by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch.8, not a lot of stuff happens here. I like to refer to this as the "School Ch." as you'll see. There are some good interactions here but it doesn't really progress the story much. Chs. 7,8, and 9 are ones that I needed to write so that I could finally get back into the real story in Ch.10. So bear with me a little longer and I promise things will get going again :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

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8.

“Definitely that one”

I couldn’t help but groan as I looked into the mirror. Carrie was sitting on the bed behind me, coaching me as it were. Her words not mine. Out of the two girls currently in the room, she was the only one who was really enjoying herself. She was practically overflowing with giddiness. Me, I was a total fucking wreck. According to her, this outfit was crucial. Making a first impression was ideal for my social well being. True, but who said I wanted to make one. I was still me and nothing was going to change that. Not even little sisters who mean well. Though I could see where she was coming from. After all, it’s not every day that your older brother has a spontaneous gender change and you need to coach him on how to be a girl.

Ok so not really spontaneous.

“Light blue is not my color”

I peeled off the tiny shirt quickly and tossed it into the growing pile already growing on the floor.

Carrie started to pout. It was a ploy of course.

I knew that look all too well.

I also knew from experience that it wasn’t going to work.

“That didn’t work on me before what makes you think it will now?”

“You’re my sister now. I figured all those stupid boy genes were gone for good and you’d start to appreciate my plight.”

I had to give her credit.

“Sorry, different wrapping, same cream filling.”

After coming home from my run yesterday, I was immediately met by the highest squeal I’d ever heard in my entire life. Apparently, while I was out, Carrie returned home from school. I got barely two feet into the house before I was bum rushed by a bundle of energy. She nearly tackled me to the ground. When I finally was able to pry her off me, she never shut up. She was rambling a mile a minute, telling me everything that the two of us could do together. I’d never seen her like that. For the rest of the night I couldn’t go anywhere without her following me with a goofy smile. According to Mom, Carrie was thrilled about all of this. Well, that made one of us.
I needed to go easy on her though.

Humor her.

Mom’s words not mine.

I guess when you’re son becomes a daughter, it’s ok to be a parent again.

No, I’m not bitter.

Just annoyed.

So I took Mom’s advice. When I woke up yesterday morning, I found Carrie waiting. She was overflowing with excitement. Apparently she was bound and determined to “make me a real girl”. Her first order of business was to help me pick out the perfect outfit for school. I was a bit confused to say the least. Especially when I realized I was getting up two hours before I usually did and strangely two hours before I set my alarm for last night.

“Try the green one again,” she said happily.

I sighed, digging through the pile.

Where did all these clothes come from you ask? Well yesterday, a day I thought I was going to have to recuperate and be myself turned into Carrie’s day. After forcing me away, she dragged me to the mall. We could have easily done all our shopping right from home but she insisted. We spent the better part of several hours going from store to store. It was by far one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. There’s a reason I like to shop from home. After our marathon clothes run, we ended up getting the everyday basics a girl might need. I’m not going to bore you with the details. When we got home, I thought we were done but remember how I said Carrie wanted to teach me how to be a girl. Well, we did that for the rest of the night.

Nails.

Hair.

Makeup.

Proper Hygiene.

I’m a real girl now.

I turned back to the mirror and tried not to think about the goddess staring back at me. The one in the pink satin bra.

Me.

“It’s not fair you know,” she said as I pulled the shirt over my head.

“What’s not?”

“You got boobs”

If I was drinking something, I would have totally just spit it all over the mirror.

“Carrie, you’re eight”

“Julie is starting to bud”.

She crossed her arms and started to pout. For real this time.

“Julie’s clearly cheating.”

Julie was one of Carrie’s BFFs. Her Mom worked with ours. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Julie was getting a little help. Some girls popped pills to help them develop. When I was Carrie’s age it wasn’t as common but it was starting earlier and earlier. Though not illegal per se, the government was starting to crack down on it more and more. There were studies that showed that developing at a young age---especially through artificial means like that---had adverse health effects. Sure Julie might be fine now but come her thirties she was going to be a load of hurt.

There was no way in hell Mom would ever let Carrie do something stupid like that.

Thank the Maker.

“You’ll get there,” I said, hoping it was the right thing.

This girl thing.

Whole new territory.

This conversation.

FUCKING AWKWARD.

Carrie smiled. She jumped off the bed and wrapped herself around me.

Another hug.

“I’m glad you’re my sister now”

Well that makes one of us.

A few moments later, she broke the hug and pulled back. She gave me a strange look and shook her head.

“No that one is definitely not it. Try the blue one again”

“You understand the delicate situation I’m in here right, Miss Carson?”

I still couldn’t help but flinch slightly at the “Miss” thing.

But I understood the situation all too well.

Hell, I was living it.

I nodded. “I know the situation sir. I see it every time I look in the mirror”

Mr. Henry looked a little uncomfortable. I guess I couldn’t blame him. He was a good guy, of course, but it was hard to fathom of a lot of these things. Sure Alphas were a part of our everyday lives now but dealing with them didn’t make things any easier. Especially for him. Technically speaking, I wasn’t supposed to be here. I as an Alpha now, I was supposed to be in The Cube. I was supposed to going to Cube school or whatever the hell they called it. I was supposed to be someone else’s problem. I couldn’t expect him to understand or even know how to deal with something like this. I was still trying to deal with it myself but I’d made my decision. I was still Ben Carson---at least on the inside. I wanted to live my life just like I’d been living it. That meant going to school, my school. If this peon didn’t understand that then that was his damn problem.

“I am permitted to still attend this school right?”

He nodded. “There’s nothing that says you can’t, it’s just a little unorthodox”

“Try waking up with boobs” I quibbled.

Mr. Henry loosened his tie a bit.

Then he cleared his throat. “I’m legally obligated to tell you that as an administrator, I cannot deny you an education. However, I’m also obligated to inform you that this establishment will not favor you in anyway. If you choose to attend school here, we can’t protect you from any harm. You attend at your own risk and must deal with the consequences of such”

Wow, way to have my back.

I guess I couldn’t really blame him.

He was a low level Administrative Bureaucrat. A small fish in a rather large pond. Like I said, a good man but one who was afraid of the system, too. I really couldn’t have expected the man to act any other way. I just thought he’d be a little less of a coward. Was he really afraid that I was going to do something or worse, someone was going to try to do something to me?

“I can handle myself now sir,” I told him truthfully.

Hell I could handle myself before as well.

“Its not you I’m worried about”

So he really was trying to protect his own ass.

“I’m not a danger, sir. I know my limits.”

I let out a sigh, thinking.

“I’ll make you a promise,” I continued. “If at any time I feel like I can’t hack it here or I don’t belong, I’ll leave. I know what a problem this is, not just for you either. I want to try, sir, I have to try. If it doesn’t work, I need you to let me figure that out.”

He nodded. “Thank you for the honesty Bethany. I’ll hold you to that promise”

I nodded too, then stood up. He didn’t bother to correct me. I knew when the conversation was done.

Besides no one dismissed an Alpha.

Not that I was being arrogant, it was an actual societal thing.

Alphas were superior in every way and as such, they were afforded certain liberties.

I realized my mistake quickly and started to sit back down but he waved me off.

“Its ok Miss Carson, we were actually done”

He actually chuckled a bit.

I smiled and thanked him before heading out the door. As soon as it closed behind me, I let out a sigh. I’d like to say that the hard part was over but that was a lie. I’d actually arrived here about an hour early this morning so I could get things all organized. Apparently deciding to go back to my normal school meant I had to do everything by myself. The government was nice enough to change my gender and my name but that’s all they were willing to do for me. Not going with the “program” meant that they weren’t going to help me with anything.

So before the meeting, I spent most of my time with a guidance counselor organizing things.

It didn’t take long.

I was able to convince her that I was the same person and wanted the same schedule.

The only thing that changed was my gym class.

Now I was in a class with girls.

Yay me.

I tapped my ear as I started down the hall. I brought up a quick map of the school. Something else had changed too, actually. After I “disappeared” for a week or so, they had to give up my locker. It was nothing new. So I had a new locker on the other side of the building. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from the office. Walking there was another thing though. Since leaving, the school was starting to fill up. As soon as I turned around the corner, I found myself in a sea of my peers.

And boy was I noticed.

As I walked, I couldn’t help but feel like my skin my was starting to match the red of my shirt.

All eyes were immediately on me.

I tried my hardest not to let it get to me but of course, it did. Here I was wearing a bright red shirt and the tightest jeans known to man.

Of course, people were going to notice.

Damn it Carrie.

Every guy I past seem to undress me with their eyes. Every girl I passed looked like they wanted to drive a stake through my heart. Oh yeah, this day was going to be loads of fun. It got even worse when I approached The Hall. That’s not its real name, hell it didn’t have a name actually. It was just something that the normal people in the school called it. The Hall was where all the popular kids hung out before, during and after classes. There was nothing overly special about it but they seemed to gravitate toward it.

I took a deep breath as I approached.

The cheerleaders saw me first. Of course, they all sneered. Sure, they would. They were supposed to be the school Queens and here I was now.

A God among them.

Actually, that bit made me feel a little better about myself.

I never really had a problem with those girls but I knew Maddie did. I used to watch the way they treated her and it was pretty bad. To them, individuality was a sin and Maddie was the greatest sinner of them all. Now though---with those looks---I was sure they were definitely going to be thorns in my side. Especially with the way, Natalie was looking at me. Natalie St. James---the Queen Bee---cheerleader and bitch extraordinaire. I had a feeling she was going to be a real problem. Even more so because her boyfriend happened to be my new stalker---John.

Speaking of which…

“Hey”

I stopped in my tracks, about ten feet from the girls.

I just barely missed him when he practically materialized in front of me.

Shit.

“I’m gonna be late” I said, hoping it was enough to get rid of him.

It wasn’t.

“You left your bag thingy at the park yesterday. I have it if you want it.”

I knew that was going to be a problem.

“Sure thanks I guess”

I followed him the short distance to his locker---which was of course surrounded by his Free Baller buddies. The guys from the park were there, giving me friendly nods. The others there were all staring at me like I walked out of Heaven or something. I tried to ignore them all and waited impatiently. A few seconds later, my hip pouch was back in my hands. I opened it to make sure everything was still there, getting a quick reassurance from John that he didn’t touch anything.

“Well I might have looked for ID,” he said embarrassed then quickly added. “You know for your address…to uh return it to you.”

“I don’t have one”

Not yet anyway. It was supposed to come in the mail any day now, not that he needed to know that.

I stuffed the pouch in my backpack and started down the hall again.

John of course was right with me.

“So what’s your name anyway?”

I sighed. He wasn’t going to give up was he?

“It’s Beth”

“Beth, cool” he said with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

I laughed at that.

“We’ve already met…several times in fact.”

He gave me a confused look before it seemed to sink in. When the truth dawned on him, he fell silent which was fine by me. What wasn’t fine was the course he seemed to be taking. As I meandered my way through the halls, he seemed to be following. Not out of obligation to stalk me but actually because he seemed to be going in the same direction. No not just the same direction I realized, the same class. I cursed. Of course. I forgot he was in my first morning class. In fact, he was in three of my classes.

Shit.

“This is your class?” he asked when we got to the door.

I nodded. He quickly opened the door for me and we went in. As soon as I stepped into the room, all eyes were on me including a very surprised Mrs. Wren. Even more surprised though was Joe, especially when I made my way over to my usual sit. As soon as I sat down, a murmur roared through the room immediately. Mrs. Wren blinked a few times before giving me a concerned smile. Just like Mr. Henry, it was clear that she knew I was going to have problems here.

“Welcome back Miss Carson” she said, stumbling for a second over the “miss” part.

All eyes were on me.

Joe’s especially.

I wanted to crawl under the desk and stay there forever.

“Thanks” I said sheepishly.

A second later, several hands in the room moved. Most of them up to their ears. The pips were flying. In several minutes, I was pretty sure everyone in the school was now going to know that Ben Carson was now an Alpha.

Shit that’s all I needed.

“No fucking way” whispered Joe, leaning slightly to speak to me.

He was sitting next to me after all.

“Now you know where I’ve been,” I whispered back, refusing to look in his direction.

Joe sad nothing for a minute or so.

I held my breath.

Then he laughed. “I guess we can’t call you Minus anymore.”

I wanted to laugh myself.

Instead, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

One down, two to go.

By the time I got to my second class of the day, the news of my transformation had spread like wild fire. Every person I ran into stopped to stare at me and those who didn’t seemed to linger around longer than necessary. The only people who seemed not to care were the teachers. There was some initial shock on their parts but they recovered quickly. Thankfully they treated me like a normal human being. Even though technically I wasn’t one.

Thankfully, the novelty of me started to wear off as the morning went on.

By the time lunch came around everyone knew.

And everyone had seen me.

Including Maddie.

The first class of the day I had with her was the one right before lunch. When I walked into the room, I took my usual seat next to her. As soon as I did, she got up and moved. Trying to speak to her was useless as well because she wouldn’t even look at me. I’m not sure if I was more pissed off or disappointed. I knew what she thought of Alphas of course but I was hoping she’d be able to get over that prejudice because it was me.

I was still me.

If only she’d let me explain it to her.

When I finally got to the cafeteria, I found Joe at our usual table. As soon as I walked into the room, all eyes were on me, of course. I went through the lunch line as soon as possible then made a quick dash for my usual seat. When I sat, I was surprised he was alone. I let out a sigh, desperately wanting to scream at the top of my lungs.

I picked up my burger and took a huge bite, not bothering to be polite about it either.

Joe gave me a strange look.

“What?” I asked, my mouth full.

“You really are the same, aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes then swallowed. “Yes”

“So no compulsions?”

It was fairly common knowledge that a lot of recently emerged Alphas went through some behavioral swings and things like that. I knew the drill. Deena actually talked about it with me for some time in-between tests. In fact I think a good portion of her tests were to see how much I’d actually changed. Well besides the whole wanting to be more active---like my running---I was the same person.

“I’m the same guy Joe”

“Ummm” he said, pointing at my chest.

“You know what I mean,” I snapped.

He looked like he wanted to ask more questions but I had one of my own first. I quickly cut him off as he was about to speak.

“So why are you sitting alone anyway?”

We were never the most popular kids in school but we had a small group of friends. We didn’t always sit with them at lunch but sometimes people rotated our way. The usual group at the table was Joe, Ted and I. After Crystal’s funeral though, Maddie had started joining us too. Some of her friends would sit here too. Things got complicated with Ted of course after Mads and I kinda hooked up. I just thought maybe whatever his problem was would have cooled off by now.

“Well” said Joe pointing. “There’s Maddie”.

I followed his finger and saw her sitting with a group of kids I’d never really noticed before. Then again, looking at Maddie I wouldn’t have noticed her unless I knew her. She looked totally different now---even from this morning actually. Her hair was pitch black now, her makeup dark and edgy. I’d say she was in mourning again if not for her clothes: a black shirt with long mesh sleeves, a short tartan skirt, fishnets and black boots.

I knew the look well.

“She’s taking things well,” I said sarcastically.

“Give her some time”

I turned back to Joe. “What about Ted?”

Joe rolled his eyes. “That’s a different thing altogether”. He sipped his drink. “Two days after you were gone, he seemed to grow a pair. He walked right up to Maddie and asked her out. Lot of nerve if you ask me. Well after she spurned him, he kind of freaked. He caused quite a scene. It escalated quickly too. He tried to drag her out of her chair and that’s when things got real bad. One of the Free Ballers stepped in and well let’s just sat Ted wasn’t in a good place when it ended. The day after that he was gone. His Mom pulled him out of school, said it was an “unsafe environment for her son”. Load of crap if you ask me.”

What the hell was with Ted lately anyway?

“Are we still good?”

“Best buds bro,” he said, holding out his fist, waiting for me to give it a bump.

I didn’t leave him hanging long.

It felt a little weird though.

“I think we need to come up with something else,” I said.

Both of us laughed.

After that, I let him ask his questions. He had a lot of them, but I answered them as best as I could. I think my whole manifestation interested him way too much. It was nice to talk about it though. When I started talking about my tests, he seemed really interested. Especially when I told him, I was free weighting five hundred pounds.
He seemed particularly interested in that. I was about to tell him about those strange numbers when the chime ended lunch sounded.

I sighed, maybe tomorrow.

Because of the strange rotating block schedule we had, classes were split into two parts. The first parts were before lunch, the seconds after.

So Math 1 and Science 1 in the morning, Math 2 and Science 2 in the afternoon.

It was a real pain in the ass.

I was on my way to Math 2, when John was waiting for me.

Does this guy ever quit?

“You’re Ben Carson,” he said as I approached.

“I said I was a guy before.”

“You could have said something before I made an ass out of myself.”

“Is this the part where you hit me or threaten me? I don’t have all day you know, so get it over with quick or we’ll be late for class.”

“Wait? What?”

I sighed. “I was a guy. Aren’t all you jocks homophobes or something?”

Being homosexual wasn’t much a problem anymore. In fact, it was part of the norm now. I knew from history class that it was a real problem when my grandfather was younger. Several people actually said it was unconstitutional or some such bullshit. People were stupid. Even though it wasn’t a problem now though there were, still some of saw it as such. It was common knowledge that a lot of jocks seem to think that way.

It was different with Alphas. Though not illegal by any means, it was frowned upon when normal people had relationships with Alphas. It was one of the reasons Alphas were asked to live in The Cube. That way they could meet a respected partner and be done with it.

“That’s kind of offensive isn’t it?”

He looked genuinely shocked.

“And it’s not offensive to be standing here, staring at me like I’m a piece of meat?”

He didn’t respond but by the look of his blushing face, I knew I’d struck a nerve.

I did get him to advert his eyes though.

“So” I said, hoping this conversation was going somewhere. “Was there a point to all this?”

“I just wanted you to know that I don’t care if you were a guy before. You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. Screw what everyone else has been saying.”

Ummm….what.

“What are they saying?”

He suddenly looked like someone shot his puppy. Then he quickly filled me in on the rumors. Apparently, I somehow managed to get my hands on a genetically manipulated sample of the “Alpha gene”. One that not only made me faster and stronger but also made me a Super Aphrodite. It would seem that I was just too damn beautiful to be a normal Alpha so I somehow made myself into a super normal one.

If that even made sense.

Where the hell did rumors like that even come from?

“John honey”

Suddenly Natalie materialized right next to him, making a big display of looping her arm through his.

Was this the fabled “Marking one’s territory” from girl world I’d heard so much about.

Natalie turned to me and gave me a look.

No shit.

She thought I was trying to take John from her.

As if.

“What are you doing talking to him anyway?”

Yeah, definitely jealous.

I wanted to smirk but instead I just pushed past the two of them, hoping to make it to class before the chime.

When I finally did make it, I found my seat quickly. I couldn’t help but smile though, especially when Joe gave me a quizzical look.

So to quickly recap today’s events: Joe was still my friend, Ted was gone for good, Mads wanted nothing to do with me and John was even more of a creepy stalker than before.

Oh let’s not forget Natalie.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

I wonder if it’s too late to go to The Cube after all?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF