This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

Never underestimate the power of love.

(The transgender element doesn't start until well into the story but it's still a strong part of the story.)

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 1

Amelia Wilson led a truly charmed life, but she wasn't happy. Her luck ran out when her mother decided to drag her to another state. She'd have to spend her senior year at a different high school.

She loved the area where she grew up. The mountains and snow of Colorado gave her comfort and peace, and she didn't mind having only a couple casual girlfriends and neighbors to talk to once in a blue moon. The long hours of rewarding private study more than made up for her lack of a social life. She wouldn't trade her home for anything, yet here she was, sitting in the front passenger seat of an old, beat up station wagon while her mother drove them far away.

"Why do we have to move?" she whined, just after they crossed into Idaho.

The two of them shared driving duty, traveling hundreds of miles across the country, and they were both hot and tired. Jobs had been scarce and Amelia's mother had to go wherever she could to find one. They held a last minute yard sale, sold their modest house in Denver and headed towards the West Coast, the land of plenty.

"Not again, Amelia, please." Cassandra dearly loved her daughter to the point of spoiling her, but perhaps that was part of the problem. She had to find some way to show her daughter that life wasn't always easy. Adversity built character and made the good things in life seem all the better.

"Why can't we just ... you know," Amelia suggested. "Why do we have to drive this piece of junk?"

"I told you before, Dear. Our gift isn't limitless. There's always a cost. We have to learn to do some things ourselves."

"But Mom!"

"Don't 'But Mom' me, Missy. We've driven this far. We can drive the rest of the way."

Amelia pouted but quickly stopped when she saw her mother ignoring her so well.

"Besides," the older woman said, grinning in victory. "You can use more practice."

Amelia squeaked in protest but said nothing more for a good many miles.

***

The Wilsons nursed their old car along and stayed in motels until they arrived in Corvallis, Oregon two days later. Sunshine and pleasantly warm air greeted them, along with a lot of friendly faces and a surprisingly large number of bicyclists. It was a beautiful little city.

Cassandra loved it but Amelia wasn't impressed. The teen had done a little research and knew she'd hate it. The first thing that caught her eye was the weather. It rained a lot more and snowed a lot less in Corvallis than it did in Denver. That alone would depress her. Then there was the drab little house they'd be living in.

Before their trip, her mother checked the Internet and arranged to rent the house, preferring it over an apartment. It might be a good deal but some moron painted it a putrid green. She didn't know what her mother was thinking. The color made her nauseous just thinking about it.

Still, the house wasn't a total disaster. All they had to do was get to the place, throw their meager belongings inside and drive to the nearest paint store. A fresh coat of paint should make it livable. Their car had other ideas though, as steam began to squirt out the gaps along the hood.

"Quick! Pull over there," Cassandra pointed to a small park. "We can get some water for the radiator."

"Do we have to stop?" Amelia complained. "Can't we just fix it?" The thought of being seen around such a hunk of junk embarrassed her. As it was, she hunched down and tried to hide behind the steering wheel.

"Amelia!"

"Right. Okay, Mother."

The teen pulled into the parking lot and parked as close to the rest rooms as she could. Hopefully, the car would quickly cool down and they could duck into the rest room for some water to fill the radiator.

"I guess we need a new car," Cassandra said with a sigh.

Amelia nearly choked. "You think?!"

"No need to get sassy, Young Lady. We'll get settled in first. Then we can see about a new car."

"You mean new as in brand new?" The girl said, bouncing in her seat.

Cassandra suppressed a laugh and tried to give her daughter a serious look. "I mean new as in working and reliable. I doubt I'll be able to afford a brand new car any time soon. Scientists aren't rich you know."

"But Mom!"

"Honestly, Amelia. Old Bessie here has reached the end of her natural life so we won't get a good trade in value for her."

The teen pouted and hung her head.

"That'll do you no good, Dear. I'm splitting our current savings between a new house and your college fund. The type of car I get will depend on what I can get on my salary."

"Okay," Amelia said.

"We still need a lot of things like new furniture too. It's going to be rough the next couple of weeks."

"Okay! Okay! I get it."

At least the teen didn't have to suffer with their ugly old furniture. It might have been in good shape but they'd practically had to give it away at their yard sale. The only things she'd miss were her large four poster bed and vanity table set. They were beautiful but they had to go. Her mother refused to get a moving van so the only things they could bring had to fit in the station wagon.

As the two of them sat at the park and waited for the radiator to cool down, Amelia suddenly found herself with changing priorities. Forget the paint. She needed a bed! Her mother might be comfortable with one of the two small futons they had rolled up in the back, but she wouldn't settle for anything less than a queen size bed. They couldn't hope to squeeze one into their car so she hoped the furniture stores would still be open and could deliver one by the end of the day.

"Oh! Hurry up, Bessie," Amelia said, and then got a twinkle in her eye. She quickly changed to her power voice and shouted again. "Cool off!"

The steam stopped.

"Amelia, that wasn't necessary. What's the hurry?"

"I'm sorry," the teen said, her eyes tearing up. "But I want to make sure we have time to at least get a bed."

"What's wrong with the futons?"

"Please, Mom. Can't we get a bed?"

"Okay," Cassandra smiled. She still found it hard to say no to her daughter. "Let's get old Bessie filled up and get going."

***

With the house painted and rooms properly furnished, Amelia found she could tolerate her new life. Her bedroom furniture matched her high standards and her closet overflowed. She couldn't ask for much more than that. The only issue of concern left was school.

The weather got noticeably wetter as the new school year approached. She couldn't do much about the weather -- yet -- but she could do something about school. She vowed to make her senior year perfect, and nothing would stop her.

***

Low gray clouds rolled in, threatening rain on the first day of school, much to Amelia's dismay. She was already half way to school when the rain started and she wasn't prepared. She liked to walk but didn't appreciate what the humidity would do to her hair. Thankfully, she had the Gift, and had little reluctance to use it.

The Gift might be better described as a blend of magic and science, and those with the power called themselves Gifters. The Gift couldn't break the laws of physics but it could bend them to amazing degrees, and the more scientific knowledge one had, the easier it was to bend them. That explained Cassandra's profession as a scientist, and why she encouraged her daughter to follow the same path.

The first rule of the Gift: It wasn't possible to violate the law of conservation of matter. Existing objects could be transformed in many ways but they couldn't be disintegrated or created out of thin air. Even so, matter could still be manipulated to create some fantastic gravitational effects, including the warping of space. Highly advanced Gifters could create a wormhole to greatly shorten the time spent traveling from one location to another, effectively teleporting. No one felt constrained by the first rule when they considered the Gift's potential.

The second rule followed the law of conservation of energy, though some advanced Gifters appeared to break it by converting matter into energy according to Einstein's famous mass-energy equation. A huge amount of energy could be created and channeled in an impressive fashion, even going so far as to create the lightning bolts and fireballs right out of a fantasy novel.

The third and most important rule had nothing to do with science. It was a moral code; do no harm. Exceptions were made for self-defense but in general, nothing that went against the wishes of any human being was allowed. Unfortunately, that resulted in a policy of secrecy and suppression. Too many of those without the Gift reacted badly when seeing its apparent magical effects.

What a Gifter could do depended on their field of study. Physicists concentrated on matter and energy, chemists focused on molecules and chemical reactions, and so on. With common sense and some cross-discipline study, one could create many different simple effects, but only specialization allowed for the truly amazing accomplishments.

Cassandra preferred the biological sciences, mostly pertaining to infectious diseases. She hoped to become a great healer and dreamed of someday wiping AIDS from the face of the earth. Working her way up from the common cold and influenza, it became child's play to eliminate most childhood diseases and some of the more severe ones like malaria and tuberculosis. Inherited diseases like cystic fibrosis fell beyond her reach but others could handle those.

Amelia followed her mother's lead, though mainly for selfish reasons. She studied the physiology of the human body and used her knowledge to change herself in desirable ways. At the rate she progressed, she'd soon be able to shapeshift into virtually any person close to her size, male or female. Her skin, hair and eye color could already be changed as well as height and bust size.

She'd already enhanced her features, making the change gradually so her mother wouldn't notice. Once she learned, she couldn't help herself. Her mother might not approve but it helped her self-confidence so she figured it was okay.

This time, the young Gifter created a shield out of air molecules, a simple trick after learning basic chemistry. She made the shield look like a clear, plastic umbrella to keep from upsetting her classmates. She even held her arm up to make it look like she was holding something.

As she approached her new school, Crescent Valley High, or CV as students liked to call it, she felt someone's eyes on her and got a little nervous. Turning back to look, she saw a tall, dark-haired boy with a silly grin. There was no danger he'd discovered her fake umbrella. She followed his eyes to find they were fixed firmly on her rear.

"Like what you see?" she asked, only slightly annoyed since she was used to male attention.

The boy just nodded and followed her in like a puppy, not seeing her pretend to fold up an imaginary umbrella and stuff it in her backpack.

***

As luck would have it, Stu walked behind one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen. She must be new because he'd remember if he'd seen her before. He wandered down the hall in the general direction of his first class and was pleasantly surprised to find the girl walk ahead of him into the same classroom. His Government class suddenly seemed a lot more interesting.

He sat slightly behind and to the side of the new girl and waited while Mr. Johnson took roll call. As soon as the girl answered to Amelia, Stu had a name to go with his fantasy. He slumped back in his chair and ignored the droning voice of his teacher for the rest of the class.

The boy had a serious case of infatuation with all the pretty girls at CV. He had enough nerve to ask many of them for dates but so far, he hadn't found the right one for him. In other words, he'd been rejected. His obsession with physical beauty was well-known and not well-liked.

It's too bad Stu couldn't control himself because the girls found him attractive and charming when he wasn't staring at their chests. He had above average grades and played on the varsity baseball team. He had a sharp wit and a mild manner that could make him a fine boyfriend. It was only when he was around a pretty girl that he turned into a cave man.

The bell interrupted his latest fantasy and after walking to his next class in a daze, he once again found Amelia inside. He thought it had to be some sort of sign. Perhaps there really was such a thing as fate. It gave him hope anyway. He couldn't remember the last time he had a date. That's because he'd only had a few his freshman year, long before all the girls discovered his one-track mind.

With some time to spare before the bell, he worked up some courage and approached her. Lucky for him, she sat in her chosen seat so he couldn't get into trouble staring at her posterior again.

"Hi Amelia. My name is Stu. Welcome to CV."

"CV?" she asked, not yet learning the school nickname.

"That's what we call the school. It stands for Crescent Valley of course."

"Right. Nice meeting you, Stu. Thanks."

The bell sounded and Stu quickly returned to his desk, silently congratulating himself for making contact and burning her beautiful, smiling face into his memory.

In spite of his intelligence, he couldn't understand why he couldn't get a date. He came up with all kinds of excuses but noted that making excuses didn't help. He had to figure out his problem and fix it. Maybe if he asked, some nice girl would explain it to him. It couldn't hurt to try.

***

Amelia couldn't help noticing Stu's eyes on her the whole time in her first two classes. It bothered her enough that she planned to have a talk with him later about it. Her perfect senior year was at stake after all. She just hoped she wouldn't have to resort to extreme measures.

After her second class, she didn't see the rude boy again until lunch. He sat with several loud and obnoxious male friends and she refused to go near them for fear of being tainted. If her feelings weren't hurt in some way, her clothes might be, thanks to the frequent flying bits of greasy food. Her talk would have to wait.

At least lunch wasn't a total loss. She met up with two girls from her last class and they offered to give her a short tour. The three of them had a nice long lunch together and the two girls spent the rest of the time showing her around the school. It was a nice gesture even though she didn't remember much of it. She couldn't stop thinking about a certain boy.

With her mind elsewhere, lunch ended and she thanked her two new friends. Then she wandered off to Art class and got lucky, so to speak. She had another opportunity to talk to Stu because she found herself sharing a third class with him. That was the last straw. She had to resolve the problem as soon as possible because she'd be seeing him far too often if she didn't.

The determined girl found a quiet moment during class while they worked on a simple sketching exercise. The teacher suddenly stepped out of the classroom and she hurried over to whisper to Stu.

"I need to speak with you after school. Meet me out front."

She slid back into her seat, leaving him with a goofy grin, but she didn't suffer from any more of his attention. Finally setting up a meeting allowed her to focus on her sketch for the remainder of class.

***

Stu stood waiting for her in the hall near the front doors. She took a full course load when most seniors, himself included, only had to take four or five classes to graduate, so he had a long wait.

As she walked towards him, he managed to tear his eyes away from her large breasts and take a brief moment to really check her out. She wore very nice clothes, much nicer than most of the girls in school. Her blonde hair was worn up and she had a style and grace that screamed high maintenance.

Her appearance and ambitious class schedule suddenly made him rethink his interest in her. He considered reducing her to eye candy status instead of potential dating material. He preferred his girls to be more old fashioned, another reason he couldn't get a date. His attitude only left him farther behind in the relationship game.

"Hi," Amelia chirped. "Thanks for meeting me. I hope you didn't have to wait long."

"No," he lied, ever the charmer. "I didn't wait long." He couldn't help but play the game of love. He figured the practice wouldn't hurt. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I couldn't help notice you staring at me in class," she said and paused. She hadn't given much thought about how to tell him he bothered her. Now she found herself slightly embarrassed.

"And?" he said with a smirk. He had the mistaken impression that girls liked to be leered at. He thought they'd be flattered by it.

"And I want you to stop it," she blurted out, provoked after seeing the look on his face. "It really bothers me so please stop," she added for good measure.

She surprised him, and even angered him a little. No girl had ever spoken to him like that. In spite of asking nicely, he couldn't believe she didn't like to be stared at. He refused to believe it. His stubborn male pride wouldn't let him.

Biting back an ugly retort, he calmed himself and remembered his thought when he first saw her. He wanted to ask a girl for advice, and now Amelia practically dropped into his lap. But could he trust her? Girls seemed so emotional and irrational. Still, he reminded himself, it couldn't hurt to try talking with her a little.

"Don't you like to be appreciated?" he tried, sticking with the current subject.

"Well, yeah. Sure. But you take it too far."

"Ah, I see. What about peeking? Can I get away with an occasional peek?"

"Maybe," she said, a small grin forming.

"And faraway glances? Are they allowed?"

"Definitely," she agreed, finding herself warming up to him.

Meanwhile, Stu fell back into his usual stereotypes. He thought her to be toying with him. She liked to be looked at but only under her own conditions. She had no consideration for his needs. Guys were visual. Everything he read and heard confirmed it, so that was good enough for him. He stubbornly decided to go back to his usual ways.

His first plan had been to ask her out on a date, the sooner the better, before other girls gossiped about him and ruined his chances. It was a good plan, but the more he talked to her, the more he realized she wasn't the one for him, in spite of her beauty.

"Okay," he told her. "Got it. See ya." Then he turned and quickly walked away.

Amelia's jaw fell open. She followed slowly behind him, stopping just outside the school entrance when she noticed the rain. She watched him hurry across the parking lot to his car. He got in and drove away without so much as a backward glance. She felt abandoned. He could've at least offered her a ride home, even though she didn't live that far away. What went wrong?

***

"Boys!" Amelia huffed as she entered the kitchen, startling her mother. The girl had been in her bedroom, fuming until her mother got home from work.

Cassandra smiled when her daughter's words finally registered. It was about time Amelia noticed boys.

"Hi Amelia. Did you have a good first day of school?"

The angry girl frowned back in answer but didn't say any more.

"I'll take that as a no. Want some hot chocolate? That always cheers you up."

"No ... and no."

"No hot chocolate? This must be serious," her mother said, barely suppressing a grin.

"It is! A stupid, smelly boy at school is driving me crazy!"

"Amelia, you sound like a 10-year-old. Come on."

"Well he is ... stupid at least."

The teen poured her heart out to her sympathetic mother, who couldn't help remember her failed romance with Amelia's father. Men without the Gift made relationships difficult, but a woman's heart made its own decisions.

"That's quite a problem," Cassandra said after her daughter finished. "What are you going to do about it?"

Her mother asked a good question, one she hadn't thought through. She'd never had a boyfriend before, never considered having one until she met Stu. He creeped her out a little at first but she thought they had good chemistry when they talked after school.

"I don't know, Mom. I just don't know."

"You'll figure it out, Honey. You're a smart girl."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Now how about a hug?"

They shared a brief hug and then focused on making dinner. Perhaps a full stomach and an evening of reflection would make it easier to find some answers. Only time would tell.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

Amelia and Stu turn into a teen train wreck. No one comes near but neither can they look away. The story revolves around them to spin a modern tale of magic and love.

(There's a hint of transgender in this part but the main transgender element doesn't start until near the end of the next part. Please stay tuned.)

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 2

The next morning was nearly identical to the previous one, including the rain, only this time Amelia came prepared with an umbrella, a real one.

As she walked to school, she couldn't stop thinking about Stu. She still had no answer as to how she'd deal with him. There was an obvious attraction between them but she couldn't figure him out. Boys could be so frustrating.

Stu was nowhere to be seen as she settled into the chair in her first class, but he followed soon after and his eyes glued themselves to her. She tried frowning at him and even mouthed the words, "Please stop." He just added a little grin and kept on staring. What a creep!

She tried shrugging it off but it distracted her so much she couldn't concentrate on the lecture. It had to stop or her grades would suffer, and she might be too tempted to take the easy way out to solve her problem.

Then inspiration struck.

"Excuse me," Amelia said, raising her hand.

"Yes?" Mr. Johnson called on her, frowning. He hated to be interrupted.

"Is something wrong with Stu? Does he need medication? He keeps staring into space."

The class erupted with laughter and Stu blushed.

"Young Lady," Mr. Johnson sneered. "I don't know how they did things in your old school, but here we show respect."

"I'm sorry, Sir. It won't happen again."

Amelia had no trouble paying attention to the lecture after that. She won the battle, but at what cost? And what would she do tomorrow? What would she do in her next class? She just had some success with words and a little brain power. Perhaps words were the key.

She continued thinking about her problem while immersing herself in her teacher's lecture. She let the words of justice and government flow through her and it wasn't long before she felt a little kernel of an idea forming, along with a smile on her face.

When class ended, she took her time getting to her next class, making it easy for Stu to catch up to her.

"What was that?!" he yelped.

"What? You mean putting you in your place?"

"That wasn't cool," he maintained.

"Neither is staring! Whatever happened to an occasional peek? Or were those just words?"

"Come on. You like the attention. Admit it."

"No, I don't. I don't like it any more than I imagine you would."

"Hey. You can stare at me anytime, Babe."

Amelia had to bite her tongue but felt some satisfaction that he took the bait. She was determined to correct Stu's behavior without using her gift.

"Let's test that then," she said. "Let's switch seats so I'm behind you. I'll stare into the back of your head for the two other classes we have together."

"Okay. You're on."

Just like they agreed, they switched seats. Stu kept turning his head to smile at Amelia but after two reprimands from their Calculus teacher, Mrs. Packwood, he faced the front and tried to follow along.

The minutes ticked by and little by little, his found his concentration faltering. He couldn't stop wondering if Amelia was still staring at him. He had that strange feeling of being watched and spent most of his energy trying to keep himself from turning around. One more reprimand and he'd be sent to the principal's office.

When the bell finally rang, he let out a sigh of relief. He made it through the class. He didn't remember much of the second half of the lecture but he made it.

"Well? How was it?" Amelia asked him.

"No problem," he lied. "I loved it."

"You're lying," she growled. She could tell by the way he squirmed in his seat that he'd been uncomfortable. Then she thought of a way to prove it. "So what was the last thing we covered in class?"

"Huh?" That caught him off guard, but he refused to answer.

"I bet you don't know. You couldn't concentrate, could you," she demanded.

"Whatever," he bluffed.

"Well, we still have another class together after lunch. Let's see how well you do in Art. I'll be watching."

"Fine," he said as they separated for their next class.

***

Stu usually looked forward to his computer class, but after his exchange with Amelia, he couldn't stop thinking about what she said. He hated to admit it but she was right. It wasn't cool to stare. He really did it more out of spite than anything else, and that certainly wasn't cool.

That girl bothered him. He'd never met anyone like her. She was pretty, smart and had attitude. She had it all, yet something seemed off about her. Was she too good to be true? No, he still felt she had far too much ambition to be perfect. So why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

The bell rang and Stu wandered into the lunch room. He bought a few snacks from the vending machines but he didn't feel much like eating. He needed to get Amelia out of his head. He needed a distraction.

"Hey Gordo," he said to his best friend as he sat down next to him. "Where's Fred?" Gordo's real name was Gordon but everyone shortened it long ago in grade school. The two boys always sat together at lunch and had great fun wasting away the lunch hour.

"He'll be here in a couple minutes," his large friend replied. "He's checking out the cheerleaders again. They'll get rid of him soon."

Sure enough, Fred, the smallest and most timid of the three dateless wonders showed up looking somehow dejected and satisfied at the same time. He'd obviously gotten an eye full before he was sent away.

"Fred!" Stu shouted. "When will you learn?"

"When cheerleaders stop wearing those uniforms," he said dreamily.

The three friends were together again and everyone nearby made sure they were well out of range of the inevitable horseplay.

"Look at those idiots," Nancy said, pointing to the three boys across the lunch room. "I wish they'd grow up."

Nancy was one of the two girls who gave Amelia her school tour so, having nowhere else to go, Amelia found herself sitting with the girl and the girl's best friend, Teresa.

Teresa snorted, being too preoccupied with eating to do much else. The large girl's mouth always seemed full of food so no one was surprised by her weight problem. She usually spent the entire lunch period slowly eating her usual large meal of assorted comfort foods.

"I agree," Amelia said without looking.

"I take it you've met at least one of them," Nancy said.

Amelia glanced over at the boys and then looked long and hard at her new friend. Nancy wore thick glasses and didn't seem to care much for fashion, but with a little work, she'd look stunning. The Gifter imagined giving her a magic makeover until she felt a hand on her forearm.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

"Oh. Sorry, Nancy. Yeah, I met Stu. I have him in three of my classes."

"Now I'm sorry," Nancy said, earning another snort from Teresa.

"He's been staring at me and driving me crazy."

"Yeah, he's famous for it. Good old Staring Stu."

"Well, I turned the tables on him at least," Amelia said with a smug grin. "But I'm not sure if it's working." The grin quickly turned to a frown.

"What? How? What did you do?"

"I switched roles on him. I got him to let me stare at him to see how he liked it. I'm sure it bothered him but he won't admit it. He's so stubborn!"

"What?!" Teresa suddenly shouted, spitting a little of the food she was chewing.

"Ewww! Teresa!" both girls shouted together.

***

"Look at those goofy girls," Gordo pointed across to Amelia and her new friends. "The dumpy one just spit food all over the table! Ha!"

"She sounds like your kind of girl," Stu teased.

"Very funny. I like the blonde. She's hot."

"I don't think you'd like her if you talked to her."

"Who said anything about talking?" Gordo said, waggling his eyebrows.

"I'm serious, you idiot. I have her in three of my classes."

"What? No way," Gordo said with awe in his voice.

"It's not that big of a deal. She's too high maintenance."

"It's only the second day of school! How do you know?"

"I can tell. We've already had several conversations. Just give up on her."

Gordo's eyes widened. All he heard was what he wanted to hear.

"Dude! You should ask her out."

Stu slapped him alongside the head. "Did you even hear what I said? She's high maintenance. H.M.!"

Gordo rubbed his head and thought about his friend's wasted opportunity, but before he could think of more words of encouragement, their little lunch party was interrupted.

"Hi Stu. Hi guys." Someone who looked to be a much smaller and slightly younger version of Stu stood on the opposite side of the lunch table, facing the three boys.

"Hey Squirt," Stu said. "I thought I told you to stay away from our table. Seniors and sophomores don't mix. Beat it."

"My name isn't Squirt, it's Stan." The small boy rolled his eyes. Big brothers could be such a pain. "And I'm here to deliver a message from Mom so you better listen."

That got both Fred's and Gordo's attention.

"You better listen to him," Gordo said. "He might tell Mommy if you don't." Then Stu's two shadows laughed.

Stu scowled but he knew better than to ignore his mother.

"What's the message?"

Stan rattled off a list of a few grocery items they needed for dinner and promptly left, glad to be rid of the three older boys. He wouldn't hang around them even if they begged him. He went back to his own little circle of quiet friends and happily faded into the relatively safe background.

Since the father of the two brothers died, life had been hard for the Benson family. Their mother worked long hours to support them and she needed all the help she could get. Since Stan seemed most eager to own a cell phone and since they could barely afford one, he got it. That meant he was the one who got the text messages that his mother sent from her computer at work. It also meant he got the unpleasant task of relaying the occasional message to his older brother.

Being the oldest child, Stu didn't mind doing some of the shopping and household chores to help out, even though he thought they were strictly women's work. He had his priorities straight at least. He loved his mother and, though he'd never admit it out loud, he loved his younger brother.

Stan pretty much followed his older brother's lead, but he seemed much happier about it, almost too happy. There was something odd about that boy, but blood was thicker than water so Stu looked after him the best he could. Being so small for his age meant that Stan got picked on a lot and needed protection. The small boy was an easy target for bullies.

Lunch time drew to a close, and the lingering students scattered. It was time for Amelia to resume her battle for a perfect senior year, one already marred by a certain boy who seemed determined to get in her way.

As soon as she got to Art class, she squeaked. Stu had beat her to the room and already sat in his old chair behind and to the side of hers.

"Hey," she said, quickly marching up to him. "We're supposed to switch seats. Come on. Get up."

Stu slowly looked up at her and shook his head, leaving Amelia speechless. She sputtered and huffed but didn't have time to argue. She returned to her original desk and plopped down hard in her chair, just as the bell signaled the start of class.

Class actually went surprisingly well. Stu stopped his staring, and once Amelia realized it, she relaxed and got into some serious drawing. Time flew and the bell rang, startling her. She quickly gathered her things and rushed over to Stu to begin the inquisition.

"What happened? Why did you sit in your chair? Why did you stop staring?"

"You're welcome," he said with his annoying smirk.

"You think I should be thanking you? You started it by annoying me!"

Just before the argument had a chance to get going, Mr. Stevens came over and put an end to it.

"Not in my classroom, please."

"But ...," Amelia started.

"Just go," her art teacher pleaded. He hated to see the petty arguments of his students. He was much too old to put up with such nonsense.

"Men!" Amelia wanted to say more but she was too upset so she stormed out of the classroom. The two males watched her go and then turned to face each other.

"Good luck," Mr. Stevens said to Stu, earning a confused look from the boy.

***

Amelia ambushed her mother in the kitchen for the second day in a row, and once again covered the same subject.

"He's impossible!" Amelia complained, after she nearly ran out of breath explaining the situation with Stu.

"But didn't you say he stopped staring? That's something," offered her mother.

"Yes, but he shouldn't have expected me to thank him. And my art teacher threw us out of the classroom. It's so unfair!"

"Amelia, calm down. Just try having another talk with the boy."

The teen stood a moment, tears of frustration streaming down her face. She'd always gotten her way. Everything always fell into place and worked out the way she wanted. Of course, she used her gift to help, but why shouldn't she? Why have it if she didn't use it?

She wished she could use her gift on Stu somehow. She wished she could just make him go away, but that would be wrong. It would also be against the third rule of Gifting: do no harm. She was stuck.

"It's pointless. I'm doomed," the girl said in a quiet voice. She scuffed her feet as she left the kitchen and ended up lying on the sofa, sulking. A single boy destroyed her perfect senior year before it could even get started.

Cassandra followed and looked down at her.

"You really like him, don't you." It was more a statement of fact than a question.

"I don't know," the girl whined. "Maybe."

"Please, Amelia. Keep trying. If you can't win him over with logic or charm, then use grit and determination. Don't let him make you miserable. That's not like you."

"But Mom!"

"Hey! What did I tell you about that phrase? You got him to stop staring. You can get him to start being nicer."

"I don't know," the girl said, giving it a little thought.

"You were very clever turning the tables on him. I wish I could've seen him squirm in his chair when you stared at him."

That got a giggle out of both of them.

"Okay, Mom. You're right. I won't give up. But I feel like I'm chipping away at an iceberg with a toothpick."

"I know, Honey. I know."

***

Day three arrived and Amelia dragged herself to school. Though she normally liked the early part of the day and liked to walk, she couldn't bring herself to appreciate anything about that morning, not even the fact that the rain had stopped.

The girl trudged towards her first class and paused at the door to let someone else enter first. It was Stu. It had to be him.

"Hi," she said, testing the waters.

"Oh. I didn't see you there," he said. He quickly moved ahead of her and plopped down in his usual seat behind hers, leaving her to slowly follow.

"Can I please ask you a question?" she said when she'd caught up.

"You mean a second question?" he said, playing the smart aleck.

"Please," she said quietly.

"Okay. Fine. Shoot."

"Why did you stop staring at me?"

"Because you asked me?" he said, getting confused.

"You didn't stop right away the first time I asked you. Why stop now?"

"Good question. Would you like me to start again? Don't tell me you miss it." He was actually serious.

"No! I don't miss it. Crap! What's with you?!"

The frustrated girl marched back to her seat, leaving many of their classmates either snickering or staring in wonder.

Mr. Johnson noticed his two pupils going at it and shook his head, thinking that teen angst should be added to the list of certainties in life. It ranked right up there with death and taxes.

The lecture began and for the first time that school year, everyone in class paid attention. It wouldn't be the only day that happened but it would come to be a rare occurrence.

***

Two weeks went by with much the same result between Amelia and Stu. Amelia's behavior confused and slightly annoyed him so he did the natural thing and tried to avoid her. That just made her pursue him all the more, resulting in the slow escalation of tension between the two of them.

Teachers and counselors might have helped, except it was too early in the battle. The two teens stubbornly refused to consider any outside help. They might complain to their mothers, but they both always insisted on solving their own problems. They were too alike for their own good.

Lunch became an oasis for the pair. They separated and sought refuge with their small group of friends, the only friends they really had and the only friends they could get. Most of their classmates couldn't help notice the tension between the two teens, thanks to the frequent verbal sparring, so everyone avoided getting involved with either of them.

"Hi Nancy. Hi Teresa," Amelia chirped as she sat down for lunch. She was always happy to see her friends, even if she did think them a little odd.

Teresa grunted her usual response as she continued eating.

"Hi Amelia," Nancy responded. "Any luck with Stu?"

"His name is not to be mentioned in my presence today. Please. Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?"

"Anything!" Then the blonde got a gleam in her eye, making Nancy a little nervous. "How about we talk about Teresa's eating disorder?" The gifted girl never did learn a lot about tact since she'd locked herself away in her room for hours on end. Her private studies meant more to her than anything else, except her mother, and sadly, it showed.

Teresa actually stopped chewing and slowly looked up at Amelia. The large girl showed no emotion except for a slightly wild look in her eyes. She seemed ready to bolt.

"Teresa," Amelia persisted. "All you do is fill your face while Nancy and I talk. You're obviously overweight and I'm very concerned. It's not healthy!"

"Amelia!" Nancy gasped. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm serious! I can't stand to see someone slowly kill themselves by overeating."

"She's only 17. She's not going to die anytime soon."

"Hey!" Teresa spoke up. "I'm right here, you know."

Amelia gasped. It was the longest sentence she'd ever heard from Teresa. But she quickly recovered.

"You do have a voice. That's the first time I've really heard you say anything." Then she looked up at the ceiling. "See! There's still hope!"

The two old friends rolled their eyes at that, but the blonde had their attention.

"Come on. Please. Come with me. Both of you."

"Huh?" the other two girls said.

"We're going on a walk. We've had plenty of time to get enough nourishment and now it's time for some exercise."

Teresa groaned but she got up, and she groaned louder when Amelia threw away all of the remaining food. The large girl had never been on a diet, never considered one. Food was her best friend, with Nancy a close but definite second.

"Come on," Amelia said. "It'll be nice to get outside and get some fresh air. You'll see."

Nancy wasn't hard to convince. She didn't appreciate spending all her free time in the lunch room. She only did it to stay with her best friend. Teresa was the one they had to convince, and she understandably resisted until Nancy and Amelia each took an arm and led her out.

After walking a short distance towards the baseball field, the large girl shrugged off her escorts and continued on her own, slowly but surely. The three girls walked a lap around the field before she said anything.

"Okay. I've had enough," she puffed. "I'm still hungry."

"Hey. We're just getting started," Amelia said. "You can't quit now."

"Yeah," Nancy added. "We spend too much time indoors. This is nice. It's not exactly warm but it isn't raining. We should do this more often."

Teresa didn't say anything but her stomach rumbled in protest. It wasn't used to such treatment. The girl never exercised, and her heavy breathing and sweat pouring down her face proved it. Still, she didn't want to disappoint her friends so she kept walking.

Amelia couldn't help notice her new friend's discomfort and felt a little guilty. She hadn't exactly thought things through for her spur of the moment plan to forget about Stu. She just felt the need to get outside and walk.

Staying in good shape was important to her so she normally walked to school back in Denver, snow or no snow. She also liked to occasionally take walks at lunch. Having school was the only way she could get any exercise. She spent most her time at home in her room, doing homework and learning to use her gift.

She probably could've used more exercise, but she used her gift to beautify herself and keep herself in the best of health. With exercise and her ability, she'd live well into her 90's and possibly much longer. The Gift allowed some to manipulate themselves at the cellular level, enough that they could slow the process of aging to a crawl. If she kept up her studies, she could easily be one of those long-lived Gifters.

As she thought about her gift, she looked over at her suffering friend and suddenly wondered if she shouldn't use her gift to help the girl lose weight. Amelia had never had any close friends and never learned to be too concerned with the welfare of others. So it came as a bit of a surprise to her that she thought to try helping.

Of course, she had somewhat selfish reasons. She wanted to help but she mainly thought it would help herself feel better. Fighting with Stu drained her emotionally and she needed a lift. She could also use some practice with her gift. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of a magical weight loss program for her friend. She just needed to make sure it wouldn't violate any rules.

The rules of the Gift had been taught and frequently repeated to her by her mother over the years, with the third rule being emphasized as the most important. "Do no harm" seemed easy enough to grasp but did it include getting someone's permission to do something for them? Cassandra had mentioned the importance of getting a person to knowingly agree to getting special help, but Amelia felt it didn't apply with her friends. Her only goal was to help them. Why would she need their permission? Besides, she'd be giving away her secret if she told her friends.

Keeping the Gift a secret wasn't exactly a rule, but it had been firmly ingrained into Amelia at a very young age, for her own protection more than anything else. It was an important lesson that had only one exception. Life mates could be told, though even then things could end badly. The girl still cried when she thought about her father. He left when she was very young. He could handle a gifted wife but not a gifted, willful daughter, so he left his family, never to be heard from again. If she found someone to love who didn't have the Gift, she vowed to do everything possible to keep that person from finding out. The lesson of secrecy had been learned the hard way and learned well, so she never considered telling her friends. In her mind, that left her no choice but to use her gift on them without their knowledge.

As the three girls walked, Amelia made her decision. She put her hand on Teresa's back and used her gift to suppress the appetite of the large girl. She also included a permanent boost to Teresa's metabolism to help burn away the fat. The body sculpting had begun, and unfortunately for her, it didn't go unnoticed.

Since she didn't think of herself as doing any wrong, the gifted girl thought herself safe from spying eyes, but she was wrong. Even actions with short-term benefits could very well develop long-term problems and thereby break the third rule. The importance of secrecy and possibility of harm couldn't be overlooked.

The universe automatically enforced the first two rules of the Gift since they were physical laws, but it couldn't ensure that all Gifters used their power wisely. Only Gifters themselves could hope to control their own kind, and they did so by adding the third rule along with a set of guidelines that warned of the many hazards they might encounter. The guidelines were only suggestions. It was the third rule that was all important, so much so that a small group was given the task of monitoring some of their own. Few adults were deemed a risk but teenagers seemed especially prone to abusing their power, so many teens were monitored.

The Council of Elders had long ago identified Amelia as selfish and spoiled. They knew of her tendency to magically beautify herself and figured she was likely to use her gift on others, so they kept a close eye on her.

One of those charged with monitoring Western Oregon was using remote sensing to monitor Amelia during the time she used the Gift on her friend. So the abuse was detected, but no lightning bolt struck. Nothing extraordinary happened at all. Her unseen monitor merely made note of it and swore under his breath. It was the first time the girl had used her gift in such a way, and as such, it warranted extra duty to watch her, and nothing else. The Council didn't want to overreact. A one-time or rare occurrence shouldn't be punished. Exceptions were tolerated. They just wanted to make sure it wouldn't escalate further so they increased the rate of monitoring.

Amelia's monitor raised the girl's status to "high risk" and had to set up constant monitoring during the girl's waking hours. After three incidents of using the gift on someone else, the monitored teen's mother would be notified and punishment would be required. The severity of the punishment would of course depend on exactly how badly the teen abused her power.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

Stu goes too far and pushes Amelia over the edge. The teen train wreck continues and the two of them finally jump the track.

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 3

Amelia's work on Teresa had been very good and very thorough. In only a matter of days, the large girl had shed an incredible amount of weight, enough to cause a little concern but not enough to start a panic, especially since she never felt stronger and healthier in her life. She had so much energy that she couldn't wait to drag Amelia and Nancy out for a walk at lunch.

All three girlfriends were quite pleased with the results, and Amelia couldn't wait to focus on her next project. The blonde had noticed Nancy's potential for a makeover long ago, and since she had the power and the inclination to help, she got right to work, starting with her friend's vision.

Nancy had very poor eyesight and had to wear glasses with very thick lenses. The glasses obscured her beautiful eyes, making her look like a hopeless bookworm. Her vision could probably be corrected with laser surgery someday but Amelia refused to wait, not when she could help.

Once again, the girls had lunch and then went out for a walk. They went out rain or shine. Teresa insisted.

"Nancy?" Amelia asked, hanging back with Nancy while their newly energized friend took the lead. "Have you ever tried eye exercises?"

"What do you mean? I've never heard of eye exercises."

"I'll take that as a no." Amelia smiled. She had the perfect plan. She'd use eye exercises to cover for the use of her gift.

After describing some of the exercises she had in mind, the blonde waited for her nearsighted friend to give it some thought.

"That sounds crazy," Nancy decided. "It'll never work."

"How do you know until you try?"

Nancy didn't have an answer. Like so many others who fail because they never try, she couldn't come up with a good reason not to try. She didn't have much hope but after seeing how well Amelia's encouragement helped Teresa, she was willing to be proven wrong.

"Okay," she finally said. "Let's do it."

"That's the spirit," Amelia said with a smug grin, thinking her friend would have 20/20 vision in no time.

Of course Amelia's monitor caught another incident soon after the girl's conversation. The teen used her power to help her second friend. The matter might have been flagged with a warning of greater severity if she had any more friends but the monitor saw a pattern. She had two friends and only showed an inclination to use the Gift sparingly on her friends. There didn't seem to be a pressing need to continue the constant vigilance so the monitor got lazy and reduced her status back to "medium risk".

***

Another week passed and Nancy's vision improved significantly. She'd already changed her prescription eyeglasses three times, causing her parents no end of trouble. The eye doctor visits and glasses didn't come cheap.

No one wanted to believe that eye exercises were responsible but they couldn't argue with results. Nancy did her exercises religiously and squealed with delight with each new pair of glasses. At the rate her vision improved, she'd be free of glasses or at least be able to wear soft contact lenses in another week. She couldn't wait.

In the meantime, Amelia wasn't finished. Though her friend's face would undoubtedly brighten without glasses, Amelia still thought the girl could use more work. The baggy jeans and sweatshirts that Nancy loved to wear couldn't hope to look flattering on anyone but a centerfold model, and the girl wouldn't reach that level of sexiness anytime soon. The slender, brown-haired girl had a cute young face more like the girl next door. She'd break some hearts soon after her makeover was finished, but they'd be the hearts of high school boys, not men.

So when it eventually happened, the trip to the mall surprised Cassandra as much as her daughter. Amelia rarely left the confines of her room after school, but now she realized how shallow her life had become. She needed to explore the world and experience new things, and her friends showed up just in time to give her the motivation to do so.

"Mom?" Amelia called.

"In here, Dear!" Cassandra called from the garage. She'd only just got home from work but her daughter was too anxious to wait another second.

"Can I borrow the car? Please?"

"What?! Whatever for? Are you feeling okay?" The older woman teased.

"Ha ha. I'm fine. I want to go to the mall with Nancy and Teresa. They desperately need some new clothes."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. I'm helping them spice up their wardrobes."

"No, Dear. I meant I'm surprised you're going out. You never go out. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Cassandra smiled to show she was teasing again.

"Yes, Mother. But I'm actually a little sorry Bessie is gone."

"I know, Dear. I miss that old car too. She had a certain charm."

Amelia gave her mother a strange look. "I meant I'd miss her for the extra room. It might be a little cramped in the bug with three of us and zillions of bags of clothes."

"Oh. Right. I should've known. Please forgive me." Cassandra's voice dripped with sarcasm and her daughter just rolled her eyes.

"So can I have the keys now?"

"Yes, Dear. Have fun ... and Amelia?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

The blonde practically ran out to the garage, yanked open the garage door and slipped into the late model Volkswagen Beetle. She loved the perky little car and felt no shame driving it as she zipped over to pick up her friends.

"Cute car!" Nancy gushed. "I love the color too. Blue's my favorite color."

"It's my mother's favorite color too. I prefer green but she's the one with the money."

"Why don't you get a job?"

"Uh ... because I don't have to. Duh." Amelia tried to make it sound like she was teasing but she was only half joking. She really had no desire to work yet. She'd put it off as long as she possibly could. Menial jobs seemed so tedious and boring for someone like her, someone with the Gift. In the meantime, she had her mother to buy her everything she needed, including a college education. The gifted girl planned on settling for nothing less than working as a lab assistant for her first job. She insisted on immersing herself in science and continue working towards her dream of a greatly extended life span.

The two girls arrived at Teresa's house and soon the three of them headed to the mall to begin several hours of power shopping. It was the start of a new life, for all of them, thanks to Amelia's gift.

"Yeah! Let's shop," Teresa said as soon as they were parked. She had a good sense of fashion, but she needed lots of new clothes to fit her slenderized body. That made sense to Nancy but the fairly shy girl still resisted her own makeover.

"Okay," Amelia matched Teresa's enthusiasm. "We'll start over in lingerie. We need to build a foundation and work our way out."

Teresa agreed but Nancy looked stricken. "Do I have to?" she squeaked.

"Do you have to what?" The blonde was confused. She couldn't believe her friend wouldn't want to shop so it had to be something else.

"Do I have to shop for new clothes?"

The question struck Amelia speechless, and strangely enough, Teresa came to her rescue. The somewhat large girl wasn't exactly shy but she rarely said much with her mouth always full of food. She preferred eating to everything else. After she started exercising and losing weight, she ate less and found her voice. She blossomed and couldn't wait to take advantage of it.

"Nancy, what's wrong? Don't you want to look nice?"

"I don't know. I'm a little scared."

"Of what? A little attention is nice, especially from boys."

"I guess," the shy girl said without conviction.

By then, Amelia found her voice and joined in.

"Nancy, looking good means feeling good. Please. Trust us. We'll get you looking good and the whole world will love you."

"If you say so," Nancy said, still not convinced.

"Are you happy in your little shell?" Amelia turned serious. "Do you like being afraid of everything?"

"No."

"Then let's do something about it. Okay?"

The shy brunette finally gave a little smile. "Okay."

With Nancy on board, no store was safe. The three girls picked their way through every clothes rack and every bargain bin until their arms couldn't carry any more. Even then, they made room for a few accessories and some essential makeup. It was a good day to shop.

When they'd finally finished, Amelia drove back to Teresa's and they had a little fashion show. Nancy got some much needed practice with makeup and Teresa showed off her large chest to its best advantage. The boys at school wouldn't know what hit them.

Amelia bought a few things but she didn't really join in the fun other than to help her two friends. She didn't really need any new clothes or makeup anyway. Her closet and vanity were already full of the latest fashions and beauty products, and she always had her gift to fall back on. She simply contented herself with being truly social for the first time in her life.

She only regretted one thing. She still wished she had a boyfriend, but as the blonde spent more and more time with her girlfriends, Stu occupied less and less of her thoughts.

***

Amelia's two projects had progressed at a fantastic rate over the past month. Teresa had dropped six dress sizes and Nancy no longer needed glasses. The parents of both changed girls couldn't be happier. Amelia couldn't be happier, and Stu had been all but forgotten.

"Hey Gordo," Stu called out to his friend as he sat down for lunch.

"Hey Stu. Whatever happened to that hot blonde chick?"

"I think she finally took the hint. She hasn't bothered me for over a week."

"I still can't believe you passed her up." Gordo slowly shook his head. "So sad."

"Yeah. Whatever. Say, where's Fred?"

"I don't know. I thought he'd be over bugging the cheerleaders but they should've thrown him back by now."

"Hey, wait a second," Stu looked over in the direction of Amelia and her two friends and pointed. "Isn't that him, sitting over there?"

"Holy shit! Yeah! It is."

"Traitor." Stu looked away in disgust.

Fred sat across from Nancy and after some strange looks and awkward moments, he did the unthinkable. He started talking to her. He knew her from one of his classes and never felt intimidated by her, not like the cheerleaders intimidated him. So when he noticed her improved appearance, he couldn't help himself. His feet moved him in her direction and brought him to her table.

"Hi Nancy. Remember me? I'm in your creative writing class."

"Uh ... yeah. Hello, Fred."

"You look really nice today," the shy boy said, surprising himself as much as anyone else. He tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching everyone else have fun but never imagined himself getting involved, until he saw Nancy. Her sweet, shy nature matched his own, and with her new look, she attracted him like a moth to a flame.

"Thanks," she said, still not quite sure how to handle a compliment.

Amelia nudged her friend and gave a sideways glance to the exit, hinting that it might be nice to take Fred outside for a little stroll. Nancy understood but shook her head no, earning a frown and another stronger nudge. When that didn't work, Amelia went to plan B.

"Come on, Teresa. Let's go for a walk. See ya later, Nancy!"

Teresa caught on fast and followed her friend's lead. "Yeah. See ya!"

At first, Nancy felt a little like a fish out of water, but as Fred kept talking, she started warming up to him. They talked about creative writing along with several other subjects and found they had a lot in common. It looked like love was in the air.

Meanwhile, when Teresa got up to leave, she slowly leaned forward, giving Gordo a peek at some cleavage, the boy's only weakness. He'd been keeping on eye on the table since Stu continued to quietly sulk and couldn't miss the flash of skin.

"Look at the rack on her," Gordo said to no one in particular, though his sulking friend couldn't help but hear him.

Stu looked up and followed his friend's eyes, but he caught sight of Amelia. She looked back and they briefly glared at each other until she stuck out her tongue and broke the spell.

Stu turned away again but Gordo was hooked, just as Fred was. No matter how hard the large boy tried, he couldn't get the image of Teresa's breasts out of his head.

Love and lust turned the tide for two of the three boys. The score was 2 to 1 against Stu and he silently fumed about it, getting more determined than ever to avoid Amelia. He chanted over and over to himself that she was high maintenance until he got the nerve to head over to his next class, one he shared with her.

He arrived several minutes early but sat down anyway. The solitude gave him a chance to think more clearly.

The lonely boy hated to admit it but he missed trading insults with Amelia. He never had so much attention from a female other than his mother, and she didn't count. All she did was embarrass him with praise for helping her take care of the household and looking after his younger brother. He'd much rather have a girlfriend, or even friends that were girls. Any females close to his own age would be a nice change from his male friends.

In spite of spending so much time helping his family, he still had plenty of time to date. So why didn't he? Until that day, he sometimes tried blaming his friends for keeping the girls away. He couldn't do that any longer. Fred's path to a relationship had already begun and Gordo followed close behind. When he really thought about it, and added everything up, he realized he could only blame himself for his failures, and it stung.

The worst part was when he thought about all the time he spent fighting with Amelia. She'd really seemed interested in him not so long ago and yet he refused to consider dating her. He kept a civil tongue but continued fending her off, and still she persisted. What was that about?

The poor boy punished himself right up until several students filtered in. Class would begin soon, and he'd see Amelia, one column over and two rows in front of him. She'd ignore him like she had for the past week or so and he'd continue his pathetic, lonely existence, unless he changed.

Change never came easy to Stu. It took a crazy experiment with Amelia just to get him to stop staring at her. She made a good point and he backed down. It made for quite an impressive stunt, and the memory of it suddenly inspired him to try to make peace with her, once and for all.

When Amelia entered the classroom, she ignored every attempt Stu made to catch her eye, but he wouldn't give up so easily. He had a few minutes before class started and he'd use every one of them if he had to.

"Amelia, please," he tried, without getting a response.

"Hey. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. I'm sorry for everything. Okay? Please forgive me." There was still no response.

"What did I do to deserve the silent treatment?" He started getting defensive, which was always a bad sign. "Shit! I just want to be friends."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it." The blonde finally spoke up, though she kept her eyes on the front of the class, well away from Stu's sad face. "Just leave me alone. I never want to speak to you again." After all the fighting between them, she'd finally given up. She'd been deeply hurt when she realized he'd given her no hope.

"So that's it? My apology means nothing? You gave as good as you got if I remember right." Frustration turned to anger as it often happens. Stu forgot that he wanted to have Amelia as a friend and reverted to his old ways.

"What part of 'leave me alone' don't you understand?!" Amelia growled.

"Hey! Ever been accused of being high maintenance?"

"What?!"

"Consider yourself accused," he said with a smug grin.

"Ha ha," she said, turning around to face the boy. "Such sharp wit might sever something precious if you're not careful."

"Yeah? Well your IQ drops every time you dye your hair."

"Ha! Nice try but I don't dye my hair."

"Prove it!" he smirked.

"Asshole!"

"Bitch," he said in a quiet, even tone. Then he went one step too far. He summoned up all of his remaining creativity in one final shot that would soon prove to be his undoing. He slightly changed the lyrics to Willy Nelson's song, On the Road Again, and sang.

On the rag again
Just can't wait to get on the rag again
The life I love is screamin' bullshit at my friends
And I can't wait to get on the rag again

Of course by that time, everyone was listening, and several boys in class howled with laughter, while the girls stared daggers at them. Gender relations would remain frosty in that class for a long, long time.

Mr. Stevens had suffered long enough. He loved art but he didn't get paid enough to listen to bickering teens. Up to that point, he'd hung back, thinking that class would start soon and his students would settle down and start drawing, but after Stu sang a warped version of one of the his favorite songs, he hefted himself up out of his comfortable chair. The bell rang to start class and his first action was to pay a visit to both Amelia and Stu.

"Come with me, please," he said, gesturing to both of them.

The old teacher led them out in the hall and quietly shut the door behind the three of them.

"You two have been quiet for the past week," he said. "What happened?"

They both started talking at the same time and the old man held his hand up to stop them.

"Never mind," he said. "It was more a rhetorical question anyway."

He tried giving them a stern look to induce some shame but they were both lost in their own private worlds of anger so he changed his strategy.

"Just stay out here in the hall and see if you can resolve your differences. I don't want to see you back in class until you do. Is that clear?"

When he got no response, he tried again with more force. "I said, 'Is that clear?'"

"Yes," the two teens replied.

Mr. Stevens disappeared back into his classroom, leaving the two angry students to fume. He didn't expect them to kiss and make up but at least they wouldn't disrupt his class.

Amelia spent the time productively. She felt she'd been more than patient with the boy and decided it was time to end her problem once and for all. As usual, she never went anywhere without her small purse, inside of which was a small bottle of pink nail polish. She spent the next five minutes painting nail polish on the palm of her hand. She painted a circle connected to a plus sign to make the symbol for woman, and she added a little something to it to give it a special ability.

Stu leaned back against the wall and, as the adrenaline from his verbal sparring match wore off, silently punished himself. His behavior was inexcusable, and he could think of no way to make amends. No amount of words could dig himself out of the hole he put himself in. He just wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. He was so absorbed by his guilt, he didn't notice when Amelia had finished her little task and edged closer to him until she spoke.

"Hand, please," she demanded.

"Excuse me?"

"Give me your hand."

"Which one?"

"Any!" She didn't wait though. She grabbed his left hand and pressed her painted palm into his palm. With a bright flash of light, the symbol instantly transferred from her palm to his, and the task was done.

"Ow!" he yelped, and he yelped a second time when he checked out the palm of his hand. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Something I should've done a long time ago."

Then she eyed him with a feral grin that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "You said you wanted to be on the rag," she said. "Well I just granted your wish. Consider it a gift."

The two of them stood out in the hall for the duration of the class. No matter how much Stu pleaded or demanded, Amelia wouldn't tell him what she'd done, other than the obvious physical change. He now had a pink tattoo on the palm of his left hand that he couldn't remove no matter how much he scratched at it. He'd also soon find out that no amount of soap and water or industrial strength cleaner would affect it. He was stuck with it.

Amelia felt a warm satisfaction at what she did to Stu. There had been no lightning bolt, and no loss of limb. She hadn't suffered any punishment after magically branding the boy, so she took that to mean she hadn't done anything wrong. To the contrary, she strongly believed that she had righted a wrong. He deserved what he got for what he did.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, she was wrong. She'd blatantly violated the third rule of the Gift, but since the person who monitored her had downgraded her level of risk, she was no longer under constant surveillance.

The monitor completely missed her abuse of power and wasn't likely to catch it for a long time. His power didn't include rewinding time to check for strange occurrences. He'd have to keep watching until he could catch some clues about what had happened and slowly piece the clues together. It might take a week or two, or he might never find out. Only time would tell.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

Stu slowly changes and Amelia takes far too much pleasure in it. Can anyone stop it? Will Amelia ever be caught? Read on and find out.

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 4

Hiding the pink tattoo came easy for Stu. No one except maybe palm readers went around trying to look at a person's palms. The hard part came when he tried to hide the changes caused by the tattoo.

After the first several days, he dismissed the idea that anything was wrong, other than thinking the symbol on his palm should've faded by then. It wasn't until a week had passed by that he noticed the first changes.

The hair on his head grew at an alarming rate and already tickled his shoulders, while at the same time, he lost most of his body and facial hair. He knew what the tattoo symbolized so he had an uneasy feeling about what was happening to him. It should be impossible but he couldn't deny what he felt and saw with his own eyes.

He thanked his lucky stars he'd held off taking a physical education class. His classmates would ridicule him if they saw him in the showers in his current condition. Teens could be so cruel.

He only needed four courses to graduate so he took the minimum in case he got a job. Getting off earlier meant he could start a job earlier in the day and make more money for college. He just needed to start looking for work.

Something always seemed to come up to prevent him from finding a job. Even with only four classes, he still had plenty of homework, and he helped his little brother with homework often. Household chores kept him quite busy too. He sometimes felt like a stay-at-home mom, and after his encounter with Amelia, he worried he might end up looking the part.

He tried steering clear of the blonde after she gave him the tattoo. He felt too much guilt about how he'd treated her to face her. A trace of fear began to creep in as well. If she actually caused what he thought was happening to him, she needed to be avoided. Just thinking about everything she might be capable of scared the crap out of him.

The scary girl wouldn't let him off that easily though. She frequently stared at him, and it had nothing to do with lust. It was obvious she watched for changes because she let her victim know when she detected them. She noticed Stu's long hair and used a hand to flip out her own hair before smiling and turning away. She didn't say anything but still found a way to rub it in.

She also soon added another bothersome method of silent torture, mouthing words instead of speaking them. It allowed her to get around the teacher's stuffy rule of keeping quiet in class.

"You go, girl," she mouthed every chance she got. Stu tried not to look but couldn't help himself. She exaggerated the mouth movements to make the words easy to understand, and though she kept repeating her message, he hoped to eventually see something else. He hoped it was all just one big joke. He couldn't believe she could be so cruel.

But the nightmare continued. He knew it wasn't a joke when she pretended to shave her legs and underarms one day in art class. She laughed at his shocked expression and turned away before she could see a tear roll down the boy's face.

***

Two weeks had gone by since the incident with Amelia, and even after a hastily scheduled haircut, Stu worried more than ever. His shoulders and chest were noticeably smaller and he'd lost several inches around his waist. The only thing holding his pants up were his hips and rear. Along with the rest of his upper body, he noticed his arms were a lot smaller and weaker. They were slender, hairless and very feminine looking. With his shirt off, he looked more like a flat-chested teenage girl than a boy.

Even with a little hair on his lower legs, he imagined his legs would look good in pantyhose, and that thought greatly disturbed him. He didn't know where it came from. Could Amelia have affected his mind as well as his body? If he progressed at his current rate of change, he'd be a girl long before the end of the school year. But would he care? If his mind feminized along with his body, he might not care. He'd be a completely different person. He'd be all girl!

Every day he dreaded waking up and finding he'd lost a little more of his masculinity. He also dreaded going to school. In spite of wearing heavy winter clothing, his altered appearance got harder and harder to hide from his classmates, especially Amelia.

Once more, the strange blonde girl taunted him. She put her hands to her waist and moved them around to show she noticed his smaller waist. He wore long, baggy sweaters to cover the top of his tightly belted pants but his feminized figure still found a way to shine through now and then. When it did, Amelia was there, waiting.

After the gifted blonde met Nancy and Teresa, she discovered more to life than study, and she loved it. Then everything backfired. She helped the two girls out and they repaid her by chasing after boys, leaving her to fend for herself. Harassing Stu was the only amusement left to her, so she focused almost exclusively on him.

Eventually, after several days of taking over Stu's role as the villain, Amelia went too far one morning just before their first class. She chipped away at his stubborn exterior and finally hit a nerve when she mocked him by making muscle man poses. She'd noticed his smaller arms and delicate hands.

"Enough already!" he hissed. "Hasn't it gone far enough? I don't know what you did or how you did it, but haven't I suffered enough?"

"I think the punishment fits the crime," she said, and then mouthed, "You go, girl."

"Remember cruel and unusual punishment? I think this qualifies," he said, pointing to himself.

"No, you still have a long way to go," Amelia said, finishing the sentence by mouthing the word, "sister". She twisted the knife in the wound by referring to Stu in such a way, and he almost lost his composure.

"Please. You don't have to do this. I'll never say another word to you."

Amelia tired of the boy's whining, and besides, class was about to start so she used her power voice. "Sit down!" she ordered, and he did, as did everyone in the classroom who wasn't already seated, including Mr. Johnson.

Thanks to Amelia, another rare day had begun in which everyone paid attention for the duration of the class, even though the teacher gave his entire lecture while sitting behind his desk, something he'd never done before.

***

At least Stu experienced some amount of good luck for the past couple weeks. His two friends chased Amelia's two friends, leaving him alone in his misery. If they stuck around, no doubt they'd notice his changes and tease him about it. He'd endure a long string of insults and eventually avoid them anyway. They saved him a lot of grief, but it still didn't help ease the loneliness and stress during his impossible transition.

Helping his little brother, Stan, with his homework made a nice change, although it sometimes worked the other way around. The younger brother made a better student in several subjects including Language Arts and History. Speaking and writing always came more easily to Stan.

As it happened late one evening, Stan helped his brother with homework, something the feminized boy needed more often since he had much more trouble concentrating on anything except his changes. He watched his older brother reading a short passage and noticed something different about the taller boy.

"Are you getting enough to eat?" Stan asked. "You look a little thin."

"I'm fine," Stu snapped.

"Okay. Okay. No need to bite my head off. Are you sure you're not hungry?" Stan smiled and waited for his brother to catch the humor. Unfortunately, he didn't get a response.

Stu suddenly got very nervous. His younger brother noticed his weight loss. It was only a matter of time before everyone noticed his condition. Then where would he be?

His situation rattled him, inspiring his imagination to dream up horrible possibilities. The images that bothered him the most involved government scientists who discovered his changes and dragged him to a secret laboratory where he'd be studied for the rest of his life. He didn't want to be a lab rat!

"Crap," he suddenly said, getting up. "I've had enough for tonight. I'm going to bed."

"But it's only 9:30. We have plenty of time for more studying."

Stu ignored his brother and slammed the door to his bedroom. With the drapes drawn, he turned on the light and threw his clothes off to study himself.

Just as he feared, he looked more like a girl everywhere except his head and between his legs. His clothes never felt more uncomfortable, never fit worse, and he couldn't help wonder what it would be like to wear a dress. It had to be better than cutting holes in his belt so he could tighten it enough to keep his pants from hanging off his hips.

Feminine clothing called to him, seducing and scaring him at the same time. At the rate he was going, he'd never get a girlfriend, so perhaps he'd be his own girlfriend. He could stare at his reflection to his heart's content. No one could complain or yell at him then.

Shaking his head, he fell back on his bed, slipped under the covers and cried himself to sleep. It was the only way he could face the nightmare.

***

For the first three weeks after getting the pink tattoo, Stu usually managed to hide how upset he was, but after that, he woke up late on Saturday morning and lost control. Emotions hit him like a runaway freight train. He couldn't handle them and cried at the least little thing. It didn't help that he had a lot of little things to cry about.

The heavy downpour of tears started when he noticed his shrunken genitals. His left palm still sported the tattoo and his transition continued. He knew then that it wouldn't stop until he really was completely female. His male ego collapsed and a feminine persona trickled in to replace it.

When the tears subsided, he forced himself to examine the rest of his body. His waist also shrunk a little over the past week, and his hips and rear looked full and round. Hair reached his shoulders once again and even his face looked different. His chin and jawline seemed smaller and more rounded.

"No!" He shouted, and his voice cracked. A higher pitched, feminine voice was replacing his deep, male voice.

Tears erupted again and he fell back onto his bed, wrapping himself in his bedcovers to have another good cry.

At least he kept a little dignity by breaking down in the privacy of his own home that Saturday. Both brothers liked to sleep in while their poor hardworking mother slaved away in her home office. The three of them kept to themselves, and Stu kept his secret for the time being.

His mother worked so much, she hadn't really had a chance to get a good look at him for the past couple weeks. She took it for granted that he'd do his chores and homework and left him to it. He was the mature, responsible one so she concentrated most of her attention on Stan. Saturday morning was a different story though.

Stu dragged himself into the kitchen to make breakfast, wearing nothing but a large tee shirt that hung down like a dress. The shirt clung to his new curves, making him look so feminine from behind that he startled his mother when she came to refill her coffee cup.

"Who are you?!" she demanded, angry that her son might have slept with a girl.

"Your son. Who else?" He completely ignored the implications of the encounter with his mother, feeling emotionally numb after crying himself out. He just went through the motions of supplying his body with nourishment so his stomach would stop growling. He stood facing the kitchen counter while he filled a bowl with cereal.

"Stu?"

Though his voice sounded funny, she still recognized it well enough.

"Turn around," she ordered.

He did what she told him and his face confirmed his identity, but then her eyes dropped to his chest and she saw two prominent nubs poking out from an otherwise flat chest. It was very cold in the kitchen and Stu's nipples responded in typically feminine fashion.

The confused woman dropped her coffee cup. It shattered at her feet along with her hopes for a quiet, productive morning.

After an awkward minute of silence, Stu turned back around and resumed making his breakfast. First things first, he thought. He had a stomach to fill. Then he'd clean up the mess on the floor.

His actions snapped his mother out of her shock and she reacted in a predictable way.

"Stanley Michael Benson! Get your butt in here!" she screamed to her other son.

Stu sat at the dining room table, eating his cereal and pretty much ignoring everything else by the time Stan arrived. With the whole family present, the interrogation began.

"What the hell is going on?" Mrs. Benson demanded, glaring at her two sons while Stu calmly continued eating.

Stan initially had the same problem with Stu's appearance that his mother did, though he recovered more quickly. He suspected his brother was hiding something but up to that point, he had no idea Stu wanted to be a girl. Of course now that he could see the feminine curves, he wrongly assumed his brother chose to be that way. It wasn't likely someone could feminize themselves accidentally.

"It looks like Stu is taking female hormones," Stan replied.

"What?! How? Where would he get them?"

"I have no idea! I had nothing to do with it." The small boy got a little defensive. He wasn't about to let himself be blamed.

"Stu!" She turned her attention to other son. "Where did you get the hormones? Why didn't you tell me you wanted to be a girl?"

The distraught woman tried to control herself but tears still blurred her vision. She didn't like surprises. She worked too hard and didn't have any room in her life for them. Providing for herself and two sons were her only concern. She couldn't bring herself to even think about having a life until after they left for college.

Stu continued to ignore his family. He finished his cereal and got up to rinse the bowl in the sink. Then he got out the dust pan and brush to sweep up his mother's broken coffee cup.

His mother and brother watched him with annoyance at first, but it soon turned to concern when they realized something was wrong.

"Stu?" his mother tried. "Are you okay?"

"I think he's in shock," Stan told her, finally noticing the symptoms. The tall boy shivered and his lips were blue but he didn't seem to care. He didn't seem to care about anything at the moment.

"Come on, Stu," he said. "Let's go get you dressed."

The small boy tried to lead his older brother from the dining room but met with a little resistance.

"I need to clean up this mess first," Stu said, standing over the broken cup but not bending down to do anything about it.

"Don't worry," his mother told him, gently taking the dust pan and brush out of his hands. "I'll get it. Just go with your brother.

"I'll take care of him, Mom," Stan said. "You can go back to work. We'll talk later."

Her two sons left the room and the poor woman stooped down to clean up her broken cup while tears streamed down her face. After cleaning up her mess, she grabbed a cup of coffee and fled back to her home office to concentrate on real estate, the only thing she felt comfortable with and understood.

***

Once up in Stu's room, Stan pulled his brother down on the bed, wrapped a blanket around him and rubbed the larger boy's back. After a few minutes, the color returned to Stu's lips and he responded better to questions.

"What would you like to wear today, Stu?"

"Doesn't matter," the feminine boy muttered. "Nothing fits anymore."

"Yeah," Stan quickly scanned his brother. "Look at you. How did you transition so quickly?"

Stu gave his brother a funny look. How could the little guy accept it so easily and how did he know so much about changing gender?

"What?" Stan noticed the funny look and knew what it meant. "Don't look so surprised. I know all about such things because I feel the same way."

"Huh?" Now the larger boy was really confused.

"Yeah, I've wanted to be a girl since I was very young. I had no idea you felt the same way. I wish I would've known."

Stu was speechless, leaving the younger boy happily talking for several minutes. Stan's confession caught him completely off guard. It wasn't until his little brother got to a certain sensitive subject that he got a reaction.

"I have to say I'm a little envious though. You're transitioning so well. It's like magic!"

That got a nervous laugh out of Stu.

"What's so funny?"

"I'd tell you but you wouldn't believe me."

The younger boy shrugged and continued jabbering away while going through Stu's clothes. He picked out a sweatshirt and sweatpants and threw them at his brother, who slowly put them on.

"This should do until we can get some girls jeans. Do you know your size? You look to be about a size 8 to me."

"I haven't a clue," Stu replied.

"Really? You don't seem very enthusiastic. Is something the matter?"

"Yeah, Squirt. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I really don't want to be a girl."

Now it was Stan's turn to be speechless. Stu wasn't making sense. Nothing made sense. His older brother seemed to be transitioning into a girl with frightening speed and ease, yet he didn't want to be a girl. What the hell was going on?!

"It all started with this," Stu held out his left palm to show his pink tattoo. "I'm sure you recognize the symbol."

"Uh ...," was the best Stan could manage.

"It's the symbol for woman," the feminine boy continued. "Ever since I got this damn thing three weeks ago, I've been changing into a girl."

The younger boy looked at his older brother like he was crazy.

"Hey. Say what you will. That's the truth. I got the tattoo from a crazy blonde girl named Amelia. I don't know how she did it but here it is."

"Amelia?" Stan whispered.

"Yeah, Squirt ... Amelia. She scares the piss out of me. I tried getting her to stop this." He gestured to himself. "But she insists on letting it run its course. She's hell-bent on punishing me for an ugly argument we had."

The younger boy scowled now. He figured his brother had be joking with him. None of it made sense. None of it was believable.

Stu noticed his brother's reaction, and it suddenly made him angry. The anger came pouring out and wouldn't stop until it was all gone. He needed to get it out or he might lose his sanity. It was too bad he took it out on his loving little brother, but he had to get it out.

"I know that look. You don't believe me. I don't believe it either, but look at me. Look at me! I don't want this. I'm not lying and I'm not joking. I don't want this!"

He ended up chanting, "I don't want this," and continued until the anger diminished to a dull sadness. All during his rant, his voice got softer and softer, and stopped cracking. It rose to a pure and beautiful soprano and he lost his composure. He flopped face first on his bed and sobbed.

Stan sat on the bed and gently rubbed his brother's back. He believed now. At least he believed that his brother wasn't happy with his new look, and he could relate. He knew all too well what it was like to feel uncomfortable in his own body.

***

The weekend passed quickly with Stu getting a lot of support from his family, and by early Sunday evening, he had good fitting clothes, thanks to his mother. She couldn't afford to buy her son a whole new wardrobe but she got the basics, including something he had a little problem with.

"I'm not wearing a bra," he stated, folding his arms.

"It's just a training bra," his mother crooned. "You need to get used to wearing one."

"I don't have ... enough to fill a bra."

"You've got enough to fill this," she said, waving the offending garment in front of him. "Though how you're developing so fast is beyond me."

Stu gulped. She didn't know the half of it. He figured he'd be filling out bras with a much larger cup size by the end of the week. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea to get used to wearing one.

"I don't know how to put one on," he said, shyly looking down at his dainty bare feet.

"Silly girl," she said. "I'll show you."

Stu blushed. His mother called him a girl, and she was right. He was virtually all girl now, on the outside. He still had a little something left between his legs but it had gotten much smaller over the past two days. He'd soon lose all traces of his manhood and be completely female.

After a slightly embarrassing clothing lesson, Stu squirmed and pulled on the bra straps through his top. It would take some getting used to so he thanked his mother and carelessly plopped down on the couch to watch some television. He hoped to lose himself in some mindless entertainment.

"Excuse me," his mother interrupted.

"Yes?"

"That's no way for a girl to sit. You need to keep your legs together."

"But I'm wearing jeans. What's the difference?"

"Just please trust me. You don't want to get in the habit of sitting like that. What if you were wearing a skirt?"

"That's not going to happen!" Stu insisted. He kept trying to tell his mother that he wasn't happy with his transition. He didn't plan on ever wearing skirts and dresses.

"What about special occasions, like weddings?"

"Still not going to happen," Stu warned. He was getting upset. Just the thought of a wedding and which side of the gender divide he'd be on if he ever wanted to get married sent a chill down his spine.

"Honestly, Dear. You won't make it five minutes in school if you behave like that."

The mention of school made things even worse. School loomed much closer on the horizon than any wedding. Stu would have to go to school tomorrow dressed as a girl. Could he handle that? Would the school accept him? What about his identification? What about his driver's license? So many questions and so few answers overwhelmed him. Tears soon rolled down his pretty cheeks as they had so often that weekend.

"I can't go to school like this," he squeaked. "I'm ... not ready."

His mother misunderstood him, as she had all along. She thought about his identification and school records and realized they needed to be changed. She'd have to take some precious time off work to help get it all done. The loss of income would hurt but she needed to take care of her new daughter.

She always wanted a daughter, and now that the opportunity presented itself, she latched on to it and tuned out anything that interfered with her enjoyment. She brushed aside Stu's complaints and thought she had all the right answers.

"Oh," she said. "You're right. We need to change all sorts of things, starting with your name."

"My name?"

"Well, you don't look much like a Stewart, do you now?"

She went on thinking out loud without waiting for an answer, trying to remember what she would've named a daughter.

"Stephanie," she soon declared. "I would've named you Stephanie if you'd been born a girl. Do you like that name?"

"Uh ... yeah." He did like the name for other girls. He never thought he'd refer to himself as Stephanie.

"Good. It's settled then ... Steph. Welcome to the family."

She sat down next to him on the couch and gave him a fierce hug. She'd been hugging him all weekend and he got a little tired of it. It did feel nice and comforting in a way, but stifling and strange in another. What could he do though? He endured the hug and tried not to think about how much he actually enjoyed it.

***

The next morning, Steph woke up, trying to get used to her new name and the latest changes. She first discovered that her training bra was already too small. Her breasts had grown enough to make a good handful overnight. She handled that okay. It was her second discovery that gave her a fright, even though she knew it was coming. She cupped her groin and felt nothing but a little hair and a slit.

"No!" she cried, attracting her family.

"What is it, Steph?" Stan said as he barged into her room, followed shortly by their mother.

"I'm a girl!"

"Uh ... yeah. We can see that, Honey."

"No. You don't understand. I'm all girl!"

Their mother turned to Stan. "Maybe you should go get ready for school now. I'll talk to Steph."

"Sure, Mom. See ya later, Sis."

Steph groaned at being called "Sis" and threw off her covers. She got out of bed wearing one of her old tee shirts and steeled herself to bare all to her mother. She was determined to make her mother understand more about what was happening to her.

"Okay, Mom. Prepare yourself."

The girl pulled off the now overly large tee shirt and revealed herself in all her glory. Her mother gasped, keying in on her breasts first. Then she almost fainted when she saw the lack of male genitals.

"When did you have the surgery?!" her mother wailed. "How could you not tell me?!"

"Mom! Focus. Come on."

Steph proceeded to run through her changes, starting with her breasts. Surely they couldn't have grown so much in only two days. Then there was her face. Her chin was much smaller and she had a cute little button nose whereas before it had been somewhat large and angular. She hadn't gone to any hospitals, hadn't had any surgery. There was really no logical explanation for it. She ended with her fast growing hair and feminine voice, hoping everything would be enough to convince her mother that it wasn't a normal transition.

"So what happened then?! You can't just change into a girl without hormones and surgery!"

"I know this is hard to believe, but it's happening. You see it with your own eyes."

Steph's mother felt a little dizzy and sat heavily on the bed. She had to take deep breaths to keep calm. There had to be a rational explanation, but she couldn't think of one.

"This is all I can give you," Steph said, showing off her pink tattoo. "Ever since I got this, I started changing."

"It's the symbol for woman," her mother whispered.

"I know. I ... upset the wrong person and it resulted in this," Steph said, gesturing to herself.

"Someone did this to you?"

"I guess I deserved it. I wasn't very nice." Steph sat down next to her mother and sniffled a little.

"No one deserves something like this! Don't talk that way!"

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I really wasn't very nice, and I've been kicking myself for it ever since."

Mrs. Benson sighed. She couldn't bear to see her daughter suffer. "So who did it?" she asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, it matters, Steph. They shouldn't get away with it."

"I don't think you or anyone else could do anything about it. I mean who would believe it? It's impossible."

"I'm sure we could find someone to do something. We can use your changes as evidence, can't we?"

"That's what I'm afraid of, Mom. I'm really really scared. No one just changes sex like I have. When people find out, I'm afraid I'll end up being studied in some lab somewhere. I might never see you again!"

Steph teared up but somehow kept herself together. She needed support, needed to hear her mother say that everything was going to be okay.

"No one is taking you anywhere," her mother growled. "You're my child and I'll die before I let anyone take you away from me."

Such fierce talk surprised the new girl, but she felt some measure of comfort from it.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Steph sniffled. "I didn't try to be a girl, and I don't really want to be one, but I can't stop it."

"It's okay, Steph. I can't pretend I understand what's happening but I'll always love you no matter what."

"I love you too, Mom, and I'll try to be a good daughter."

"Oh, Sweetie," she said. Then they both started crying.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

Thanks to Amelia's selfishness and misconduct, both her family and Stu's end up being punished. Will the suffering never end? Please read on and find out.

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 5

Stan got ready for school that morning and walked by himself as he usually did, but that was good. It gave him time to think. He needed a clear head to plan his next step.

He had a new sister now, and she wasn't happy about about being a girl. He still wasn't sure if he believed it, but if someone actually had managed to turn her into a girl, he'd make sure that person wouldn't get away with it.

Steph had mentioned the person responsible. It was a girl named Amelia. That name wasn't very common so he'd do some checking around and knew he'd find her. He'd figure out what to say to her later.

***

Amelia missed Stu in the two morning classes they shared. She knew he'd be very far along and she hoped to take great pleasure in his misery -- actually "her" misery she reminded herself and giggled.

As she sat alone at lunch, thinking about her two absent girlfriends, she saw a small boy approach her. He looked sort of familiar but she didn't dwell on that. Instead, she noticed the grim look on his face and wondered what kind of threat he might pose.

"Amelia?" he asked.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"I'm Stu's brother, Stan," he replied, purposely using his sister's original male name.

That caused a slight giggle fit, but Stan patiently waited for her to get over it.

"How is your sister?" she said, emphasizing the word "sister". "I've missed her today."

Stan looked at the girl before him, and though he admitted feeling some envy, he thought she was too perfect, at least for a high school senior. His intuition told him there was something off about her, something that suggested she could very well be capable of things beyond the norm, especially since she referred to Stu as a girl without seeing or hearing him since last week. Impossible or not, it all added up to no good, and he made an important decision. He'd believe his sister.

"Cut the crap," he spat. "We both know you changed her with that tattoo. We don't know how you did it but we know you did it."

Amelia paled and shushed the boy. "Not here!"

"Why not here? I have nothing to hide."

The anger built in Stan all morning, and after her implicit confession, he felt an eruption coming on. He'd been severely stressed after his father died. It was bad enough dealing with his own gender dysphoria before that happened. He couldn't handle the stress of another gender dsyphoric family member, so he'd hold nothing back because he had nothing to fear. Even if she could change his gender, he'd welcome it. He hated being a boy even more than he hated her at the moment.

"Please," she said, nervously looking around. "Someone will hear."

"Like I care? Besides, if we go outside, what's to stop you from doing something bad to me? I'm safer here." He thought to test her, though any threats would be gratefully received. Again, he hoped she would try something. He hoped to provoke her into it. Whatever she dished out couldn't be worse than the lie he lived.

"I won't! I can't ... please. Let's just go outside."

"Fine." Her reluctance to make any threats didn't bother him. He thought he'd have a better chance of provoking her in private anyway, so he left the safety of the lunch room.

Amelia followed the boy as he led her outside to a small stand of trees for some privacy. She tried not to panic but it wasn't easy. She didn't think about how Stu's punishment could give away her secret. She didn't think it through because she was too angry at the time. She'd likely pay for her mistake in a big way if it got back to her mother and the Council. She had to find some way of keeping Stan quiet.

"Please," she said. "I'm sorry. I lost my temper and punished your brother. Just don't say anything."

"I won't say anything as long as you change my brother back into a boy."

"I ... I can't," she said, biting her lower lip.

"That's not the right answer."

"I mean I can't do it yet. The 'tattoo' as you call it has to finish."

"When will that be?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but it should be soon. I'll remove it when it's done. Then I'll see about changing him back."

"You'll 'see'? You're not giving me a lot of confidence here."

"Well, I've never done something like that before. It might take me a few days to figure it out." Amelia got a little defensive. She didn't like being put on the spot.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Stan narrowed his eyes and scowled, and something about his look agitated Amelia. It was the same look Stu had often given her when they fought.

"You dare doubt me?" she said, suddenly feeling a bit more confident and more than a little insulted. She had the Gift after all, and they were far from prying eyes. She didn't like the idea of hurting an innocent but she had to ensure her secret remained safe. It would be so easy to silence Stan. Who would ever know? The answer shouldn't have been a surprise.

Just about that time, the somewhat lazy monitor tuned in to check on Amelia and picked up the last part of the conversation. Angry words were exchanged and when the girl made her eyes glow red in an effort to intimidate the boy, the man panicked.

"Code red! Code red!" he shouted into the air.

"Please state the nature of the emergency," a disembodied voice answered.

"Didn't you hear me?! Just get Lord Vim! Now!"

"I'm sorry," the voice said. "That emergency is not recognized. Please try again."

"Lord Vim!" the man shouted in his best power voice.

"What is it?!" another disembodied voice answered, one that sounded like an angry young child. "You interrupted my nap!"

The man sputtered and stammered out that Amelia was about to harm an innocent. The situation called for instant intervention before it escalated into a disaster.

"Right. Off I go," said Lord Vim. "But next time, use proper channels. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, sir!"

Lord Vim appeared to be a boy of about 8 years old, though his life had actually spanned several centuries. He could completely control his body and the aging process, something Amelia dreamed of doing but might not have a chance of achieving at the rate she was going.

The ancient Gifter made himself younger for many reasons, mostly because he liked people to underestimate him. Those who knew him knew better than to anger him, but those unworthy souls who hadn't met him before could be easily baited by the "boy", giving him an excuse to deal with them in a satisfyingly harsh manner.

Just when Amelia made Stan begin to doubt the wisdom of his strategy, Lord Vim suddenly appeared from nowhere, just behind her. The apparent impossibility of the little boy's arrival took a moment to register, but when it did, Stan managed to shout.

"Look out behind you!"

"I'm not falling for that you little worm," Amelia sneered.

"You should," Lord Vim said, causing the girl to scream and quickly turn around.

"Where did you come from?!" she yelped.

"Uh uh uh," he said, wagging his finger. "I get to ask the questions. I've heard you've been very naughty," said the lord.

"Excuse me?" Amelia put her hands on her hips.

"Yes," the boy's eyes twinkled. "You've been a naughty girl and I've been sent to correct the problem."

"You?! Why don't you run along home before I get really angry?"

"I'll give you one more chance, Young Lady. Please don't make me lose my temper."

Amelia laughed and moved to use her gift to take away the little boy's voice. She'd shut him up and then he'd have to leave and she could get back to dealing with Stan. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know who she dealt with.

"You were warned," Lord Vim said, reflecting her energy back at her.

The surprised girl never felt so much power, and her eyes went wide with fear. She tried to cry out but couldn't make a sound. Thanks to the odd little boy before her, she'd silenced herself.

"There. That's better. Maybe now you'll respect your elders."

The ancient Gifter thought about it a few seconds but reconsidered.

"No, on second thought, I doubt you will. I see we've let you go too far. You need to learn a truly serious lesson."

With that, Lord Vim did something he was loath to do. He temporarily took away Amelia's Gift by draining her energy. The removal of energy couldn't be reversed but it could take as long as a couple years before she'd be back up to full power. It depended on how quickly the mystical forces of nature took to replenish the energy.

"You'll find your gift is gone, and it won't be back at a significant level for at least several months. Consider yourself lucky I'm in a good mood or I might have done something more."

Amelia mouthed some unkind words at him, but he tactfully chose to ignore their true meaning.

"Oh ... right," the lord said. "Your mother can return your voice for you. I'm not about to do it."

By that time, Stan finally found his voice. At first he'd lost the nerve to speak during the strange encounter, but as time wore on, his fear turned to confusion and it took him awhile to figure out that the strange little boy might actually be able to help.

"Wait! What about my brother?" the teen boy blurted.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" Lord Vim asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm ... nobody, but Amelia here changed my brother into a girl. How can she change him back if you took away this gift you're talking about?"

The ancient lord silently chastised himself. The girl's monitor had mentioned something about innocents, but in his haste to deal with Amelia, Vim neglected to take care of the other little part of the problem.

"Oh dear me. This won't do at all." The lord turned to Amelia. "You really messed things up now, involving innocents. It looks like I'm not finished with you after all."

"What about my brother?" Stan repeated. "Please."

Lord Vim held up a hand to ask for a moment to think. He didn't like where his thoughts led him but no other choice presented itself.

"Where is your brother now, Young Man?"

"He's at home with my mother. They're trying to figure out what to do about his new identity."

"Yes, your kind doesn't accept spontaneous sex changes all that well, do they?"

"Not really," Stan sadly agreed.

The lord sighed and turned to face Amelia. "I can only blame myself. I should've made sure you were monitored more closely. Now I'll have to see about trying to fix everything myself."

"So does that mean you can change my brother back into a boy?"

"I'm really not sure but I don't think it's possible for the moment. Amelia might have to undo the change herself, and I've delayed her from doing so. I'm very sorry."

Stan hung his head. "It's okay. It's not really your fault," he said quietly.

The three of them stood together a few minutes in awkward silence until Lord Vim asked the teenage boy to lead the way to the boy's home. School could wait. The lord had a mess to fix.

He had some idea of how it could work out. It just depended on a little cooperation from everyone involved. There would likely be a lot of fuss but there was really no other choice. After all, he couldn't work miracles.

Vim and Stan led the way, with Amelia holding her throat and sulking behind them. Vim could've teleported after a little remote viewing of the destination, but he needed to save his energy for later. Besides, it had been too long since the ancient lord had been on a long walk, and he didn't mind the exercise anyway. It actually felt refreshing.

***

Madeline Benson sat frowning in her home office, mentally exhausted after slogging through an endless sea of government web pages. She needed help. Changing someone's identity wasn't a one day task, especially when that someone changes gender. She considered biking the short distance to work, or even taking the car since Steph hadn't taken it to school. She wanted to talk to some of her coworkers for advice. But what would she say? She had no idea, so she stubbornly continued to surf the Internet, hoping for clues.

Steph felt she'd only get in the way so she stayed out in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching soap operas on television. She'd heard a lot of bad things about them but she appreciated all the plot twists and thought she might learn something from the young women on the show. She didn't know what else to do.

So the hours ticked by with no progress made by either of the Bensons at home, but that was actually a good thing because help was on the way.

***

When the odd trio arrived at Stan's home, the fuss that Lord Vim feared began immediately, for good reason.

"What's she doing here?!" Steph shouted when she saw Amelia.

Stan raced to calm his new sister. "It's okay, Sis. She's under control. She can't do any more to hurt you." He let her back away across the room and held her when she backed up against the far wall.

"Mrs. Benson, I presume?" Vim asked Madeline when she entered the living room.

"Yes," she replied, turning to her son. "Stan? What's going on?"

Stan gave his mother a brief explanation and they decided not to wait for Amelia's mother to finish her work day. Lord Vim borrowed Madeline's home office to contact Cassandra in his own way and with his help, she arrived at the Benson household within two minutes. The Bensons didn't ask how that could be possible.

The six of them soon sat down, with Steph as far away from Amelia as she could get, and Vim went over his idea. When he'd finished, he got a lot of sad looks, the worst of which had to be Amelia's. She'd have to give up the most, but it was only fair. She'd caused the problem in the first place. At least she finally realized how badly she'd acted and tried to be resigned to her fate. It wouldn't be easy.

"Are you sure there's no other way?" Cassandra asked the lord.

"I'm sorry, but no. You know it's not right to change people's memories and all records of Stu's past. We don't have the right to make everyone believe he's always been a girl."

"You're right, of course. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." Vim sighed. "This won't be easy for any of you. You're all going to have to work hard for the next year or so. It's not fair for all of you to be punished but that's the harsh reality."

He turned to Amelia and gave her his best stern look. "I expect no further trouble from you. You've caused more than enough trouble for a lifetime so I really hope you've learned your lesson."

The girl just stood there with tears continuing to flow. She'd got her voice back but didn't have much to say except that she was sorry. She'd repeated her apology often enough that everyone asked her nicely to shut up.

Of course Vim was right. Removing Steph's tattoo was the only way she could be turned back into a boy, and Vim couldn't safely do it. He didn't know exactly how the custom tattoo worked. Only Amelia had the specific knowledge to remove it but she no longer had the Gift, so Steph was stuck as a girl for as long as Amelia remained without her gift. That left only one solution.

Vim and Cassandra took a skin sample from Amelia and placed it in the palm of Steph's left hand. They couldn't remove the tattoo, but they could modify it enough for what they had planned. They focused on the DNA in the flakes of skin and forced it to be absorbed. Then Vim prepared to finish the job by speeding up the modified effects of the tattoo.

"This might hurt a little," he told Steph. "I'm sorry if it does but it'll be over soon."

"Just do it," she said, gritting her teeth.

The pink tattoo glowed and Steph's body began to change. She slowly got shorter and her hair lightened to blonde. When the glowing stopped after a few minutes, she stood as a near perfect duplicate of Amelia. Her hips weren't quite as full and her breasts were much smaller, but she looked close enough for the time being. Thankfully, her clothes had been changed to fit too. Lord Vim took care of everything.

The true Amelia gasped. The plan worked. She half hoped it wouldn't and she'd escape her nightmare but there was no such luck. Now it was her turn.

Vim took the energy from Steph's leftover mass and directed it at Amelia. The blonde girl didn't get the same kind warning about possible discomfort and she screamed when her body began to change.

The blonde girl grew taller and lost the feminine curves she'd worked so hard to enhance over the past couple years. Her hair grew shorter and darker and her face changed, appearing much more masculine. When the changes stopped, an exact duplicate of the original Stu stood where a very pretty blonde girl had once been. The change was complete and the new boy, dressed in boy clothes, collapsed on the couch to have a good cry.

Cassandra ignored her changed daughter for the moment. She studied the new Amelia and frowned.

"Amelia!" she shouted at the crying boy. "You've been changing yourself. Now I'm going to have to do the same thing to Stu here."

After some additional tweaks by Cassandra, the new Amelia passed as Cassandra's daughter. She had a larger bust size, rounder hips and her nose was a little smaller. The first phase of the plan was complete. Amelia and Stu essentially switched bodies, and that meant they wouldn't need new identification. They'd just take each other's place and hopefully, no one would be the wiser.

Lord Vim wished everyone good luck and remarked that accepting people like the Bensons gave him hope for the future. Then he teleported home to resume his nap. He'd had more than enough of mopping up after Amelia. All of his hard work caught up with him and he looked forward to a peaceful sleep, confident he'd done the right thing.

***

After a couple hours, the two families figured out the next phases of the plan, starting with the most difficult decision of where Amelia and Stu would live. Everyone wanted to stick together with their true family, but after several desperate arguments, they knew what had to be done.

Stan made most of the arguments against sticking together. He didn't like being the bad guy but he felt he had to be the ship of reason in a sea of emotion. He reminded the other four that everyone already knew Mrs. Wilson had a daughter and his mother had two sons. They couldn't suddenly change that without creating some problems. They also didn't want to try to explain to anyone who might notice when they started moving clothes and some furniture back and forth. The new Amelia had to live with Mrs. Wilson and the new Stu would stay put. No other arrangement made sense.

So with the hardest decision made, they moved forward to create a study plan, and the truly hard work was about to begin for Amelia and Stu. They had to take each other's place so they had a lot to learn in a short amount of time. They all took notes and when they finished, the two switched teens started learning their new roles right away.

"Come on ... Stu," the new Amelia said, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Let me give you a tour of your house."

The two teens started their tour, leaving Stan and the two mothers to talk.

"Well Cassandra," Madeline said. "That just leaves us to get better acquainted. We're going to be seeing a lot more of each other so we might as well start now."

"Yes ... well, I don't quite know what to say. I'm still very upset about the whole thing, and I'm mostly upset at myself for letting it happen."

"You shouldn't hold yourself responsible. Your daughter should be responsible for her own actions by now."

"But I've spoiled her." Cassandra started crying. "I've spoiled her so much, and I let her get away with so much. If only I put my foot down more. If only ...."

"Hey. You couldn't have known this would happen. No one's perfect, not even you with your gift." Madeline smiled, trying to show she meant well. Cassandra appreciated the effort at least, but she couldn't accept it.

"At least it shouldn't be too difficult for Amelia and Stu to get used to their new bodies," Cassandra said with a wry grin.

"What do you mean?" Stan asked. He'd been silent up to know but he had a feeling the statement was important.

"I'm a research scientist and I've spent a lot of years studying the human body. The new Stu is 100 percent male. That includes his brain. It's hardwired for his original gender identity and sexual preference so he'll at least be comfortable with his body and he'll be attracted to girls, assuming he didn't have gender dsyphoria before and wasn't gay."

Stan laughed. "No chance of that."

"The same goes for the new Amelia except she's 100 percent female. She'll likely have a little more trouble since she'll have to get used to menstruation, but she'll still be relatively comfortable with her body and her sexuality."

"That's good to hear," Madeline said. "I wondered about that."

"You did?" Stan asked, a little surprised his mother would think about such things.

"Yes, of course. When our Stu was first changing into a girl, you said some things that made me wonder about you, and she confirmed it this morning. I know all about you wanting to be a girl."

"Yeah," Stan confessed, fighting back the tears. "It sounds like I'll be the only one with the wrong gender. That's good to hear at least. I wouldn't wish my problem on anyone."

The two mothers sniffled a little but didn't know what to say.

Cassandra wished she could help but she didn't know enough to do what Amelia had been able to achieve. Another gender change might be in order after Amelia got her gift back though, as long as it was carefully planned. She didn't want to cause any more problems.

"So the main problems Stu and Amelia will have to deal with are memories and learning?" Madeline asked Cassandra, trying to change the subject.

"Right. Their memories of their original selves will create some conflict with what they see and feel. There'll be some confusion, but I'm sure they'll quickly get over it. People are very adaptable."

"Then that just leaves learning their new roles. I suppose we shouldn't treat that too lightly though. It'll still be a challenge."

"Yes, it will. My Amelia had a full course load but I'm guessing your Stu didn't. That's going to require a lot of extra studying on your child's part."

"Oh dear. As if she isn't being punished enough already." Madeline sniffled.

"Actually, Lord Vim was right. We're all being punished for my daughter's bad behavior. I deserve it for not putting a stop to it earlier, but you ... none of you should be punished. I'm so very sorry." Then Cassandra lost it. She leaned her head forward and sobbed into her hands.

Stan and his mother moved to comfort the distraught woman. They had a small group hug and all of them had a good cry.

***

Stu and Amelia ended up in Stu's bedroom, where the two of them sat on the bed in awkward silence. They were supposed to be exchanging personal details but they had a slight problem.

"I'm really having a problem calling you by my own name," the new Amelia said.

The boy simply nodded agreement.

"What we gonna do?"

"Speak proper English perhaps?" the new Stu suggested, slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry! I know better. I'm just being casual. So what are we going to do about our names?"

"I could call you Amy as a nickname."

"Right ... and I could call you Stewart, my full first name."

"You mean my first name," Stewart couldn't help make a correction.

"For now," Amy smiled.

The two of them felt more comfortable after that, and they wasted no more time getting to know their new roles. It was hard work but they were both very bright and very motivated to make the best of a bad situation. They'd had enough anguish in their lives.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.

This version has had some long overdue editing. Thanks to Puddin' for the help.

In this last part, Amy and Stewart adjust to their new lives, and they do an unusually good job of it, maybe too good a job. Read on to see how the story ends. :)

NOTE: Votes and comments have been disabled for this story. Please just relax and enjoy it if you care to read it.

The Magic of Love
by Terry Volkirch

Part 6

Everyone agreed the name change was a good idea. It reduced confusion and yet still reminded everyone who was who. The switched teens initially came up with the idea to help them get over the awkwardness of talking to their former likenesses, but they had an even greater concern. The two of them feared losing their original identities, so they latched on to their modified first names like a life line.

Living in a different home with a different mother for several months would have to affect them in profound ways, and it would have to make it difficult to switch back to their original selves. The current situation was forced, but switching back would be voluntary. Could they go through it all over again? They'd never be the same two people. That much was clear. But would it all matter?

Being the opposite gender was an enriching experience at least. They'd gain a better understanding and maybe even a better appreciation for how the other half lived. It would certainly make intimate relationships interesting, when they got that far.

The soul searching questions would have to wait a little while though, because Amy and Stewart were too busy to dwell on their situation. They exchanged questions and answers, took notes and recited what they'd learned. Neither one would let the other relax enough to think about what they'd lost, and what they'd gained. So far it was only an abstract learning exercise.

The introspection and in-depth discussion began only after the two of them finished educating Stewart for the day, a task that took a relatively short amount of time. They focused on getting him up to speed since they were at the Benson household, and since his life wouldn't be nearly as difficult as Amy's. He actually felt a little relief about learning his fairly simple role. It made him happy too because it meant he'd have more time to help Amy. He knew she'd need all the help she could get.

"I'm really sorry about this," he said to her as the two of the walked over to Amy's new house. Madeline took Cassandra home by car but the two teens preferred to walk and give themselves a study break.

"You've already apologized enough, Stewart. Really." Amy kept her eyes firmly on her feet as she walked. She still had trouble looking at the boy. His face constantly reminded her of what she'd lost.

"I know, but I feel so guilty."

"Yeah, me too," she admitted.

"You do?"

"Well, yeah. It took both of us to fight, didn't it?"

Stewart had to agree to that, but it didn't excuse his behavior. He'd abused his gift and now he'd be without it for at least several months.

He'd used his gift as a crutch to support a very selfish lifestyle. He finally understood that, but he refused to let it upset him. He didn't really need the Gift now anyway. He'd get his special ability back soon enough, and in the meantime, he had someone who needed his help.

"That's true. We both fought," he said. "But I have another reason for feeling guilty. You're going to have a much rougher time than I will."

"Hey," she smiled. "I can handle it."

"Trust me. You're going to have major problems. I already have most of your life as a boy figured out so I have something to compare to."

"If you say so," she said, looking down again. She trusted he was right and dreaded her destination even more.

***

The two teens arrived at Amy's new home, and after a quick look around, headed for her bedroom. It was the last stop on the tour of the house, but before she could enter, the extreme femininity of the room stunned her. She'd never been in a girl's bedroom before, and even if she had, it probably wouldn't have been as feminine as what she saw. It would take a long time to get used to it, if she ever could.

"Wow," she said, standing in the door way, blocking Stewart.

"Excuse me," he said, anxiously trying to get in. He wanted to remove an embarrassing toy that he suddenly remembered having stashed in his lingerie drawer just last week, but he stopped himself and had to suppress a laugh. What would he do with it? He certainly couldn't appreciate it as much as Amy probably would. No, he'd leave it alone and wouldn't say anything. She'd find it eventually and hopefully enjoy it.

He tried to start the tour of the bedroom but the thought of Amy using a vibrator ran through his mind before he could stop himself. He couldn't get the vivid image out of his head and it spilled over to a part of his anatomy that he found increasingly difficult to handle. In other words, the image aroused him, and no amount of logic or rational thinking stopped the embarrassing result. He'd started a crash course on the effects of testosterone on a very healthy teenage male with a very healthy libido.

The uncomfortable boy quickly sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to hide the tenting of his pants by crossing his arms over his lap. It didn't work very well.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," he replied, tight-lipped.

"Oh!" She suddenly shouted when she inevitably guessed what was going on. "Yeah. Uh ... take your time. I have to go to the bathroom anyway." Then she squeaked and stopped cold.

She suddenly realized that she hadn't yet seen or touched the more intimate parts of her body. It shouldn't prove to be too difficult since she'd done it as Steph, but she was still nervous about doing the same thing with Amelia's body.

The blonde walked over to the vanity chair and gently sat on it until she'd either work up the nerve or be forced by discomfort to go to the bathroom.

Stewart guessed what was wrong.

"We're quite a pair," he said, chuckling nervously.

"Yeah. I guess we are." Amy blushed and realized that Stewart's current problem was one of the few subjects they hadn't discussed. She hated to see him suffer so she thought she'd go over a few things. It might help distract her from her own problem.

"So ... uh ... doing it right away in the morning or just before bed is the best time."

"Doing what?" he asked.

"You know ... masturbation."

"Oh! Right. Do I have to?!" Stewart had a look of horror on his face.

"You do if you don't want to do it in your sleep or at inconvenient moments like this. You'll need to do it often too, sometimes twice a day or more. Sorry about that."

Stewart blushed. "Please. Can we not talk about it now?" Talking about masturbation only made his erection more urgent, and more uncomfortable.

Amy couldn't help notice and quickly went on to the next lesson.

"Think about your mom," she said.

"Excuse me?!"

"Thinking about your mother will help kill the mood. Come on. Think about it. It makes sense. You're not attracted to your mother, are you?"

"No ...," he said, still not happy with the idea.

"You could also try thinking of something disgusting, like a clogged toilet."

"Ewww!"

"Don't knock it," Amy grinned. "It works."

Stewart finally took the advice and tried thinking about his mother, but it bothered him too much to be aroused and thinking of her at the same time. He switched to the clogged toilet and that slowly worked.

When he finally got his little problem under control, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome, but don't be afraid to touch yourself," she joked.

"I could say the same to you," he shot back. "Don't you have to pee?" He could tell she did. It was obvious by the way she squirmed and held her legs tightly together.

"Oh. Yeah," she said, getting up to leave.

"Don't forget to sit down," he said, smiling. "And don't forget to wipe!" he called after her as she rushed out of the room.

Amy relieved herself and didn't think to try any more embarrassing jokes after that. They both had too much ammunition. She just hurried and got back as quickly as possible for the tour of her bedroom.

Stewart first showed off the vanity table set and all the beauty products on it or in its various drawers. Then he moved through the contents of all the dresser drawers, making sure not to pull out the lingerie drawer too far and reveal his former toy. The bed and small computer desk didn't need an introduction so that only left the closet.

The room wasn't all that large, and it didn't have a walk-in closet like Amelia had wanted, but she'd used her gift to enlarge and customize the little closet so it could hold her large wardrobe of dresses, skirts, blouses and slacks. Amy didn't yet appreciate fine feminine clothing but she couldn't help but be impressed by the large quantity filling every nook and cranny.

All of the nice clothing hung on padded hangers in groups organized by type, style and color, in that order. A long rack with dozens of shoes ran the length of the closet floor and the upper shelf held yet another rack of shoes and two large, ornate hats.

"You sure like shoes," Amy commented.

"I used to," Stewart said in a quiet voice. "In another life."

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Stewart."

"It's okay, Amy."

They made sure to use their new names as often as possible in their ongoing effort to immerse themselves in their new roles. Unfortunately, memories of their past lives still haunted them and would continue to do so over the coming days.

***

Amy and Stewart made it back to school on Thursday after only two days of memorizing and studying each other, and they'd survived catching up on assignments and missed lectures in their morning classes. Amy felt a fair amount of stress but promised that after lunch and art class, she'd endure her last two classes while Stewart waited for her in the library. So far, so good.

It was when they sat together during lunch and that they got an unexpected surprise. It wouldn't normally have been unpleasant but they were caught off guard. Lunch promised to be interesting that day.

"Stu! Amelia!" Gordo unnecessarily shouted as he sat next to Stewart. "You two finally got together. Cool. It's about time."

"Hi, Gordo." Stewart had already met both Fred and Gordo as Amelia so he knew their names and faces. The two boys visited Nancy and Teresa many times before they all ran off together and left him alone. He tried not to take it personally but he still didn't like it.

Having a little residual resentment wasn't really the problem though. The problem was having to explain that Stewart and Amy went by slightly different names. They hadn't thought about how to explain it. Stewart wasn't sure what to say anyway so he stalled for time by waiting for the rest of the group to show up, and he shot Amy a quick, questioning glance. She knew what he meant but all she could do was shrug.

Fred soon showed up, followed by Teresa and Nancy, and that's when yet another problem surfaced. Teresa and Nancy expected Amy to make introductions between themselves and Stewart, but Amy had never met Teresa and Nancy. She didn't know their names. As Stu, he'd avoided the girls out of petty jealousy, thinking of them as stealing his friends. Now Amy sat at the lunch table, looking back and forth between the two girls, trying to make herself invisible. Luckily, Stewart quickly realized the problem and came to her defense.

"Girls, girls," he crooned. "I already know your lovely faces. They've been pointed out to me often enough. Nice to meet you, Teresa," he looked at the tall, slenderized girl, making sure Amy noticed who he was looking at. "And you, Nancy," he looked over at the short, shy girl. "I'm Stewart. Nice to meet you." In his haste to cover for Amy, he forgot about his name change and let it slip.

"Stewart?!" Fred and Gordo shouted in unison, startling everyone.

That left it to Amy to come to the rescue. She didn't like lying, but by then she had a partial truth ready. She explained how she and Stewart decided to no longer use their old names because the names reminded them of all the wasted time and energy they'd spent fighting each other. They wanted to put it all behind them and using new names helped them do that. The explanation satisfied everyone so they could move on and do some catching up, but the problems continued.

They first covered what the two pairs of boyfriends and girlfriends had been up to and the four of them confessed they'd been avoiding Stewart and Amy. They couldn't very well ask one of them along without upsetting the other, and they were afraid the two of them would fight and get the group thrown out if they invited both of them. They had a good point. What could the two former troublemakers say? The two of them simply shrugged and talk moved on to another awkward subject.

The four old friends grilled the switched teens about how they got together and were about to get more hastily prepared partial truths for their trouble when Stewart took the easy way out.

"You know how girls can get guys to do anything," Stewart said. "Amy finally stunned me with her beauty and I had to give in."

Gordo smiled at Teresa. "I hear that."

"Me too," said Fred as he gave Nancy a fond look.

"So does that mean you two are going together?" Nancy had to ask, hoping to clarify the situation. Stewart had certainly implied they were and all four of the old friends wondered about it.

"No!" Amy said a little too forcefully. "I mean, we're just friends. What makes you think we're going out?"

Stewart had a wistful look on his face, while Gordo looked disgusted, thinking his old buddy was screwing up yet another chance with a hot babe. Fred believed her denial too. However the girls both had a knowing look.

"No reason," Nancy said with a faint smile, effectively ending the subject.

They finished the difficult part of the conversation and ended with some small talk before making a move to go to class. Stewart couldn't resist telling a quick joke though. He'd been thinking about it after his comment about how girls can get guys to do anything and he figured it would be in character. Stu always had been a bit of a smart aleck.

"Hey guys. You know what? Amy might have brainwashed me with her feminine charms but I found a cure."

"Oh?" Everyone responded, leaning forward to make sure they heard the punch line.

"I just wear her clothes," he said with a silly grin.

Everyone laughed then, except Gordo, and Amy laughed hardest of all.

"I don't get it," Gordo said.

Teresa got up and led him away. "I'll explain it to you later, Big Boy, or maybe I'll just dress you up in my old clothes and show you." She smiled and turned back to the rest of the group. "We'll see ya later."

Fred and Nancy soon made themselves scarce too, leaving the two switched teens alone at the table.

The meeting of friends turned out well but after giving it some thought, the awkward situation scared Amy and Stewart into working even harder to make sure another similar situation didn't happen. They went over lists of classmates, friends, teachers and relatives that might suddenly appear without warning, further reinforcing their new roles and leaving their old selves farther behind.

***

After several weeks of intense study, everything about Amy's new life still seemed far too complicated. She often felt overwhelmed, and if not for Stewart and her two mothers, she would've collapsed from the strain. It wasn't any one thing, it was a whole lot of them. She had a lot more school work, had to learn about makeup and clothes, and had to adjust to a more complicated regimen of personal hygiene. It all added up and threatened to send her screaming into the night, especially when she woke up from a nightmare and found herself in a strange bed in a strange house. She thought she'd never get used to living with Cassandra.

Her original mother taught her about personal hygiene and offered some fashion tips, but it was still Cassandra who made the biggest difference. Amy lived with her new mother so naturally they spent a lot of time together. They couldn't help it.

"Amy? Are you home?" Cassandra called one evening. She'd just arrived home from work and she wanted help carrying in some groceries.

"Just a minute, Mom!" Amy called from her bedroom.

The girl soon hurried down the stairs to find Cassandra giving her an odd look.

"What?" the confused girl asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You called me Mom."

"Did I? Well you are like a mother to me. Is it okay if I call you Mom?"

"Yes. Of course. I just never thought I'd hear you say it. Thank you."

The woman started crying, and her tears threatened to trigger the same reaction in Amy.

"Why are you thanking me, and why are you crying?" the girl asked.

"I ... I miss my little girl. I see you and want to think of you as a daughter, but then you call me by my first name and remind me who you really are. It hurts."

"Hey. It's okay," Amy put her hand on the woman's arm. "I really am your daughter. I mean, I'm in your daughter's body."

"Right. But you don't usually call me Mom."

"Well, I can fix that problem, Mom." Amy smiled and it was a like a ray of sunshine to Cassandra.

"You know ... Mom," the girl continued. "I don't mean any disrespect to ... Mrs. Benson, but you really are more of a mother to me than she is now. You provide for me and do more for me than she can. I don't have a problem calling you Mom. In fact, I insist on it."

"Oh, Amy," Cassandra hugged her daughter and cried. They both cried, and Amy slipped farther from her former self and edged into new territory. She was quickly becoming all girl, in body and spirit.

***

It really didn't matter that Stewart had lost his gift. He had a surprisingly easy time getting used to his new body and new life. School was a breeze and outside of school, he got into a fairly easy and comfortable routine, walking Amy home and then studying with her for a few hours before going home and helping his new family. After he ate dinner, he studied with his little brother for a couple hours and called Amy to make sure she'd made it through another day. It all went like clockwork.

He got along extremely well with his new mother. It probably helped that he'd been a girl before. He could relate to her very well. He knew when she needed company and knew very well when she needed to be left alone. His long experience as a girl made it seem to his mother that she gained both a new daughter and her original son in a single package. She couldn't be happier.

Stan had a little trouble adjusting to the situation but his new brother and adopted sister made up for it by giving him a new name. They both called him Steph whenever they were in private. He also got a few additional perks that helped make up for years of suppressing his feminine self.

Stewart kept up the old study habits but he helped his younger brother with more than just schoolwork. Borrowing money from his original mother, he took the transgender boy shopping for girls clothes. Amy tagged along too so she could gain some much needed shopping experience, and all three of them actually enjoyed themselves.

The former girl felt bad that he didn't have a job to help his new family with expenses, and he felt guilty enough that it wouldn't have mattered what type of job he got. That made a big change from the time he'd only consider getting a job as a lab assistant. He just wanted to do whatever he could to help.

Though he wanted a job, he felt he didn't have time for one at the present time. He still needed to devote too much time to helping Amy. He'd try to get a job eventually though, just as soon as he felt Amy could manage without him. It would take a while, but the day would come when Amy could be independent and happy.

***

On one particular Saturday with spring in early bloom, Stewart came over to visit Amy after dinner and the two teens ended up in Amy's bedroom to study like they usually did. Amy sat at her cute little white computer desk with Stewart lying on his stomach across her large pink bed, reading a computer book.

They'd finally exchanged every bit of knowledge about their lives that they could think of so it was no longer necessary to spend so much time together. They just did it because it was nice. Once they got to know each other, they found they really liked each other, enough that they became the best of friends. It surprised Amy at first, but she soon got used to the idea.

Both of them had made great progress academically, and they totally immersed themselves in their new roles. No one would guess who they really were. It didn't really matter anyway, because they'd virtually lost their original selves. They couldn't explain it but they'd never been happier, never felt more comfortable.

Many memories of their former selves still lingered, occasionally causing some confusion. It bothered Amy the most. She still fought herself a little, especially when it came to her sexuality. Being attracted to boys bothered her. She'd never been attracted to them before. Why now? It bothered her enough that she finally brought up the subject with her best friend.

"Stewart?" She slowly pivoted on her chair, turning to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Do you like girls?"

"Uh ...," he blushed.

"I'll take that as a yes," she grinned.

The boy totally accepted his feelings. He knew quite a lot about physiology and knew about all the testosterone coursing through his body. He figured it was just natural, at first, but her question got him thinking he might be missing something.

"What about you, Amy?"

"Well ... I don't understand it, but I really like boys."

At that moment, when she thought of just how much she liked boys, her nipples tingled and she had to fight the urge to touch herself. The worst part for her was looking back at her former face. Stewart's smile made her knees go weak. She found him so incredibly attractive, it scared her. It also caused an extremely pleasant sensation between her legs that distracted her to no end.

"Now that you mention it," he said. "I'm wondering about that too. I've studied the human body a lot to help me use my gift, but I haven't explored sexuality all that much. I haven't been motivated to before now." He blushed again.

"You're cute when you blush," she blurted, and then blushed along with him.

Stewart had to force himself to look away from her. He found girls very attractive, especially Amy. It seemed wrong to lust after his former face but he couldn't help himself. Her face and body drove him wild with desire, enough that she inspired more than a few sexual fantasies in the privacy of his bedroom.

"I'm wondering something else too," Amy said, trying to change the subject. "Why are we so comfortable in our bodies? Why aren't we more like Stan?"

"Another good question." Stewart turned back to face her, grateful for the distraction. "It seems I have a duplicate of your original brain, including the parts that determine sexual preference and gender identity. I don't have your memories but I still seem to share your former taste in girls, and I like being a boy. I suppose the reverse is true for you."

"I suppose you're right," Amy said quietly as she shyly turned away.

Stewart had an epiphany then. He suddenly understood why she'd started the conversation, and he couldn't let the opportunity slip away from him. The way she moved and acted held his gaze in a vice. Everything about her captured his heart, her look, her voice, her scent, and he couldn't help himself. He had to do something.

"Would you like to try an experiment?" He put his book down and eagerly sat up.

"That depends," she said, still looking away. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about a kiss? You know ... just to see what it's like."

He couldn't see but she blushed again and bit her lower lip. She'd dreamed of kissing him but she found it so hard to forget that she'd once had his face. She didn't know if she could bring herself to kiss her former self.

"Come on," he persisted. "Just close your eyes and pretend you're kissing someone else," he said, understanding her reluctance. He'd say anything to get the beautiful girl to kiss him.

Amy hesitated for a minute, thinking it over. It wouldn't be so bad. Just one short kiss to see how it felt and they could get on with their studying. She had to admit she felt a certain curiosity, and more than a little attraction.

"Have you ever kissed anyone before?" He felt her resolve crumbling. He wouldn't give up until he had her in his arms with his lips pressed against hers. "I never have, and I want to see what I'm missing. Come on. Please?"

"Okay," she finally said. She went over to sit next to him on her bed, and they kissed.

The kiss lasted far longer than she planned but she didn't mind one bit. She enjoyed it and in fact, lost herself in that kiss. It felt like a dream.

Could she really be a girl? Yes. Yes, she could. She was a girl, especially at that moment. She even saw through Stewart's deceit and knew exactly what he hoped to gain through the experiment. Boys could be so transparent sometimes ... and so wonderful.

***

Stewart gave Amy a thrill when he tried out for the varsity baseball team that spring and succeeded on his own merit. He had the original Stu's strength and hand-eye coordination so he only had to learn the rules, and they were relatively easy. He played second base as Stu had and did a fairly good job of it, especially with Amy cheering him on in the stands. He loved knowing she was there and she loved watching him play, and they couldn't help falling in love.

The two switched teens became boyfriend and girlfriend to end their senior year on a high note, and Stewart couldn't have been more pleased. As Amelia, he'd wanted his last year of high school to be perfect, but even looking back at all the trouble he caused, he wouldn't change a thing. The good far outweighed the bad, with the bad making the good seem all the better.

It wasn't long after graduation that Stewart slowly began to regain the use of his gift. In another six months or so, he might absorb enough energy to switch back with Amy, but in the meantime, he'd enjoy every minute he could with her. He might even consider staying a boy if he continued to feel the way he did when he was around her, and he knew she felt the same way whenever he saw her longingly looking back at him. They loved each other more with every passing day and neither one could imagine life without the other.

They almost forgot their genders had been switched -- almost. It didn't matter though because love has a way of making one forget everything else, and making everything okay. As always, the magic of love conquers all.

*** The End ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.