with you and you’ll make new friends. But to do that, do need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start being that outgoing energetic person you were before.”

“I’ll try Sanura, Grandma, I’ll really try. Logan wants me to do that too. We’re empathetically linked, so he doesn’t like me being depressed. I’ll try and be a girl so that Logan and Mom and Dad can be happy.”

“Laura, don’t do it for them. It is not ‘them’ that you should do it for. Do it for yourself, so that ‘you’ are happy.

~~~

“So what's up with those glasses?” asked Laura, after we had spent a good portion of the afternoon hanging out together. Jason and Logan had always been close, so it was nice to become friends with Laura. We both knew each other pretty well, but I think it was really helping her to have a friend who was in the same boat as her.

“What about them? They keep the sun out of my eyes.” I grinned at her.

“You know what I mean  Dummy. Where’d you get them? What are they made of?”

“I made them. I’m some sort of dark energy elemental.”

“I’ve never heard of dark energy before.”

“Yeah, neither had I, but that’s the only way I can think to describe my powers. I can form projectiles or force fields. The shades are just one of my shields in the shape of sunglasses.”

“Cool!”

“You know, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you morfed like you did Laura. I mean, we’ve always been friends, but if you were still Logan, well, just look at how Logan has interacted with me today. It’s like, now that I’m a girl, he doesn’t know how to talk to me, but with you being a girl now too, we can continue our friendship almost like nothing had happened to either of us.”

“Okay, I see what you mean. It is pretty cool that we can carry on like normal, although I think a few things are definitely going to be different.”

“It doesn’t have to be different, we’re both still the same person. If anything, we have even more in common now than we used to.”

“Nura, it’s going to be different, no matter what. I don’t think I remember us as boys sitting around in dresses and talking about clothes like we were a few minutes ago,” Laura giggled.

“Yeah, I guess not,” I laughed.

~~~

“Okay, dinner is ready,” shouted Dad. Everyone dropped what they were doing and headed over to the food. “Remember, Ladies first, boys.”

I grabbed Laura’s arm and pulled her with me into the line up. “See? There are advantages to being a girl.”

“I’m not going to complain,” Laura said. “Besides, its making Logan jealous that I get to eat first when he’s starving.”

“Huh?” I looked over at Logan. “He doesn’t look that upset about it.”

“Oh, he is. Empathic link, remember?” she reminded me, while she tapped one finger to her head. “He’s just good at hiding his feeling on the outside.”

“I wish I could still bottle up my feelings. So what other little female advantages bug him?” I asked.

“One of the things that really bugs him, is that I get a larger allowance than he does. I tried to explain the how expensive makeup and pantyhose and tampons are, but he just ignores that and complains about me getting more money anyway.” We took our plates of food over to a table under the tree and continued our conversation.

“Maybe he’s just jealous because you get to wear makeup and pantyhose?” I joked.

“I doubt that. I used to be him, and never felt that way.” She picked at the food on her plate before looking over at my plate full of food and then up at me. “Are you seriously going to eat all that?”

“Yeah, I know it’s not very ladylike but I have a high metabolism so that I can fuel my powers.”

“I just figured … you know, because of your size, that you wouldn’t eat very much. I know that my appetite has seriously decreased as a girl. I mean I could probably eat like I used to but I would rather just have a smaller portion now. When Mom first took me shopping after I morfed, she let me order what I normally would and there was no way I would have been able to eat it all without making myself sick. I mean, as weird as it sounds, if we go out, Mom will order me a salad and that will pretty much fill me up.”

“I’ve found I eat a lot of meat, I don’t know if that’s my hybrid side or if I get more energy out of it. Mom always orders me salads though, too.”

~~~

The guys had started up a game of touch football, and Laura and I were watching from one of the tables. We had tried to join the game but had been told we weren’t allowed to play. That made both of us angry until it was explained that we couldn’t play in skirts, which did make sense. I didn’t really want to be flashing my panties, and my flip-flops weren’t really made for playing sports either.

The teams were divided between the ‘kids’ and the ‘men’. The kids’ team was lucky to have James on their team. The game was fun to watch, even though I’d rather have been playing. The guys were doing pretty good against their dads. My dad was quite an asset to the men’s team. Once he got the ball and started running, you got out of his way.

Laura and I were laughing so hard it hurt when James tried blocking people with his huge wings. That only lasted a few minutes before a pointless argument started and they agreed that he couldn’t block like that.

About halfway through the game a wild throw sent the ball flying at us. I blocked it from hitting Mom by using one of my shields and then launched it back across the field. Someone on the field said, “Maybe we ‘should’ have let her play.”

I glanced over at Crystal who was snuggled up, sleeping against Mom. She was definitely sick. Laura noticed where I was looking and said, “MORFS?”

“Yeah, I think so. We’ll have to wait and see though.” I turned back to the game just in time to see Logan take a hard pass right to the groin. Laura let out a yelp, grabbed between her legs, fell off the table and hit the ground. All the women in the family rushed over to Laura, trying to figure out what happened. She wouldn’t give an answer, she was only grunting in pain.

Grandma noticed where she was grabbing herself.  “Is it her time?”

Aunt Roselle shook her head. “No, she had her period two weeks ago.” She chuckled. “I had two moody children as Logan was picking up all of her feelings through that link they have. I have no idea what this could be now, though.”

“I think I know what happened,” I said. “Logan just got hit in the … that area, with the football.” All of the women, glanced over to the field where the guys were all standing around Logan, who was on the ground too. The guys were mostly laughing at him.

Uncle Nathan was running over to us though. He saw Laura on the ground and was quickly by her side. Most of the guys realized something had happened to her and were rushing over to us now, too. I reached down and tugged her skirt back down before the guys got there.

“Laura, what’s wrong, Honey?” asked her dad as he rocked her in his arms.

She was no longer grunting or gasping for breath, “Dad, Logan’s … hurt. I can feel it.”

“Honey, it’s going to be alright, it was just an accident.” Laura sat up as Logan walked slowly up to picnic area.

“It’s going away. I’ll be fine, too,” she said, wiping away the tears in her eyes. “Who threw that ball? That seriously hurt. I didn’t think I’d ever feel that pain again though.”

~~~

The guys had resumed their game, but Logan was now sitting out at the sidelines with us. He and Laura seemed to be doing better. Laura was busy fixing her makeup after wiping off the tear-streaked stuff she had been left with.

“You know, you do really do look alike, now that I’ve seen Laura without her makeup. Hey, Logan, if you grew your hair out and let Laura do your makeup, you two could pass for sisters,” I laughed.

Logan raised his fist.

“Logan, don’t you dare,” said Laura without even looking up.

“But…”

“But nothing! She was just joking around and you do ‘not’ hit girls,” said Laura.

“Fine!” Logan looked at me, lowered his fist and then mumbled something under his breath. Even with my enhanced hear I barely heard him say, “Bitch.”

“Excuse me? What exactly is your problem?” I asked.

“Nothing!”

“Oh? Can’t you take a little joke? So I said you look like your sister, big deal. By the way, your Mom told us how you had your period two weeks ago. How did that feel?”

“Shut up! I didn’t have a period, she did!” He pointed at Laura who was now putting away her make up. “I’m sick of you making fun of me and calling me a girl. I’m a boy! Not some stupid girl.” I saw it coming but obviously he didn’t, because Laura scored a direct hit as she slapped him across the face … hard!

“Come on, Nura.” She grabbed my hand. “Let’s get out of here.” We walked across the park to a small play area and both sat down in a swing. Laura rubbed her cheek with her hand. “Damn, that slap hurt, but he deserved it.”

~~~

To Be Continued...