That night, I ended up thinking about what Phil said. He said there was something off about me. The new me, that is. Just what was it that was bothering him? When I got up the next morning and put on my clothes, it really hit me: I was stuck in this new body. I just wasn't used to it yet. Did I really have to live my life as a girl now? As much as I wanted everything to just be a dream, it turned out to be reality.
"Katrielle's here." my brother informed me.
"Is Phil not here?" I asked.
"He didn't come with her." replied Sam, "I think he's home sick."
When I was ready to leave for school, I left with Katrielle.
"So, your brother's sick, huh?" I said.
"Yeah." she replied, "Are you worried about him or something?"
"Not really." I said, "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"What happened to your cousin, anyways?" asked Katrielle.
"I'm... not sure." I replied.
"Really?" responded Katrielle, "He didn't tell you?"
"Not really, no." I said.
"Sorry, but I still think this is all weird."
"What's weird?"
"Your cousin disappears and suddenly you show up."
"I... guess you have a point."
"Are you really his cousin?"
"Y-yeah."
"Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask."
"Can we drop it?"
"Sure."
The rest of our walk to school was pretty awkward. It was clear that she knew something was up, but there was no way I could tell what she was thinking. If she thought I was hiding something, it probably wouldn't be the fact that these two "cousins" are the same person. I doubted that Katrielle would believe that kind of thing to be possible.
When I made it to class, I sat down at my desk. The one next to me was completely empty since Phil didn't show up. I sat still waiting for class to start but I unfortunately wasn't able to wait in peace since a whole bunch of students came up to my desk and asked me a ton more questions.
"Hey, that's enough." our teacher said, walking into the room.
I let out a sigh as the students returned to their own seats. Class went by normally and then the rest of the day was about the same. It hadn't really been that long so I was nowhere near used to going to school as a girl. When you get used to one bathroom, it's not really easy to use the other. When the day was over, I felt exhausted.
"There you are." said Katrielle, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"You were looking for me?" I said.
"Well, we walked to school together," she said, "so why not walk home together?"
"Oh." I said.
The two of us left together.
"There's something different about you." said Katrielle.
"Different about me?" I said, "What do you mean?"
"You're not like the other girls." she said.
"Is that what you think?" I replied.
"Want to come over." said Katrielle, changing the subject.
"Why?" I asked.
"I thought you might want to see Phil is doing."
"I... don't really want to bother him."
"Okay. I'll be seeing you later then."
I was eventually able to get home. This was a place where I would usually feel relaxed but ever since my transformation, I just didn't feel the same way. Sighing, I sat down on the couch in the living room. Why couldn't my life just be normal? Why did I have to be of alien descent? And why did that have to make my gender change?
"You okay?" asked Sam, walking into the room.
"I'm probably them most okay I can be in this state." I answered.
"Do you not look forward to using your powers?" responded Sam.
"If the cost of using them is turning into this," I said, "not really."
"You were one lucky enough to inherit the powers," said Sam, "but I wasn't."
"What is with you?" I replied, "Are you seriously jealous?"
"There's not much we can do about it now."
"Yeah, I've heard as much already."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I guess I'll live like this as long as I have to."
"That'll probably be the rest of your life."
"Ugh, don't remind me."
"Well, I gotta go do my homework."
After that, Sam left. This all happened because I inherited my mother's powers. If I didn't, my body wouldn't have changed. Why did I have to inherit them? Why couldn't our family not have anything to do with aliens? What's the point of being born one gender if your body is just going to change into another on its own later? I got myself up and went to my room, feeling depressed.
I sat down on my bed, still thinking about everything. That was when I remembered that Phil was sick, so I went over to my computer so I could message him. When I got on, I saw that he was online, so I started typing.
"Hey." I said.
"What's up?" asked Phil.
"I heard you were sick." I answered.
"Where'd you hear that from?" responded Phil.
"My cousin told me." I quickly typed.
"It's nothing too serious." said Phil, "I should be back in school tomorrow."
"That's good." I replied.
"What's going on with you though?"
"Things."
"Still can't tell me, huh?"
"Sorry about that."
"Are you and your cousin hiding something important from us?"
"Don't worry about it."
"It's kinda hard not to worry."
"Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize."
"Okay."
"Does your cousin not know where you are?"
"Why are you asking?"
"Well, Kat says Christina said she didn't know what was going on with you."
"Heh, guess my parents never told her."
All this typing hurt. It was nice to be able to talk to Phil, but the fact that I wasn't able to do it face to face was what hurt me. I could no longer talk to him in real life as Christopher. I was stuck doing it behind a screen. I just sat there, staring at my computer screen.
"You okay there?" Phil suddenly asked.
"Y-yeah." I said, "I'm fine."
"I really wish we could see each other again." said Phil.
"Yeah, me too." I replied.
"Well, no matter what happens, we'll always be best friends, right?" asked Phil.
"Right." I said.
Reading all this, it was too much for me. Before I even realized it, tears were slowly coming out of my eyes. If only things didn't have to turn out this way. It hurts not being able to tell him the truth, because he likely wouldn't believe me anyways. At the very least, it was good to know how much he cared about me.