-------------
Chapter 6
-------------

When classes resumed on Monday, it was almost like nothing had happened, except Jude could tell that that was a lie. Everyone still felt the impact of what had happened on Friday, and then on Saturday. No one wanted to talk about it, as far as Jude could tell, but at least everyone was trying to move on with life.

It was the day of the week when a couple of the P.E. coaches had their students either jog or walk around the track ring for a couple laps before sitting down in the bleachers and warm sunlight.

Jude and Denise found one another in no time, and joined for a brisk walk.

“Did you get my message?” she asked.

“I did,” Jude responded. “When did you slip that in my pants?”

“When I left your house on Saturday. I wrote it while my father was filling out the patient release form, and then gave it to you some time after that.”

“How though? I didn’t even see or feel you when you did it.”

“Never mind that. Did you do anything else like you’d done at the doctor’s office?”

“I don’t even know what I did.”

Denise just gave Jude a look while they continued walking. When she looked away, her face became a more pensive one for a moment. She asked, “How do I put this without drawing attention from everyone else? The electricity came from your arms. It was loud. My ears were ringing when I ran over to you, and I was as far back as the waiting room when the burst of electricity happened.”

Jude looked around at the track ring to see if anyone had overheard this. No one gave any indication that they had, and it seemed like everyone was at least some distance away. “I can’t shoot lightning out of my hands, Denise.”

“Sure you can. How could you have done what I’ve seen and not know?”

“I’m not sure. You really saw me doing this?”

“A real shocker, huh? Maybe I should start calling you Joules.”

“Please don’t.”

“I wonder if you got it from your parents.”

Jude laughed. “Somehow, I doubt my mom has any powers, or I would have noticed by now. As for my father, well . . . I couldn’t tell you. I never met the man, but if he had them and Mom knew, then I think she would have said somethi—Oh!”

He recalled his last injection. A nurse had said something about the man in the next room not getting the right syringe, or something like that. Then the lights flickered before the blast of lightning had happened. When no one was within earshot, he repeated this little memory to Denise.

“We need to tell my dad, and your mom,” Denise said. “You were lucky to survive a terrible mistake, and luckier than that considering your newfound ability. Between the malpractice and the deal your doctor had made with Penne, something needs to happen before your doctor does it again. Or worse.”

“He’s not my doctor anymore,” Jude replied. “I was already planning to find another one.”

“Good, then this shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Whatever happened to Penne? Do you know?”

“No idea. I hope he gets put away real good.”

An awkward silence followed. The kind of awkward where two friends could have said something, but neither one did because nothing came to mind.

They nearly finished their second lap when Denise whispered, “So, do you have your costume picked out yet?” Her tone was a giddy one.

Jude said, “I don’t even know how my power works yet, assuming that this is true. It’s a little early to be thinking about becoming a hero. Besides, spandex is probably a bad idea, considering . . . you know.” He nodded downward while Denise was looking at him.

“Then we’ll need to figure out how your power works, won’t we? We can figure out the rest later. Maybe some cleavage and a mini-skirt.” Her voice drifted off while she went on, her pace picking up just a bit.

“H-hey.”

They ate a quick lunch and hurried to the computers at the school library. There was a side room where most of the computers could be found. Denise had an idea as to how to find what they need to learn about Jude’s lightning powers. They each took a seat at adjacent computers, and began their search with what time they had left before needing to go to their next classes.

The only other person in the room was the lab technician, who was listening to his music through a pair of headphones and doing something on his own computer that seemed to require his concentration.

“Lots of M.E.T.A. links,” noted Jude once the search had begun.

Denise said, “Yeah, what is that?”

“Mutant-something-Teenager-Assistance, I think? Oh, ‘Established.’ They’re an organization meant for aiding young people with powers.”

“I keep finding forums where people ask what we’re looking for, or for other power sets, but they’ve either been taken down or are blocked by our school. That just leaves us with trusting your new power to those M.E.T.A. guys.”

“Why do I get the feeling that clicking on one of these M.E.T.A. links will result in someone kicking down the door and taking me away, never to be seen again?” For Jude, it came out like a sigh stuffed with sarcastic humor. He wasn’t sure, yet, if he could trust some big organization like that. More than that, he was disappointed by this.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Denise said.

“No, but I wanted you to help me, not a bunch of people I don’t know.”

“Jude, do you remember what we promised? We’d help one another get better at making new friends. What if you meet these people and make friends with them? That sounds like a win to me.”

“I suppose you’re right. I just . . . I don’t know. I guess I also hoped that the answer would be easier to find. Like, one of these blocked forums you mention, if I could just enter one of them and—whoa!”

Jude felt like he had lashed onto something, and both he and that something pulled at one another in a short game of tug-o-war until they collided and became one. Jude’s body was no longer physical in the strict sense that he’d known for more than a dozen years.

He could not see anything. She could not see anything. She simply was, floating free in the unknown, and things were tangible that shouldn’t have been.

Was that a poem by the schoolyard bully she came in contact with? That was sure to leave Jude laughing in the future.

“Jude, what happened? Where did you go?” It was Denise’s voice.

Slowly understanding things, Jude thought about a word processor. Nothing happened. She thought about the internet browser, stilling nothing except for an ethereal presence above Jude’s consciousness.

Wait a minute.

She thought about the browser again, and again, trying various different ways to reach for it, or move toward the ethereal presence. It took time, but she got it. It was visible to her now, and she could interact with it using her willpower alone.

“Denise,” she said when Jude reached what she knew to be the browser.

There was no response from her friend, but she knew that she had done something with the browser. Jude was on that search engine when she had entered the system.

“What the fuck?” muttered Denise. “How did all these sites with my name—? Wait. Jude, are you in there?”

“Yes,” Jude responded.

“OK, that’s really cool, but how are you getting out?”

“I don’t know yet. My first thought was communicating with you from the great beyond.”

“Knock that off, you nut. Great, now the computer’s showing results for song lyrics for ‘The Great Beyondman.’”

“I’m the great, the magnificent. See my greatest trick, and now I’m gone.”

“You’re a help.”

“How has the lab technician not seen this?” Jude wondered.

“You’re asking me.”

“Oh, he’s playing a game right now. Huh, that’s a nice trick. I guess I have full contact with the lab, and the internet as well. It’s too bad those forums I mentioned are still blocked. Wait, hold that thought. I think I can treat the block like a massive door rather than an impenetrable wall.”

Jude moved herself to the main computer overseeing the lab, and tested the first step in her plan. She thought about the programs running in the computer’s background, and sought for the security settings there, hoping not to alert the technician to her actions.

The best she found was the search logs by herself and Denise since they’d walked in about nine minutes earlier. Realizing that deleting the log would have been more suspicious than the log itself, Jude wondered how she could change it.

After a moment of pondering this, she felt a green light wash past her.

What? A virus scan? Oh, good, you don’t see me as a threat. Keep up the good work then.

When the exchange was over, and only after then, Jude realized that she took it like nothing out of the ordinary. She would have shrugged it off, but Jude had nothing to shrug with at the moment. All she had was her digital form with which she was free to do whatever she wanted or be what she wanted.

Jude “touched” the search log and exerted her will into it. A couple of her own searches turned into information on bands with superpowers, and then she did the same for her friend before the virus scan came around again.

“Oh, come on!” exclaimed the technician. The virus scan was slowing down his game, and costing him a match against another player.

Feeling sorry for the man, Jude sent a wave of dirty thoughts through the network toward the opposing player’s computer, and hoped that it did something.

Seconds later, she heard the technician excitedly press a few keys and mumble a number of expletives she didn’t care to catch. Then the man shouted a loud cheer.

Now. Jude entered the security settings, flipped an imaginary switch, and pulled away from the technician’s computer toward the one she’d been sitting at mere moments ago. Finding the correct computer did not take long; Denise was humming a tune.

The same tune that Jude had quoted earlier, even.

“I’m back,” wrote Jude.

Denise asked, “What’s the technician so excited about?”

“He’s winning, I think. Can you access one of those forums now?”

“Give me a moment. Oh, nice.”

“You got it?”

“Oh, no, I found a good place to buy costume pieces online. Among other things.” Her tone sure was playful, if not suggestive.

“Denise.”

“Here we go. One list of things to look for with Electro . . . kinesis . . . ? Printing now.”

“Perfect. Now to find a way out of this computer.”

Really, it was so simple when Jude thought about it. She entered the system wanting to enter one of the sites that could help her. So now it was a matter of wanting to leave the system, of wanting to enter the outside world, and of wanting a physical body that was truly her own.

The pulling sensation came again. This time, it felt like she pulled, and the surreal, digital realm around her pushed, almost like she was on a swing. Rushing through the unknown, Jude flew into something as she fell onto solid ground. She could do better, but this was going to take getting used to.

And then she heard the sound of papers dropping.

When Jade’s vision finished correcting itself from all of the turning and aligning multiple images into one, she turned to find a surprised Denise. Denise helped her up.

“How do you feel?” Denise asked.

“Odd,” Jude mentioned softly. Something about her voice felt different to her.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here. One foot in front of the other? Good, you can still walk. Alright, let’s not forget our IDs, and we are out of here.”

Denise waved to the technician, and continued to guide Jude by the arm. Jude’s skin felt different. Jude’s everything felt different. Denise only let go briefly to run back in and grab the pages she had dropped, which she stuffed into her bag before grabbing Jude again.

“This way,” Denise said.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Jude’s voice was softer too. Jude’s voice had yet to crack or deepen, but now it was somehow refined. It seemed like it was on the way to maturity without becoming a man’s voice.

For the love of every hero, and even a few villains, why did Jude’s chest feel weighted and itchy while Jude and Denise hurried to their destination?

Jude saw where they were entering and processed it only a fraction of a second too late. “Wait, why are we going to the girl’s locker room?”

Luckily, there wasn’t anyone else present to see Jude standing here, breaking a stupid, but ancient rule. Jude eyed the exit, and inched toward it while Denise dug through her bag.

“I know I have a spare in here. Judy, stop. Don’t go just yet.”

“I’m not ready for this. I shouldn’t be here.”

“Not ready? Judy, haven’t you noticed yet? Here, let me find a mirror.” With a piece of clothing in her hand, and her bag over her shoulder, Denise guided a nervous Jude across the room toward a mirror.

However, Jude wasn’t paying attention to the reflection ahead. Jude needed to know why his chest felt like it was picking a fight with his shirt, and why his pants felt wrong as well. So Jude used his free hand to pull his shirt forward by the neck while he and Denise slowed down.

The whole world might as well have slowed to a stop then. Those were boobs under Jude’s shirt, he was sure of it.

“Judy, look,” said Denise.

Jude—no, Judy—finally let it all click as she brought up her gaze. Denise getting excited and calling her Judy, the small-yet-somehow-heavy boobs bouncing on her chest; the reflection only confirmed it.

She was a girl now, physically and thoroughly.