JOSETTE’S STORY, Chapter 5

By Chirstopher Leeson

Over the next three days, Josette and Darrell were seen together around the school frequently. At each meeting, Darrell looked and sounded more relaxed. But Josette knew that other people—including Josie's friends—were watching them, too.

 When a couple of girls from the in-crowd cornered her, she had no choice but to talk to them politely. They only yammered on about what the “group” was doing. Being among these people familiar with Josie but not herself made Josette extremely anxious. It drove home to her the fact that around Darrell she felt at ease. She wanted to spend a lot more time with him.

#

On the fourth day, near the end of school, Josette saw Leah near her locker; Leah smiled oddly. The honey blonde came up wearing a short miniskirt and a sleeveless top. Josette pretended to admire her fashion while getting a good, long look at Leah’s shapely legs.

"Hey Jo, I've been wondering why you've come back from summer vacation as if you turned into a whole different person."

Fashion demands minute by minute attention. It’s so tiring.

“Who are you and what have you done with Josie?” Leah asked.

The question startled Josette. “What do you mean?”

“Why is fashion suddenly not important to you? Have you had a stroke or something?”

Josette eyed her coolly. “Leah, what specific topic requires discussion?”

Leah wrinkled her nose as if smelling something that she didn’t care for. "We need to talk seriously. You’ve been staying off by yourself lately unless you’re slumming with that nerd, Darrell. The entire school is wondering what’s with you."

“Groups such as ours must be careful to maintain impeccable reputations.”

Josette scowled. "Why can’t I be friends with anyone I want to?"

“Don’t you remember you gave your oath to the group to think and act just like them?”

"That used to work; but now we’re maturing. Maybe we’re falling under different rules now.”

Leah looked like she’d been stung by a wasp. “Chill out, Josie! I’m giving you the advice you need to salvage your reputation! Maybe it’s not your fault. Maybe you had a heat stroke last summer! No error is worse than a social misstep. Associating with negative people is going to turn you into a negative person, too. Have you had a medical checkup lately? Like with a psychiatrist?”

“Leah, that remark is unkind. There’s nothing wrong with me, except I’ve tried to be a kid for too long. Global fashion, parties, and musical tastes don’t add up to much. With Darrell, I’m learning how to play strategic war games. I’m getting pretty good at it!”

Leah looked incredulous. “I hope you’re only going through a phase. If you keep going where you’re going, your social circle may go where they want to go instead and leave you behind.”

“You’re talking about canceling me? Great! Better: I’d rather be cancel than go along with bullying.”

Leah blinked in surprise. “I don’t know what you’re saying, Josie, but you won’t make me angry. You’re not yourself. Something is bothering you. I'm holding out the hope that I’ll soon have my best friend back. When you realize that you’ve gone wrong, just say you’re sorry and we’ll help you build back better.”

“I might do that,” said Josette, “but for the time being, I’m still on vacation.”

Leah, shaking her head, flounced away.

“Damn those snobs!” Josette muttered to herself. “They really are going to cancel me!”

While she didn’t exactly care for the idea of being rejected in scorn, if Josie’s old gang cut her out of the herd, she at least wouldn’t have to listen to their silliness.

Josette had promised to link up with Darrell after school for sodas. She found him waiting for her next to the driveway at the parking lot.

Darrell peered at her through narrowed eyes. “Everything ok, Josie? You have a funny expression.”

“I’m fine. It’s just that Leah said something mean to me.”

“Did she get catty about something?”

“No, but we don’t see eye to eye anymore. I’m almost eighteen, and my outlook is changing. It’s time for me to turn a page, and the gang doesn’t understand that.”

Darrell nodded sympathetically. "Do you still feel like grabbing that soda?"

Josette managed a smile. "Now more than ever!"

At the cafe, Darrell’s stream of jokes soon had her laughing again. Darrell seemed preoccupied. Finally, he asked her, “Maybe we can go to the movies together this weekend?”

Josette didn’t think twice before agreeing, as Loren and Darrell had been to the movies together many times. “Sure, I want us to relate to one another as friends.”

"So do I!" Darrell said quickly. Too quickly.

So they took a lunch downtown and then took in the seven o’clock showing. Unfortunately, the movie thumped and thudded. Neither of them liked woke movies. The film's protagonist, a newly graduated female police officer, from the start demonstrated better skills and instincts than even the station’s most seasoned officers. The film’s men were variously creepy or inept. The only boy this Mary Sue girl boss didn't find creepy was was a downtown troublemaker whom she knew had been under the watchful eye of the law for months.

Josette and Darrell each bought candy before leaving the theater, perhaps to get the film’s bad taste out of their mouths. “One would think that a cop movie would be better based than that one was,” Darrell apologized.

“Don’t sweat it,” said Josette. “There are so many classic movies that people don't have to watch this woke trash. You know what you’re getting in the older stuff. They were made back when there were still a few people sane in Hollywood.”

“Maybe we can watch a few of those together,” Darrell suggested.

“Yeah, we should. Africa Screams is worth seeing! But don’t push rush me, Darrell. I’m not ready for anything serious.”

“I swear I won't,” he promised without enthusiasm.

Days of classes and activities followed. Josette was no longer being approached by beautiful people group, and she supposed she’d been canceled. No even Leah, who had claimed to want to fix things, did not come near her. Maybe the others wouldn't let her. Why couldn't she see that she couldn't go one letting other people do her thinking for her?

Josette shrugged off this turn of events. She had not real affinity for Leah and she only wished she had broken with the gang first. But she had more important things to worry about. First and foremost was the dark of the moon. Did the paper tell the truth, or was she going to be a girl for the rest of her life? She'd know by morning. The hour of darkness would come in the night while she was, hopefully, asleep.

She awoke in the night, not feeling ill, but not feeling right. She touched her body, lightly at first, and then with astonished surprise. It seemed too good to be true, but the girl who had made a nightmare of Loren's life was suddenly nowhere to be found.

She--he-- hurried to the mirror. The room around him was Loren's again. He saw l Loren in the mirror, but he wasn't wearing babydoll pajamas, he was wearing a sweatshirt and male pajama bottoms from a rummage sale. He examined himself carefully, double-checking whether his restored maleness wasn’t a mere dream.

Flopping back into bed, Loren stayed lay awake until sunup. It seemed impossible that he could have lived through a month in a different sex, but the recall of his girl-experience remained sharp in every detail, nothing like a dream. The conviction grew that he had gone through something weird and crazy. But real or not, the ordeal seemed to have finally ended.

His life as Loren Medford was once more on track.

The evidence was everywhere! His closet was full of men’s clothes. When he went downstairs and his mother looked at him, she showed no reaction. It hurt not to be able to share his experience with her, but the magical instructions had warned him not to do that. He live in elation for a couple of days, before realizing he was once more sloughing sticky-footed through the mire of a very dull world.

Darrell briefly greeted Loren at school before continuing down the hall. The boy soon confirmed that no one remembered Josette. There were no memories of her presence at Westbook High, except for those that Loren himself possessed.

Speaking to his few school friends, he learned that they had only male memories about him from over the last month. Weird! When he next got together with Darrell, he asked him leading questions, trying to find out what he remembered. He remembered things that didn't jive with anything that Loren remembered. He wondered if he was still living two different lives in two different worlds. That was scary-weird!

Had Josie gotten her memories back since he'd left her world? Had she forgotten everything that he had learned while living in her body? Loren had learned that Josie's life had been shallow. She let other people do her thinking as the price of being popular. Without her membership with the beutiful people group, Josie’s life amounted to nothing. When high school ended, and the group broke apart, she would take nothing away except an empty head. Also, from seeing another life in perspective, Loren was more aware than every about the deficiencies in his own life.

With the new moon drawing nigh, Loren entered a strange state of mind. He caught himself contemplating what it would feel like ti be Josette again. Both Loren and Josie had been unhappy, but both their lives had good parts to them. Loren appreciated the good things in life, while Josie had a great body. What if the better parts of each life could come together, while the worst parts could be kicked to the curb?

But, no, that was crazy! Returning to her reality risked permanent Girl World entrapment. He desired experimentation, not a perpetual immersion into “Girl World”.

Under thirty, girls thrived better. Males entered into their best years when they became men. But when girls became women, it marked the end of the best part of their lives. From thirty, it was all down hill.

On the other hand, it depressed him that he'd have to wait another fourteen years before he could put a decent life together. That would mean college study, and then starting somewhere at the bottom rung of the ladder. What a bummer.

A girl could at least prepare for the bad years by finding some some guy who would work like a fool to take care of her, all the the sake of a beauty that would soon be fading. A wife often divorced a husband while she still have some looks lift to offer to win a more successful guy. But whoever she was married to when the big Three-0 birthday hit, it would then be her guy's turn to exchange her for a younger model. Divorce and loneliness, being shut out from all the best things in life, was one of the things that made women over thirty miserable.

As the days rolled on and the new moon drew nigh, Loren kept thinking about his recent adventures. He had left Girl World without closure. He could remember how bad Josette had had it in that other world, but now that he was back in his own world, he could see what a dumpster his life had been. He kept thinking about the possibilities of the magic oil. He wondered what Josie was doing back in that other world. She was having her best years while he was having his worst. He shook his head. No amount of trouble could be enough to make him to put another dab of the magical oil on his arm.

But, almost before he knew it, that is exactly what he did.

Josette awoke the next morning in a pair of sexy girls' pajamas. When Mrs. Melford called her down for breakfast, she ate in a semi-daze barely tasting the food. It took a while to get mentally and physically coordinated in this body again. Nonetheless, once at school, Josette felt less jumpy. In fact, she started to brim with confident and daring.

She stepped out of her car wearing a short skirt and a sparing summer blouse. She saw Darrrel coming into the parking lot. With a wave, he shouted, “Josette!”

“Hi,” she replied.

"I missed you!" said Darrell.

“Missed me? Did I disappear for a month or something?”

“What are you talking about?"

“What day was it we last saw each other?”

“What’s with you? It was yesterday when you gave me a ride home after school?”

“Oh, yeah! Sorry. Girls always get forgetful during their time of the months!”

“I never heard they did,” Darrell replied.

“We all do, but we don’t like to talk about it.”

After school, they went to get malts. Darrell had a list of suggestions for what they could do together over the next few days.

Some things got pretty close to being sexy, but she knew she could trust Darrell not to go to far. She felt like going full-tilt on the girl thing for the month ahead. One result of that was the loss of her inhibitions to dress in ways to show off maximum skin. She didn't know why she liked being looked at looking like that, but she did. She considered herself damned lucky to have the right clothes to wears when she wanted to look like a guest star on Unhappily Ever After.

Seeing her like that, the boys started acting squirrelly. When they slinked up close, most got so tongue-tied that she couldn’t make out what they were saying. But the worst of the boys were the pushy one. They were always asking her to go places with thelm. The only cocky boys who avoided her were those from Josie’s old gang. That crowd seemed to have officially cancelled her. But if that meant she could stay clear of them, and the sappy girls in their group, too, the situation suited her.

She didn’t enjoy drawing boys like flowers drew bees and it was especially creepy when they came up to close when she was all alone. She noticed that all the unattached, good-looking girls had this problem. The fix was to get some male arm candy! Boys would usually respect a claim that another boy had on a girl.

She decided to bear down on Darrell and hang steady with him. That arrangement worked out fine at first, and it was on her suggestion that the two of them should go to the beach together.

When they hit the sand, Josette attracted many a male glance. She had changed into a bikini intend to wear such a thing in public for the first time. Worn beneath her casual clothes was a Rio-cut number decorated with some stained-glass-type pattern. It felt weird to be seen that way by strangers, but shyness faded with surprising rapidity. Maybe women weren't built to hang on to bashfulness for long.

The other girls at the beach didn’t smile her way. When she realized that their problem was jealousy, it made her laugh inside. The lot of them — especially the hot ones — deserved all the comeuppance they could get for the shabby way they had treated Loren!

"Doesn’t being stared at make you uncomfortable?" Darrell asked.

“Do you want me to cover up more?” she asked.

“Oh, God, no! I'm slammed by the way you look! It drives me out of my mind, and I love the feeling!”

“That’s nice, Darrell, but don’t start acting out your craziness in real life. It might hurt our friendship.”

Darrell winced. "Josette, you’re always talking about us being friends. Maybe you don't know that boys don’t like being kept in the friend zone. For them it’s like having an itch that he's not allowed to scratch!"

“Don’t get too intense, Darrell. Intensity -- from a guy whose so big and strong -- makes me jumpy.”

“I thought that our relationship would be developing more than it has. What you think about when we're together.”

“What should I think about it?”

“Don't you have any opinion about what parts are good and what parts are sort of -- wrong?”

“That's nothing! Perfection doesn’t exist in this world, or in any other world I’ve been in.”

“You’re a hard girl to understand.”

“That’s true. Doesn't it make me interesting? But let’s not talk about heavy things. It will kill all the fun we’re having here on the beach.”

Darrell reluctantly agreed and switched the talk over to the new war games at Jimmy Jack’s game store. But the longer their conversation continued, the more unspoken tension gathered around them.

Just then, a mob of about half a dozen buff boys came over, their flesh well baked by twelve summer weeks spent in the sun.

“Say, babe,” one of them called. “Come out into the light and bloom. I’d like you to join our volleyball game?”

Josette looked his way. “Count me out! Me and my man are having a deep conversation here!”

“I bet the nerd doesn't have anything else to go deep with!” said a shaggy-headed boy with a deep tan.

“Hey!” said Darrell, belatedly exerting himself. “If you need an interpreter, the lady has just said she doesn’t want to play volleyball with you!”

One ball-player looked his way. “Don't you get it, geek? With girls, ‘no’ always means ‘maybe.’”

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” said Josette.

One of the beach guys reached out for her. “We’ve got some gals on the team. You’ll fit right in. "Let me help you up."

Josette slapped his hand away.

Darrell got up instead and t ried to shove the pushy guy away. “Why don’t you sand ticks realize you're not wanted?” he asked.

The guy smirked and gave Darrell a shove. He toppled backwards, striking sand. He scrambled to his feet and started throwing punches. Josette had never seen Darrell pitch into a fight before. And she could see he wasn't very good a brawler.

The teammates formed a ring around Darrell, pushing him back and forth between them. Josette sprang up up and started punching, too. One volleyball guy scooped her up to his shoulder and hoisted her belly-down over his shoulder.

Some others couldn’t resist touching her legs, her sides, and her bikinied bottom. Darrell started swinging hard and wide. Unfortunately, the interlopers struck back and Darrell was soon beaten to his knees.

“Cut that rough stuff out!” shouted a mature male. “Put that girl down this minute, buddy!”

Josette was accordingly plopped down on her feet. She staggered a few steps and saw that the intervening tough was the lifeguard on duty.

“We were just asking her to play volleyball,” a teen said.

The guard looked her way. “Do you want to play volleyball with these clowns, Miss?” the lifeguard asked.

“I told them I didn’t want to,” she answered back.

“That’s it, then,” said the guard. “Head back to your net before I call security to help me boot the pack of you off the beach for the rest of the weekend!”

“Let’s go,” said one of the mob. “The little blonde is the stuck-up type!”

A half a minute later, Darrell and Josette were left standing alone. Darrell didn’t look happy.

“Don’t wear such a long face,” Josette urged.

“I tried to protect you, but all I did was get pushed around.”

“You all you could, and that makes me think you’re pretty damned great!”

Darrell sighed. “You've changed the way I think about things, Josette. I never thought about ever defending a lady before.”

“I hope you learned something today that you can use the next time,” the girl said.

“Hey,” said Darrell, “instead of hanging with these beach bulms, why don’t we get together with my war-game group? This is Saturday and we meet on Saturday night. You mentioned that you're interested in war gaming.”

“I am! Just thinking about doing Advanced Third Reich with all the country seats filled makes me hot!”

“Maybe you'd want to take one of the easy armies, like Italy or France?”

“Hell no! The real fun is driving panzers into Russia!”

“Okay then! Super great!” exclaimed Darrell, his eyes brightening.

Darrell introduced his gamer buddies, not realizing that Josette already knew them all. She had put on her blouse, but still displayed her bikini bottoms. She knew every war gamer yearned to have hot girls in their gaming circle. The boys didn't play well that night. Josette thought that they looked somewhat distracted.

Unlike the beach posers, wargamers tended to be scrupulously polite, treating her like a princess. This was the sort of crowd that Josette had been hurting for. They carried on great conversations about movies and books. The boys continually stole glances at her neckline and legs, but Josette couldn't be offended by boys acting like boys. After all, she knew that the outfit she was wearing game them permission to be peek.

#

When Josette drove Darrell home, he wasn’t his usual good-natured self. Some instinct warned her not to push him to talk when he was looky moody.

At the zoo the next day, Darell's frustrations spilled over and his thoughts suddenly turned into hard words. "I don’t think that you’re taking our relationship seriously," he blurted.
 
Where had this bomb dropped from?
 
"It's been bothering me for a while," he pressed.
 
"I do take it seriously,” she defensively replied. “Why don’t you say I’m not?”

“Because you never let us talk about important things.

“We talk about everything!"

“But never about important things."

“Like what?”

“Like, you never said mentioned what kind of guy you’d most like to marry?”

“Wow, that’s a heavy subject! I won't be eighteen before next month and I’m living with my mother. Why should I be talking about husbands when I'm still in high school? It was hard for Josette to even to pretend to want a husband.

“So, where is our relationship going? Is it even an actual relationship?”

Josette shrugged. Isn't a relationship having a good time and going out on dates? Lately I've noticed you've been looking sour when you should be smiling.”

“I've got a lot on my mind. I'm worrying that maybe we're on our way to a break up."

“’Whoa! Who's talking about breaking up? If we’re good together, why do we have to break up?”

“If two people aren’t aren't going in the same direction, a break up is just down the road.”

“I thought I understood guys, but I sure don't understand anything you're saying now,” Josette said.

“I don’t think you get it how strongly I feel about you, Josette. And the vibes you give off don't make me think you have any powerful feelings aimed my way.”

“Relationships are evolving things. I have strong feelings about you, even if they aren’t romantic. Why talk about marriage? Almost every marriage is a failure. Your parents are good together, but mine weren't. In fact, it seems like people seem great together, but suddenly want a divorce a year after they get married. Please, Darrell. Enjoy what we have and do be so anxious to open the next prize box.”

“We haven’t even kissed yet.”

“So what's the big deal about kissing? If two people are out of sinc, a kiss can be misunderstood. And misunderstandings can ruin everything.”

“It's been looking to me that you've putting me into the 'friend zone.' No guy like that, because girls never treat friend-zone guys seriously.”

“Don’t get mad! If you start hating on me, you're leave my whole life empty. We make such perfect friends. Why isn’t being friends enough?”

“I've told you why not!”

Josette's look came back hard. “If I’m not right for you, is there somebody you like better?”

“I've never said you weren't right for me! I keep on hoping that you are!”

“Listen to yourself! What do you want from me?”

“Why having you don't anything sweet and spontaneous, like giving me a surprise kiss on the lips?”

“Friends don't have to kiss. If they do, that could even be creepy! Josette stopped abruptly. She was getting into very dangerous territory.

“Buy you're thinking of boy friends and girl friends. Girls and boys who go together and really care for one another treat one another differently!”

“Be reasonable! We’ve only known each other for less than three months. I don’t want to rush things?”

“Rush things? If you were racing with tortoises, you’d lose every race!”

"Why are you so adamant about kissing me?”

“Do you seriously not know?” Darrell asked impatiently.
 
"Cross my heart, I don't,” she replied. 

“You’re manipulating me, acting like I’m bullying you!”

“I’m just saying we shouldn't change something that is still brand new. A kiss is a big deal, and it would change things. Changes are sometimes for the worse.”

“Some changes are for the better. But I want a better and deeper relationship with you, and I the longer I have to wait, the more I think that we want different things.”

She felt like grabbing and shaking him. She knew damned well that he'd never had a chance to hang with a good-looking girl before he'd met Josette. Why couldn't Darrell be satisfied being seen around with one of the cute chicks at Westbrook High? Why was it that two guys could remain best friends for years, yet even the best guy-girl relationships rarely extended beyond a few weeks?

“You've lain a lot on my platter. I need time to contemplate this," Josette replied. "If we keep talking about this, one of us might say something wrong, and it could become hard for us to fix things afterwards.”

“Maybe you’re right. But we need to have a serious discussion soon.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Josette. “I’ve got an idea that might fix this gnarly little problem we're having. I’ll tell you about it soon, I promise.”

“That depends on when your idea is,” said Darrell.

“Don’t worry,” Josette replied. “It will be about the biggest and most surprising thing that's ever happened to you.

“Is it something that I’m going to like?”

“There’s a chance of that. Let’s just wait and see. I’ll tell you Friday night, after school.”

“What’s so special about Friday night?” Darrell asked.

Josette fibbed. There was something special about Friday night, but she didn't dare explain what it was.

THE END

To continue with the adventures of Josette and Darrell, see “The Dark of the Moon,” already posted here at TFTGS, https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/51751/dark-moon-sock-...

The Dark of the Moon: Josette Story, Chapter 3

By Christopher Leeson

THE DARK OF THE MOON: Josette's Story Chapter 3

BY CHRISTOPHER LEESON

Posted 04-29-25

Revised 04-30-25
.

Josette's next awakening hit her like a blast of cold water. This wasn't a bad dream. It was reality. She was living the life of a blonde girl! When she looked at herself in the mirror, she reeled. The teen desperately hoped the next new moon would solve her problems. Otherwise, living out her life in girl shape would be a daunting challenge.

She thought that dealing with Josie’s friends would be her biggest problem. They recalled a nonexistent friend and therefore knew more about Josette Melford than she did! To fake her way through the long weeks, she had to learn everything she could about people’s expectations about Josie—a monumental task.

After showering in her pajamas, Josette stood dripping in front of Josie's closet, still wearing the dripping nightgown. Changing into Josie’s clothes felt like yielding to circumstances. With gritted teeth, she searched the closet and dresser drawers for jeans, plain shirts, and sneakers. But around Josie, such garments were as rare as gold nuggets.

Seemingly, Josie had the same sense of fashion as Tiffany Malloy from Unhappily Ever After. Why had her mom allowed her to go about like a sex bomb?

Josette leaned back against the wall and gave a moaning sigh. What else was in store for her while she lived this crazy life? According to the instruction sheet, a person who used the magic oil gained not only the appearance of his ideal girl, but would experience her tastes and feelings, too.

After donning the least feminine outfit she could scrounge together, Josette descended the stairs as if the electric chair were waiting for her in the living room. The fragrant smell of coffee and toast drifted in from the kitchen.

Josette's next awakening hit her like a blast of cold water. Sunlight streamed through unfamiliar curtains, and the reality crashed down on her—this wasn't a bad dream. She was living the life of a blonde girl she didn’t know! Could she go back to normal? Even if the enchantment ended after a month, over that time, she’d have to act differently from herself while keeping the truth hidden from everyone.

"How am I going to handle Josie's friends?" she asked her reflection. They’d have expectations, memories, and inside jokes that Josette couldn’t know. To succeed, she had to discover and memorize every aspect of Josie’s existence—a monumental task.

After forcing herself through a shower wearing her pajamas, Josette stood in front of the closet in her dripping nightgown. She needed real clothes, but voluntarily putting on girls’ clothes felt like surrendering to the situation. With gritted teeth, she started searching for the most gender-neutral items she could find—jeans, plain shirts, sneakers. But Josie's wardrobe had other ideas.

"Damn it," she muttered, pushing aside another ruffled top. Josie had the fashion sense of Tiffany Malloy from Unhappily Ever After—a super minx of calculated sex appeal and cunning manipulation.

What made everything worse was that, according to the instruction sheet, the oil user gained not only the appearance of a car-stopping girl, but her tastes and feelings too. And who knew what those were? After putting on the least flashy outfit she could assemble, Josette made her way downstairs. The smell of coffee and toast filled the kitchen, where her mother was already seated at the table, scrolling through her phone. Loren had learned that his mother was a busy person, so he had gotten used to serving himself at meals. Josette sat across from her parent with a fully laden plate.

“Are you feeling better?” Lynette Melford asked.

“Yeah, quite a bit. My appetite is coming back.”

“That’s good!”

Josette stirred her cereal absently.

“Why so glum?” her mother asked.

Josette made up a reason. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Dad. I have a brother and a sister, but I hardly know them.

"I’m sorry. You dad has a high-pressure job now, and it’s hard for him to take tended trips away from home. If you’re missing him, I wish you could have mentioned it. We could have arranged for you to visit, but now school is opening soon."

“I hadn’t considered it before now.”

“I’d love to chat more, sweetheart, but I’m busy with the church rummage sale committee tomorrow. You could come and help me if you wish to.”

"I don’t feel like learning new things,” Josette said, but then added quickly, "I've already started reading about meditation. Maybe that will help."

"Meditation?" Her mother raised an eyebrow. "That's a new one for you. I'm sorry I've been keeping myself so busy. We need more time together."

"Yes, we do, Mom," Josette agreed. When her mom left, Josette welcomed the solitude. She needed to learn more about her new self, so revisited her room, approaching the large trunk she hadn’t bothered with before this. Inside, Josette discovered a treasure trove of Halloween-type outfits: Sexy Playboy Bunny, Sexy Princess Leia, Sexy Swashbuckler, and a Red Riding Hood outfit certified to pop the eyes out of any big, bad wolf.

Loren enjoyed seeing girls wearing fantasy costumes, but for Josette to get into a Leg Avenue outfit was a no-go. She ran her fingers over the fabric of the topmost costumes. For how many parties had Josie required all these outfits? Or did she just collect them, like some girls collected stuffed animals?

Having learned nothing from the trunk, Josette closed it and pulled out the magical instruction sheet again. She could only talk safely to persons similarly affected by the oil, it had stated. Fat chance of finding anyone else in that situation!

The only person she could usefully transform would be her mother, but the sheet had said that only boys could be transformed, not women. This meant she couldn’t transform her mother, so she could safely confide in her.

Josette flopped onto the bed, feeling more isolated than ever. The prospect of returning to school as a female filled her with dread. How could she maintain such an extreme deception for long?

“I’ll have to stay isolated,” she told herself. “And avoid Josie's social circle. They could trip me up in a thousand different ways.”

She picked up Josie's phone and turned it on to check past emails. Many of them were from someone named Leah.

The latest text said, "Why is your phone off? Are you dying or something? If you're still alive, please, please answer me!"

Josette typed out a response. "Sorry, Leah! Still feeling awful. Super-contagious foreign flu. Staying home. We'll see how I feel on Monday. Have fun without me!"

She again switched off her phone to avoid further contact. With luck, Leah would spread the word, and people would stop calling her.

The girl returned to studying the photos stored on the phone. Various faces appeared with Josie -- presumably her friends--but which one was Leah?

The high school yearbook provided answers. Josette paged through it until she found the only Leah in the junior class. The girl looked familiar. As Loren, she'd seen that face around school. Leah was one of those untouchable popular girls who brushed off any guy below varsity status. She always hung out with the letterman crowd. To be able to date cheerleaders always elevated a boy’s social standing, but that was a privilege unavailable to people called nerds.

When Josette felt hungry, she went to the kitchen and enjoyed a lunch of fried dough with butter and honey. Then, reluctantly, Josette went back to her studies.

The afternoon slipped away. Around five, footsteps sounded on the ground floor. Josette hurried downstairs, an idea taking shape.

"Mom!"

Lynette Melford was surprised by her daughter's enthusiastic tone. "What is it, honey?"

"I want to visit grandma and grandpa! Just until school starts. I can pack tonight and drive to Licksville tomorrow."

"What's the sudden rush?"

Josette kept her voice casual. “I’d enjoy a long, relaxing visit with the old folks before classes start up.

"What brought this on?"

"I'm just... tired of being at the beck and call of my Westbrook friends. They have no imagination, and their ideas are stale. I need a break from them."

“Stale? How?”

“They can't figure out what's cool! Talking about comics, games, and action movies only gets a person blank stares.”

“Do you like those topics?” asked her mother bemusedly.

“I’m just learning how much fun they can be.”

Her mother studied her daughter's face for a long moment. “Mom and Dad should be pleased you’re coming. I'll contact them to make sure this is a suitable visiting time for you.”

Josette fast-walked toward the stairs. "I'll start packing now!" she called back. Upstairs, she put her room into even more disorder while she packed. She selected mostly clothes, since Josie didn’t have the sci-fi books and comics that Loren liked to take on trips.

#

The drive provided Josette with considerable time to think. By the time she pulled into their gravel driveway, her hands on the steering wheel were trembling. She was suddenly afraid to show herself to her grandparents. Would the magic be consistent? Would they even know who she was? At that moment, her grandmother Emma came hurrying out the front door, arms outstretched.

"Josie! We're so happy to see you! Joe! Josie’s here!” she called over her shoulder.

Josette was relieved that her grandmother remembered her—or rather, she remembered Josie. Wherever that magic had come from, it was powerful! "H-Hi Grams," she managed to say, despite a catch in her voice.

"There's the princess who’s named after me!" Shouted her grandfather, Joseph, from the door. Grandpa would never admit that his granddaughter had not been named after him, but rather after a soap opera character. His bear hug lifted the much smaller girl off her feet. "Emma’s been cooking up a storm ever since your mom called."

The coziness of their home made Josette feel less exposed than she had at home. Her grandparents were effusive in their hospitality—fresh-baked cookies, cold milk, and rapid-fire updates about all the activities they had planned for her. Despite her anxiety, Josette relaxed.

That evening, after dinner, Emma showed Josette to the guest room. "We haven’t had to change anything in it since your last visit," she said. There are pajamas on the dresser. "Sleep well, pet."

Left alone, Josette donned a floral pair of pajamas with a shirt and pants. At least they weren’t a babydoll!

Josette stayed close to the house over the weekend. She had brought photos and the journal books from home and continued to memorize names and faces. Her grandparents showered her with attention, but they didn't press for engagement when she grew quiet or wished to retreat to her room. Early Monday morning, Grandpa took Grandma off to an appointment, leaving their granddaughter on her own recognizance.

As soon as their car disappeared, she went to check out the things she'd brought from home. Before Josette could stop herself, she was experimenting with lipstick and powder. After that, she slid into a party dress with a swishy skirt. Suddenly the idea of dressing up like one of the hot girls at school excited her.

She wanted to see if she could achieve the Tiffany Malloy. Loren had watched TV with eyes glued on every abbreviated outfit that Tiffany had worn. Now she found herself wondering if she could look as hot as actress Nikki Cox had looked. She had brought a couple alluring outfits from home, either one suitable for a town outing.

Wearing the shortest dress she had brought, Josette got ready and drove into Licksburg. In a public parking lot, she suddenly lost her nerve. She sat for ten minutes, debating whether to have a sexy excursion or to hurry back to the country house unseen.

Finally, she left the car, taking with her one of Josie’s purses, since her dress didn’t have any pockets. Wearing a short dress, she found, felt even cooler than Loren was used to when wearing trunks as a boy. Despite her pride in her appearance, being looked at by males on the street disconcerted her.

Part of her wanted to get out of sight and buy a pair of jeans, but another part of her felt delightfully wicked. She felt some kind of a charge from being able to make people turn and look.

Wherever that feeling came from, it was getting stronger. Some force compelled Josette to halt before the show window of Claudette’s Boudoir. Claudette’s was one of a new chain of lingerie shops that had stolen Victoria's Secret's thunder. The latter had given up on angels and started pushing merchandise to plus-size women and girls with knobby knees.

Josette felt a thrill. She now understood she could enter a place like that and stare to heart’s content at provocative clothing without coming off as a degenerate.

"Can I help you find anything?" The female sales clerk asked, smiling warmly.

“I’m just browsing,” Josette said. She hadn't been planning to buy anything, but with the salesgirl’s encouragement, consented to being tape-measured. By some strange alchemy, she the store an hour later, carrying a bag full of lacy, skimpy things. Josette had even bought a new pair of babydoll pajamas! Unbelievably, she was even looking forward to wearing them to bed that night.

But the teen felt a sudden jolt of fear. The sheet had warned that the magic could change a fellow’s likes and tastes. Josie’s collection of naughty fashions warned her that her alter ego had looked at young miss clothing that way.

But despite her misgivings, Josette felt exhilaration. Next, Miss Melford was ready for a café lunch. But crossing the dining area in two-inch heels tripped her up–literally. When she grabbed at a table to break her fall, it tipped over, and she smacked down on the tiles surrounded by chaos. Everyone looked at her sprawled there. Mortification made her face burn.

"I'm so sorry!" she gasped to the staff as they rushed up to help. Despite her rescue by a kind, unbiased manager, the teen left the café unnoticed the first chance she got.

Trying to shake off the embarrassment, Josette wandered into another boutique. A mannequin wearing a slinky, backless dress caught her eye. Lorne had always liked dresses that were tight, scoop-necked, and with sky-high hems. She was still admiring how provocative the dummy looked when a familiar voice coming from behind made her freeze.

"That dress would make you a killer, Josie. Are you going to try it on?"

The teen looked back and recognized the girl behind her. It was Amber Somethingorother from the cheer squad at Westbrook High. Josette’s face flushed hotly.

"Oh, I don’t know…." she stammered.

"Don't be shy!" Amber raised her hand to signal a salesgirl. "Try it on. I insist!"

Before Josette could protest coherently, she was wearing that hot black number, taking in her reflection in the boutique's three-way mirror. Amber bounced with enthusiasm. "Buy it!" the cheerleader urged.

Josette shook her head. “I’ve just started shopping. I’m not a money pit, and I might find something I like even better if I keep looking.”

Amber shrugged. "Suite yourself. Come on, I’m hungry. My favorite cafe is near here.”

“Do you come to Licksville often?” Josette asked to change the subject.

“My mother’s home office is here, and I sometimes travel with her. I like small cities better than large ones. Don’t you?”

“I guess I do,” said Josette.

#

Over yogurt and salads, Amber regaled Josette with horror stories about thoughtless boyfriends. Josette disliked her friends’ condescending attitude toward boys, but at least she was getting to lunch with an attractive girl. But Josette found Amber’s incessant girl-talk dull and difficult to engage with.

"Come out with me and Steve this weekend!" said Amber, leaning forward, her yogurt forgotten. "The gang on Friday night is hitting the rink. And Brad has been asking about you.”

“Brad?” The girl couldn’t imagine who that was.

“He likes you, as if you didn’t know!” She punctuated this statement with an exaggerated wink.

Josette managed a weak smile. The thought of being pawed by some handsy boy made her skin crawl. "I won’t be back in Westbrook until a couple of days before school starts, Amber. Anyway, my grandparents have something planned for us Friday night," she said carefully.

Soon after, Amber left to rejoin her mom, leaving Josette feeling grateful to be alone again.

#

That evening, back in the country home, Josette collapsed onto her bed. Despite having liked the more attentive treatment she'd received from business people, being viewed publicly as a girl and, especially, her public stumble at lunch, embarrassed her. But, overall, the wild and woolly ride had been interesting in a weird way.

Did being physically attractive alone explain the better reception she had received? She had now experienced firsthand the well-known truth that people treated girls differently than they treated boys. The thing that bothered her most, however, was the odd feelings she had felt while going about town as a girl. She was worried that the magic was doing things to her below the surface. If it was interfering with the way she thought, the way she reacted to things, that was worrisome.

Like, what if it zapped her into liking boys?

Before getting under the covers, Josette put on the sexy pajamas she had bought in town. She afterward lay on her side, studying her reflection in the mirror. Wearing those shortie, pastel-colored pajamas, she could almost imagine herself as being a worthy rival for Tiffany Malloy.

Before Josette knew it, she dropped off to sleep, her expression made sweet by a tiny smile on her bow-like lips.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER FOUR