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Image Credit: Modified from Quizilla.Teennick.com - Eden. ~Landing

Author's Note: There is no connection between the novel by Harlan Ellison and my story except perhaps that we both just chose something simple that describes the story. :)

This is a fan fiction, the Whateleyverse and all canon characters are the property of their respective writers. If you find your life being depicted in this story you it is purely accidental and you have a hell of a lot more to worry about than suing me. No canon characters have been hurt in the writing of this story...yet.

Many thanks to GinnCaster5 for the editing help, without Ginn this story would probably be unreadable. And to Sleethr for his read through.

This is a Whateley Academy fan fiction story, you can find the Whateley stories at http://www.crystalhall.org/ I highly recommend them. ~Landing

Additional Note - Sorry about the long delay, there was a family emergency with my grandmother going into the hospital. The next chapter should be out as soon as my editor gets it back too me.

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Chapter 12
 

“Brook!” The startled squeak came out of me in a way that I would probably have described as cute a few days ago if I heard it from another girl. As it was, I felt my cheeks start to burn with embarrassment.

“Uh hi, is Adam here?” asked the athletically built blonde girl, a puzzled expression on her face.

This is when I made my first mistake; I probably could have talked my way out of this mess if I had used my brain instead of just reacting, but in my panic, the only thing I could think to do was try and close the heavy door in her face. Not very smart as it turned out, since Brook’s first reaction to me doing that was to push back against the door, keeping it open.

“What the hell? What do you think you’re doing?” said Brook angrily as she glared at me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, as if by doing so, I could somehow force this situation to go away.

“What’s going on here? Where is Adam? He didn’t come to school yesterday or today, and who are you?” asked Brook, her tone becoming more suspicious. It was clear she could tell something was up; I just hoped she wouldn’t figure it out.

“Uh, I’m Adam’s cousin, Eden. He’s not here right now.”

“Adam doesn’t have any cousins! He has always told me how lucky I was to have so many because he didn’t have extended family!” Brook stepped inside and I gave way to her trying to think up some kind of believable explanation that didn’t involve me telling her I had turned into a girl. “Ms. Oakson, what’s going on? I heard at school that an ambulance came here yesterday! Who is this girl?!?”

My mother was standing in the door way to the family office, obviously unsure of what to do about the situation.

“Calm down Brook, there is nothing going on here. It’s just, Uh…” with a stroke of genius I came up with an explanation that I was sure would work. “…Adam and I are part of a foreign exchange program. I came here and he went over to Germany, yes, Germany.”

Brook stared at me as if I’d just said that tiny men come out at night to move the remote control so no one could find it. “That’s the stupidest lie I’ve ever heard. There is no way Adam would go to Germany; he doesn’t even speak German. Besides which, Adam would have told me about it if he was planning something like that. And you! You don’t even have a German accent!”

“Uh,” was all I could think to reply. Damn, how did you say ‘uh’ in German anyway? Okay, maybe it wasn’t a stroke of genius, more like a stroke of stupidity. Was there such a thing as a stroke of stupidity? Think about it later, you need to deal with Brook right now. I looked to my mother, hoping to get some kind of help from that quarter, but she didn’t seem to have any ideas of what to do either.

“Oh god, something has happened to Adam? The ambulance was for him, wasn’t it? Is he hurt? Why aren’t y’all telling me?” she looked back and forth between my panicked face and mom’s, then she went pale. “Oh no, is he…did he die?”

It looked like her legs were starting to get shaky, so I quickly grabbed her and moved her over to a chair. “No he’s…” but I couldn’t take the fear on her face and I gave in to the inevitable. “No, I’m Adam,” I said in a resigned tone.

As quick as that Brook went from fear to anger. “Do you think I’m an idiot? Why are you telling me such stupid lies?”

“Brook dear, she isn’t lying to you. She really is Adam,” said my mother.

Brook stared at my mom in incredulity, then she turned to look at me. There must have been something about me that she still recognized because her eyes widened and she said in an astonished voice, “Adam?”

I shrugged my shoulders, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. “Yes.”

“What, how did…”

“It’s a long story.”

~o~O~o~

“So let me get this straight, you found out you were a mutant, got kidnapped by evil cultists, turned into a girl by a botched ritual, then were rescued by your long-lost father who is a reformed supervillain rock-star? And all this happened in one day?”

“Well, yes, that about sums it up.”

“Either I’m on a bad acid trip, which doesn’t seem likely since I don’t do drugs, or I’m living in some form of silly internet fiction,” said Brook in some disbelief.

“We could only be so lucky.”

“Things like that just don’t happen! Not in the real world.”

“Well they do, and they did,” I said rather dejectedly. Brook was taking it well, mostly I think because she only half believed us. She hadn’t called me a freak or a fag and stormed out at least.

Brook must have sensed how depressed I was feeling from telling the story because she reached over and hugged me. “I’m sorry Adam; I don’t mean to sound like this is a joke. It’s just so unbelievable I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay,” Damn it, damn it, damn it, the water works had started up again. I swear I was going to glue my tear ducts shut. “And I’m going by Eden now; people will look at me weird if everyone keeps calling me Adam.”

“So what are you going to do now? Is there some way to change you back?”

“There’s a school up in New Hampshire for mutants, I might be able to find someone that can undo this up there, and I can learn how to use my powers if I go too.”

Brook suddenly looked distressed. “You’re going to be leaving?”

“Yeah, but not for a little while yet, the paper work is still going through with the Watchers.”

“Oh,” said Brook still sounding a bit sad that I would be leaving. That made me feel a little better somehow. “So what kind of super powers did you get? Can you lift cars or turn invisible or something cool like that?”

“Well, I think my power is pretty cool; it’s magic.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, when I was at the Watchers headquarters, I made a rune of fire then frost work. It ended up freezing Cardshark’s book solid.” I decided not to mention my experiment in the back yard. My mom was within earshot of us, having gone back to her office after assuring herself that Brook wasn’t going to freak out.

“Hey, you got to tell me what it was like to hang out with the Watchers! Which ones did you meet?” said Brook. It was obvious that she was still trying to get her head around the whole gender change thing and wanted time to think about it more before we got back on the subject. That was fine enough with me, I had been thinking entirely too much about it as it was.

“I meet the Sergeant, but only for a little while. I mostly dealt with Cardshark and Steelfist; they are really cool too. Like real people. They helped with my testing this morning. I also meet Sobrehumano, but he’s a real dick not at all like he is on the news.”

“Eden, watch your language!” scolded my mother from in the office, proving my surmise correct that she was eavesdropping on us.

“Sorry,” I replied while rolling my eyes at Brook. “I even got to fly in one of Steelfist’s helicopters, me and Harvard both.”

“Wow,” said Brook, sounding suitable impressed. “Where is Harvard anyway? Can he really talk to you?”

“He’s upstairs,” I raised my voice. “Harvard! Brook is here, why don’t you come on down!”

“Why isn’t he down here with you? He is almost always with someone around here looking for attention,” asked Brook.

“I think he might have an upset stomach, he is acting a little off.”

“Him? With an upset stomach? I once saw him eat a whole bag of red hot jalapenos, and he didn’t even need to stop for water!”

Harvard came down the stairs at a more controlled pace than his usual galumphing run, but his tail was wagging at least. He instantly went over to Brook and put his chin on her knee, looking up at her with sad eyes that said his heart would break if she didn’t immediately start petting him, the big faker. Brook started making a fuss over him and asking if he felt bad in cooing baby tones. I just rolled my eyes. Okay, I also rubbed his ears, but that’s immaterial.

“Are you feeling better, big guy?” I asked, since he seemed up to his usual deceptions.

-I, uh, I just have a stomach ache,- Harvard said in a decidedly over-controlled ‘voice’, but then maybe that was just how he sounded when he had a stomach ache. I don’t know; I haven’t heard him talking for that long.

I was about to ask him another question when the front door opened again and my sister Kelly stepped in.

“Eden!” she said, dropping her bag and running over to sit by me and give me a hug. I was a little started by this; my sister and I have never gone for physical signs of affection. “I have been thinking about you all day! How did the testing go? What are your powers? Did anything cool happen? Oh, hi Brook!”

“Wow, slow down!” I said, returning the embrace a little awkwardly. Hugging my sister was strange but it did feel good having her show that she cared about me. “Good, Magic, and yes, but you’re too young to hear about it. There, are you happy?”

“I’m thirteen and a half; don’t try to tell me I’m too young! So you have magic? Like Harry Potter magic?”

“I am way cooler than Harry Potter; I don’t need Dumbledore to come bail me out all the time.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t be Harry Potter, you would be Hermione Granger.”

“Hey, I don’t want to be the know-it-all!”

“Well,” added in Brook. “You did always say you liked Emma Watson.”

“Yeah, but that’s because she’s hot, not because I want to be her. Being Eden is bad enough,” I said a little bitterly.

Both Kelly and Brook looked a little contrite for bringing up the whole gender thing, but I waved it away. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound depressed, it’s just hard, ya know?”

“Sorry, this can’t be easy for you, and there I go making fun of it,” said Brook apologetically.

“It’s okay, it’s probably good for me to try and joke about it. It might keep me from dwelling on all the bad stuff, like havin’ to sit down to pee, and how I don’t have any clothes that fit, and my body just feeling wrong.”

“Well, I know how to solve one of those problems!” said Brook, a gleam in her eyes that I was going to learn was from the pure evil of her idea.

“Really?” I asked hopefully, as of yet still an innocent of what was about to descend on me.

“We have to go shopping!”

“Wow! Hold on a…” I tried before a “Squee!” from Kelly announced her joining in on the demonic plan.

“Oh, it will be so much fun! We have to do it!”

“I said wait a…”

“Mom! Brook just had the best idea! Eden needs new clothes so why don’t me and her take Eden to the mall?” said Kelly running to Mom’s office like a torturer going to ask the king if he can break in the new thumb screws.

I was still trying to frame some kind of protest when Mom joined us in the living room. “That’s not that bad of an idea. What do you think Eden?” she asked me.

“No way, I’m not going on one of those mall crawls you girls do; it ain’t happenin.”

“You do need clothes Eden.”

“Can’t you just go buy some for me?” I asked, a bit of a whine creeping into my voice. I could see which way things were going.

“Girl clothes don’t work that way Eden; you need to try them on to see if they fit properly,” my mom said sternly.

“But…”

“You can either go with your sister and Brook, or you can go with me later; it has to be done.”

I decided to go with Kelly and Brook. If the choice was between going with them and going with my mother, it wasn’t that hard of one to make. It would be bad enough with those two; having to go shopping with my mother would just be pathetic.

“Okay, but y’all have to promise not to try and stuff me into Barbie Teen Hooker clothes or pink ones or anything like that.”

Kelly did a little victory dance, which I ignored.

“Uh, there is just one problem,” said Brook, “I’m still kind of in trouble with my parents for the whole detention thing. I’m not technically grounded, but they aren’t too happy with me right now. They let me borrow the car so I could come check on Adam and work on our science project; I don’t know if they will let me go to the mall.”

My mom frowned some. “I’ll call them up and see if I can talk them around. Why don’t you go get changed and freshen up, Eden.”

“Yeah, your hair is a mess,” said Brook, reaching out to touch it. “We should probably see about getting you a haircut while we’re there.”

“Good idea,” said my mother as she went to find a phone.

Freshen up? I had never needed to freshen up before. I made a face. This must be one of those girl things I would need to get used too. At least no one was trying to slap war paint on my face. I went reluctantly up the stairs, Kelly pulling me, and Brook giving me a push from the rear. When we got to the top of them, my sister peeled off and went to her own room leaving me and Brook in front of my door.

I turned back to her. “You know you can’t go in there; my parents won’t allow girls in my room.”

Brook started to snicker. “I guess you’ll never get to go into your own room again then, will you?”

I sighed, I really needed to stop making it so easy. I must be off my game; I would never have given an opening that good before. Brook wrinkled her nose when she entered my room.

“Yes, there is no doubt, this is a boy’s room. Do you ever clean up in here?”

“It’s not Friday yet,” I said defensively.

She made a circuit of my room, raising an eyebrow at the poster of a well-endowed Texans cheerleader on the opposite wall from the MCO one, but saying nothing, probably because it was at least sports related. She nodded appreciatively at my gaming rig where I played GEO on and off. She finally sat down in a chair, then stood back up to remove something she had sat on and reseated herself.

“Does it meet with your approval?” I asked sarcastically.

“It’s a little different from the last time I was in here when we were eight.”

“Yeah, the action figures are up in the attic now, and there are no more Lego castles on display.”

“Adam, are you really doing okay? Everything that has happened to you it’s just so…” she floundered, at a loss for words.

“Screwed up?” I filled in for her. “I’m doing okay, I guess; it really hasn’t sunk in completely yet. Everything just seemed to happen so fast. There are times when I can forget about it, and there are other times when I feel like the whole world is flying apart.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll deal with it, I guess.”

“You’re brave Eden. If all that had happened to me, I would probably be in a padded room wearing the newest fashion in extra long sleeves.”

I felt myself blushing, “I’m not that brave; I just don’t have any other options.”

“Well, enough of that, we need to get you ready to go out. What do you have to wear?”

“All the clothes mom bought me are in that pile there,” I said pointing to a stack of garments.”

Brook started sorting through them, and I could tell she wasn’t all that impressed. “There is nothing that I would call good here,” she said, holding up a pair of jeans. “But we will have to just make do. Try these on.”

I took the jeans from her, then stopped, uncertain. “Uh, can you turn your back or something?” I was blushing again, damn it.

“You’re going to have to learn how to change in front of other girls. You don’t want people at your new school thinking you're weird, do you?” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Fine. It’s not like I haven’t already been naked in front of girls; I had a shower with a hot woman just this afternoon,” I grumble.

Her expression changed to startlement and something else I couldn’t place. “You pig! You’re not supposed to… you don’t…”

“What?” I said; it was my turn to grin. “I am a girl now right? I’m supposed to get used to it.”

She threw a pair of socks at me, which I dodged. “Change already!” she said, turning her back to me.

The jeans didn’t fit very well, being a little too big for me, but that was solved by the use of a belt. Brook also handed me a plain white shirt. I didn’t like how the neck line came down to a “V” showing off some of my admittedly small cleavage, but I didn’t have much choice. After having changed, Brook examined me and pronounced my clothes acceptable, if only barely, for public viewing. She then started to pull me into the bathroom to mess with my hair. Thinking of something I halted, forcing Brook to stop as well.

“There’s one more thing,” I said in a quiet voice. “Kelly doesn’t know about Kent being my father, so don’t mention anything to her, okay?”

“Were you going to tell her?” asked Brook.

“Eventually,” I said with a sigh. “But I want a chance to think through what I will say first. I don’t want to get it wrong.”

“Right,” said Brook nodding her head I acquiescence. “You’re a good Br… sibling,” she coughed covering her verbal slip. “Come on, let me fix your hair.”

Kelly was already in the bathroom doing the same. I thought of a few days ago when I casually moved her out of my way so I could use the sink. I couldn’t do that anymore; it would be a real struggle.

Of course, things were different now in other ways too; Kelly moved aside and let me share the sink with her. She even went so far as to give Brook one of her scrunchies to hold back my hair. After more fussing than I thought was necessary, my hair too was deemed acceptable.

Mom had good news for us when we went downstairs; Brook’s mom had agreed to let her go to the mall with us. She even said we could go out to eat afterwards. I’m not sure what my mom had to do to get her to agree to that, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As the three of us piled into Ms. Aldridge’s minivan, I had serious doubts about the wisdom of my decision to go with the two of them, but I reasoned with myself; I have faced down evil cultists and mud monsters, what did I have to fear from two teenage girls unleashed on a mall?

~o~O~o~

As we pulled into the busy parking lot of the temple of consumerism, excuse me, I mean the mall, I was feeling even less enthusiastic than I did at home. When I would come here before, it would be to stare longingly at the groups of giggling girls, not as one of said gigglers. I really didn’t like the idea of having to go in there, no let me tell the truth, I was scared to hell of going in there. It was my first time out in public as the opposite sex. Part of me was scared that people were going to start pointing and calling me a fag because they knew I wasn’t really a girl, while another part of me was scared that no one would notice, after all, I was really a boy; I didn’t want to seem so much like a girl that no one could tell the difference.

“Relax Eden, no one is going to attack you,” whispered Brook into my ear as we walked in through the automatic doors into the spacious food court.

The hell she said; people were looking at me! I felt naked, and like every eye in the whole place was focused on me. I almost tripped on the entrance-way; I was so absorbed in trying to see what everyone’s reaction would be, but Brook reached out and grabbed me elbow to steady me before that could happen. She then pulled me into a quick one-arm hug that told me she was there for me.

I let out a long breath, not realizing I had been holding it; okay, maybe not everyone was looking at me, in fact most people were busy with their own stuff, so maybe it wasn’t as bad as I had first thought. No one was yelling yet at least. I checked the glasses Kent had given me, still in place, so no outward sign of being a mutant to start anything either.

Where should we go first?” asked my sister.

“We should probably check to see how long the wait is at Styled Look before Eden can get her hair done.”

Wait to get a haircut? I had never had to wait in my life, at least not any more than fifteen minutes. I just showed up at the Sports Cuts and the next haircutter who was free would trim everything up, in and out in under ten minutes. Yeah, sometimes one sideburn was longer than the other if you got a new guy cutting it, but that was no big deal and easily fixed at home.

Styled Look was just around the corner from the food court, and we learned there that a stylist, not a haircutter, I was told, would be able to see me in an hour and a half. My sister and my friend seemed well pleased with this and mapped out their campaign for conquering the mall. They decided that they needed to start first things first, which meant underwear and bras. I was decidedly uncomfortable going into Victoria’s Secret with my best friend and my little sister. My little sis and sexy undergarments should not go together, at least in my mind. I mean for god’s sake she was thirteen! She did not need a black see-through bra!

“My friend has just had a growth spurt and needs to get fitted,” said Brook to a tall blonde woman wearing a name tag saying ‘Hi I’m’ with a blank space that was filled with ‘Overworked and Underpaid’.

She smiled friendlily down at me, her eyes holding a glint of humor. “I see, though it doesn’t look to have been that big of a spurt.”

I felt myself blushing. God, I didn’t even want them and I was blushing because someone said they are small! What is wrong with me?

“Have you ever been properly fitted before?” she asked me, and I shook my head, still blushing. “Well don’t worry, it’s all relatively painless. Let’s pick out some bras, then you just need to come with me back into the fitting room and we will get it sorted out.”

I was fine with just getting plain white bras, but my sister and Brook insisted on getting a variety of different ones. I did put my foot down though when Kelly wanted to add in a padded push-up bra. I don’t care what she says, I will never want to ‘impress’ someone, not in that way.

Ms. Overworked and Underpaid, whose real name turned out to be Jessica, had me follow her into a small room in the changing section separated from the rest of the area by swinging double doors and step up on a platform with mirrors angled around it.

“Go ahead and take off your top, and I can show you how this all works,” said Jessica in a reassuring voice.

I hesitantly took off my shirt and put it on a hook next to me. I had to stop myself from covering my breasts with my arms as I stood, my blush reflected in all the mirrors. Jessica handed me one of the bras, a light green one with a bit of lace on the top, and I fumbled my way through putting it on.

“I wanted you to put this one on first because I knew it wouldn’t fit properly. Can you turn to the side for me?”

I did as she asked, a little miffed that she seemed to be wasting my time.

“Notice how the band is riding up in the back? What you want with a good fit is for the band to stay at the same level as the front of the bra. You also have the hook on its tightest setting; when you first get a bra, you want it to fit on the loosest one so as it stretches over time, you can tighten it. Now hold up your arms. See how the front of your bra here gaps out? You want that to be nice and firm against you. Let’s go ahead and get you in a bra that fits.”

I knew this was probably good information to learn, but I would have much rather just gotten one that fitted and left. I reined in my impatience; it was better that I find this out now rather than later when I was alone, I told myself as I put on the next bra.

“You know, you really are a beautiful young lady, with stunning hair and eyes, even if you do need to eat more. I know there is a lot of pressure on people your age to be super skinny, but the fashion isn’t to be skin and bones anymore; models have more curves these days. Have you ever thought about modeling?” she asked, as she tightened a shoulder strap. “I ask because I used to do some modeling when I was a teen, and I know a reputable company if you’re interested in that kind of thing. There are far too many people out there who would exploit you if you aren’t careful.”

“I- I,” I stammered for a bit, “I really don’t think I would be interested in modeling.” Just the thought of dressing up in revealing clothes and having to pose for some perverted camera guy made me cringe inside.

“Well, if you ever change your mind, come by and let me know. Now, how does that feel?”

We went through a dozen different bras, Kelly and Brook running to get different sizes for some of them, before we were done. Jessica insisted that you needed to try one of each different brand, since they all fitted differently. This seemed plain stupid to me, but Brook said it was just how girl clothes were.

It felt strange having something wrapped around my chest and cupping my breasts. I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to get used to the feeling. It did stop my boobs from jiggling a little as I walked, which I guess made up for how weird it felt. Getting the underwear was much easier since no one expected me to try them on, which was lucky because that would just be gross. When we were checking out, I discovered too late that one of the girls had slipped in a bright pink thong with the rest of our purchases. The cashier gave me a knowing look, which was just embarrassing. After that, it was on to the rest of the mall, starting with Macy’s.

It wasn’t really as bad as I had thought it would be; my sister and Brook would pick clothes out for me, explain about them some, and then have me try them on. It wasn’t solely about me of course; they tried on clothes as well. I have to admit that it was even a little fun. I got to tease my little sister a lot, and Brook looked sexy in almost anything she would put on.

In the shoe section, I finally picked out something to try on rather than just dressing in what the others found. There was a pair of dark brown calf-high lace-up boots with only a slight heel that looked, if not masculine, then at least not overtly feminine. I was well pleased with them, and only after I had them on and looked in one of the mirrors did I find out how sexy my legs looked in them. Damn it! I did not want to look sexy! But… I had to admit I did like them.

We were across the ways from the guys section of the store, and due to how the racks were arranged we had a clear view over to the entrance of the boys changing room. I noticed that a couple of guys, probably a year or two older than me, were watching us and talking back and forth. They were the kind of good looking guys that always went out with the cheerleaders in school. I glared at them, not really liking being the center of that kind of attention. The taller one said something to his shorter, but still fairly tall friend, and they went into the changing room.

Ha! That should show them, freaking jerks. A moment later they reappeared. They had changed into a couple of button up shirts, but they seemed to have forgotten to button them up. They had to be the type of guy that spent a couple hours in the gym every day because they had rock hard abs. I absently wished I had had a stomach like that when I was still a guy as I stared at them, unable to look away for some reason.

“Hey Eden, what do you think of these shoes on me? Eden?”

I snapped my gaze from the two guys and back to Kelly. I found myself blushing, though not really sure why. “They, uh, look nice on you Kelly,” I replied.

She seemed to accept my answer, though she did give me a strange look. I shot a glance back at the guys that had been watching me to see them grinning and high-fiving each other. That made be blush even worse. What the hell was going on with me?

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To Be Continued...