SRU: If the Suit Fits
by Bill Hart
Only a single second remained on the game clock at the championship
game of the church league basketball tournament. The crowd fell
silent as Justin Stevens, fouled moments earlier, took his place at
the free throw line with an opportunity to win the game.
Justin, awarded three shots to make two, needed to sink at least one
of the free throws to tie the game and force it into overtime. But if
he could somehow sink two of them, his team would probably win the
game since the opposition wouldn't have much time left to even get a
shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
Justin was nervous. Even at his best, he was only a fair basketball
player. And calling him a mediocre free-thrower was almost a
compliment. In truth, he'd really rather be swimming. Yet he didn't
need to be a genius to figure out that his abysmal free throw shooting
was probably the biggest reason they had fouled him instead of one of
the other guys. Their coach must have decided Justin might
accidentally make one of them, but for him to make two in one night,
let alone two in a row, might just signal the beginning of Armageddon.
Justin took a deep breath.
He dipped his knees, then cocked his arm, before letting the ball fly.
Accompanied by a mixture of hoots and groans and laughter from the
crowd, the ball fell short of the rim. Justin had missed everything.
"Great shot, Stevens," crowed Chet Warner, as he, along with everyone
else on his team, laughed. "You shoot worse than a girl."
Mark Thompson looked at his longtime friend. "It's okay, Justin.
You've still got two free throws left. Don't let Warner bother you.
We know you can do it."
As Justin looked down at the ball in his hand, he really wished it
were someone else in this situation instead of him. He also wished
they were playing any team other than the one Chet Warner was on.
Having gone to school together since kindergarten, he'd known both
Chet and Mark almost forever. But where Mark and he had always been
close friends, he and Chet had taken an immediate and total dislike of
each other that had continued ever since.
"Don't take all day Stevens," chuckled Chet. "We've got a trophy
waiting for us. We really don't have the time to stand around waiting
for you to miss these next two shots. I'll bet you don't even hit the
backboard on either one of them."
Justin looked down at the ball, then inhaled deeply.
He cocked his arm, then let loose his shot.
The ball struck the front of the rim, then bounced high into the air
before coming down on the base of the rim. It bounced once ... then
twice ... and yet a third time ... before lazily rolling into the net
to tie the game.
Justin's teammates cheered.
The small crowd sat in silent disbelief.
"Wow," sneered Chet. "I guess miracles can still happen. But all of
us know it will be an icy cold day in hell before you can possibly
sink two free throws in a row."
The closest referee, an elder from one of the previously eliminated
church teams in the tournament, glared disapprovingly at Chet.
Just what I need, thought Justin. Even more pressure.
"You can do it, Justin," reassured Mark. "Just relax and take your
time. Remember, it's just a game."
"Yeah right. And fat pigs fly," muttered Chet, just loud enough for
Justin to hear.
Justin took his place at the charity stripe again.
He took a deep breath.
After letting it out slowly, he took another, even deeper, breath.
He dipped his knees.
And cocked his arm.
He shut his eyes tightly, not really wanting to see the ball miss the
rim or the backboard altogether.
He wished he were somewhere else - someplace far away would be nice.
Justin blindly let the ball fly; he only hoped it was on its way
towards the basket.
But a moment later, he heard an odd swishing sound followed by an
unexpected eruption of cheers from the small crowd.
Opening his eyes, Justin was just in time to see the ball caught, for
that one split second, at the bottom of the net.
"Way to go, Justin," cheered Mark Thompson. "We all knew you could do
it."
His teammates mobbed the totally unexpected hero of the game. "There
is still one more second to play, but then that championship trophy is
ours!" one of them shouted.
"What a lucky shot, Stevens," grumbled Chet. "I never would have
guessed in my wildest nightmares that you could actually sink two free
throws in a single game."
Justin simply smiled. If the truth were known, he still couldn't
believe he'd actually made two free throws in the same week, let alone
two in the same game.
The hurried inbound pass was intercepted and the buzzer sounded ending
the game. In celebration of their victory, Justin's teammates mobbed
him again. While he and his teammates were celebrating, Lana Tyler,
the captain of the girls' swimming team walked by.
"Nice shot, Justin," she smiled warmly at him. "I'll see you at
school Monday."
Justin blushed brightly. He couldn't believe that Lana Tyler had
actually spoken to him. Justin had had a major crush on her ever
since he'd first discovered girls. But, with her being as popular as
she was, he'd never even imagined she knew he was even alive. But
she'd actually talked to him; she even knew his name. It was
unbelievable. He'd always dreamed about getting to know her better.
Chet glared at him from the other side of the court.
Justin looked away quickly. Although he and Chet didn't like each
other - never had, most likely never would - they'd pretty much
learned to ignore one another over the years. As a result, things
between them were more or less livable; that is, until Justin had been
named captain of their high school swimming team. Chet had been
absolutely livid at the coach's decision, knowing he was clearly the
better swimmer of the only two seniors on the team. By Chet's
reasoning, he should have been the only logical choice to captain the
team. But the coach had decided that Chet's hot temper would wind up
being more costly to the team in the long run.
And now that Lana Tyler had spoken to him, Monday at school promised
to be even worse than it would have otherwise been. And it was
already going to be bad enough because Justin's team had just defeated
Chet's team for the championship.
But Lana Tyler was also Chet's current girlfriend. Justin wondered if
she might have spoken to him just to make Chet jealous - not that it
had ever been all that difficult to anger Chet. He hoped that wasn't
the case. But it was times like these that made him wish he could
understand what went on inside a girl's head.
* * * * * *
With the arrival of Monday morning, Justin wished he could stay home.
However, both swim teams held their practices in the morning before
the first classes began. With the big swim meet coming up tomorrow
afternoon, Justin couldn't afford to miss his time in the pool. Even
though he'd always been a better than average swimmer, he was always
wishing he could be an even better one. Although he won his fair
share of races, he always wanted to win more. Besides, hadn't Coach
Gannet always impressed it on the whole team that there was always
room for improvement, no matter who you were?
"Lucky couple of shots Saturday night, Stevens," snarled Chet, still
obviously upset, as Justin entered the locker room.
Justin said nothing to Chet in reply. But to himself he thought, well
the shit's started.
"I saw you talking to Lana after the game," said Chet. "I don't want
you getting any strange ideas, Stevens. I don't want you to start
thinking you can get lucky against me again. You aren't going to
steal my girl away from me."
"Yeah, we don't want some loser like you thinking he can steal any of
our girls," agreed Greg Morton, one of Chet's flunkies.
"But all she said to me was 'nice shot' and 'see you at school',"
replied Justin. "That was all there was to it."
"That's just what she said too." Chet glared at Justin. "But I saw
how you were looking at her. And I really didn't like that way you
were appraising her."
"But I didn't say anything to her," objected Justin.
"That's right, you didn't say anything. And, if I have my way, you
won't be saying anything to her either," snarled Chet. "I've already
had a really long chat with Lana about her little error in judgement.
She won't be seeing you at school anytime real soon."
As Chet and his smirking cronies headed out the locker room door,
Justin wondered what Chet had meant about Lana not seeing him anytime
soon. He hoped Chet hadn't hit Lana, but deep down Justin knew Chet
was just nasty enough to do something like that, or possibly even
worse, to Lana. He wondered how and why Lana continued to put up
with an asshole like Chet Warner.
After changing into his Speedo, Justin turned and headed towards the
locker room door. For a brief moment, he stopped before the mirror
that covered the entire locker room wall. He looked at his green
eyes, which he normally hid behind brown contacts and his straight
brown average length hair. He knew he was in excellent shape, but he
often wished he were taller than his 5'10" frame. If only he could be
granted a wish ... he'd really enjoy being a height that would make
Chet pay a lot more attention to him and whatever he had to say.
"But wishes like that never come true," mumbled Justin as he continued
outside. "After all, if wishes came true, then the world wouldn't
have so many people like Chet."
Once outside, he was greatly relieved to see Lana practicing with the
girls' team. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be injured in any way,
but as soon as she noticed Justin looking in her direction she quickly
looked away and found a spot where he couldn't find her again. "Just
what did Chet do to her?" he mumbled.
"You shouldn't be looking at her, or even in her direction, Justin,"
said Tom Dalkins. "If Chet finds out, Lana will get more of the hell
she suffered through the other night. That asshole Chet's one crazy
jealous dude."
"You won't tell him? Will you?" asked a nervous Justin.
"Of course not. I don't like that pompous little jerkoff any more
than you do," replied Tom. "An intelligent girl like Lana deserves
someone a helluva lot better than an asshole like him." Tom left,
heading towards the pool.
Justin once again wondered what Lana, or any girl for that matter,
could possibly see in someone like Chet. Although he wasn't certain
he deserved someone like her, Justin knew with certainty that he'd
treat her far better than Chet could ever dream of treating her.
"Just what made an otherwise intelligent girl put up with a guy like
him anyway?" he mumbled.
* * * * * *
Between worrying about Lana and trying to avoid Chet, Justin had a
singularly unspectacular practice.
"Something bothering you today, Stevens?" asked Coach Gannet.
"Not really, coach."
"It's just that Stevens has already used up more than his share of
luck for the next several months," smirked Chet. "Can you actually
imagine him sinking those two free throws the other night?"
"I heard about that basketball game," replied Coach Gannet. "You beat
Warner's team for the championship the other night. Didn't you,
Stevens?"
"Yes, coach."
Before storming away angrily, Chet glared first at Justin and then
at Coach Gannet.
"You need to get your head totally back into swimming, Stevens,"
replied the coach, totally ignoring Chet's unimportant childish
behavior.
"Yes, coach."
"I don't want you thinking about anything else but swimming the rest
of this week, Stevens. That means no basketball - no girls.
Understand? If it ain't swimming, you ain't thinking about it. I
fully expect to see a marked improvement in your morning practice and
at the meet tomorrow. I hope I've made myself clear, Stevens."
"Yes, coach."
Having overheard the conversation between the coach and Justin from
nearby, Chet smiled. If Justin had a bad practice and a poor showing
at the meet tomorrow, followed up by another couple of poor practices
like this one, he considered, then the little wimp will be gone and
I'll be taking my rightful place as the captain of this team. I'm
pretty sure I can help him have a few more very miserable practices.
* * * * * *
As fate would have it, Justin incredibly managed to avoid seeing Chet
and all of his friends for the remainder of the day. And yet, at the
same time, he'd also been assigned what he guessed must be close to a
ton of homework - all of it due the next day. But in order to finish
all of it tonight meant staying up late, which very likely meant
having another horrible practice the next morning. It also meant
Coach Gannet would be on his case again.
"Just what I needed," he sighed. "It never rains but when it pours."
Justin tossed his schoolbooks onto the backseat of his car, a
twenty-year-old junker. It wasn't much to look at, being in bad need
of a paint job, but it basically got him anywhere he needed to go and
back again. And besides, he'd paid for the car himself.
During his last class, Justin had decided to head for the mall after
school. It hadn't even been that hard of decision, given everything
that he'd been through that day along with the nearly ton of homework
that he'd been assigned. There were always plenty of good-looking
girls wandering around the mall after school. He wasn't expecting to
get lucky with any of them; he doubted if many of them would even
speak to him. It was more a case of Chet, for some inexplicable
reason, never having discovered his not overly secret hideaway.
It was a short drive to the mall from school.
As he generally did, Justin parked his old car in the small parking
lot near one of the lesser-used entrances - the one closest to his
two favorite stores. He locked his car, although he knew that no one
in their right mind would ever consider stealing it, then made his way
towards the door.
After entering the mall, Justin was surprised at what he saw. "That's
strange," he muttered. "I've never seen that little place before."
Directly in front of him was a small, somewhat odd-looking, shop
situated between the bookstore and the computer store, his two most
favorite haunts. "It's really weird," he mumbled. "I could have
sworn those two stores always shared a common wall before now. I
wonder how, and when, they squeezed that place in between them? None
of the guys at school said anything about a new store opening."
Justin walked over to the small shop. Strangely, there were no
windows through which he could peek inside. And the antique
handcrafted sign that really looked out of place in the modern
mall read simply 'Spells R Us'. "They must be selling magic tricks
with an odd name like that. I wonder why the mall people decided to
locate it between the book and computer stores - putting a magic shop
between those two stores just doesn't make much sense."
And yet, even if its location made little sense to him, Justin's
curiosity still got the better of him. He decided he just had to go
inside and take a quick look around. What could it hurt?
As Justin pushed open the door, its hinges squeaked. "I guess they
need a little oil." And then, as he stepped over the threshold, he
heard the tinkling of a little bell over his head announce his
arrival.
He was surprised when he noticed there wasn't much merchandise in the
shop, which seemed larger inside than Justin thought it should have.
A pretty young girl looked up from the counter. "Hi Justin. I'm
Dannie," she smiled at him. "He said you would be coming by today,
but I was beginning to think I'd finally caught him slipping up."
"What?" he said with surprise. "How'd you..."
But before he could finish his question, Justin heard a small cough
from somewhere near the cash register on the counter. However,
except for Dannie, whose voice was too high for what was obviously a
male cougher, no one else was around. Motioning him to follow her,
Dannie led him towards the rear stock room door, where a small sign
that read "He knows your name because he's a wizard" was hung.
A wizard? That's impossible thought Justin. He knew there were no
such things as wizards.
Dannie opened the door, then shouted inside; "Justin's finally here!
Are you coming out here or not?"
Moments later, an old man, wearing a tattered bath robe, which
appeared as if it might be even older than its wearer, came out of the
stockroom. Looking up as he entered the store proper, he smiled at
his young visitor. "Welcome to my little shop, Justin," he said in
greeting. "And of course, there are such things, young man."
"What?" asked Justin.
The old man smiled. "Why wizards of course, young man," he answered.
"You can't deny that you were just thinking there were no such things
as wizards, my boy. But there really are wizards. In fact, there
must be wizards; I'm one myself you know - and Dannie here is my young
apprentice."
"But she's a girl."
"And just what's the matter with girls, Justin?" asked an annoyed
Dannie. "Don't you like girls?"
"Calm down, Dannie," said the old man. "I'm sure he didn't mean
anything by it. I'm sure you remember how boys can be sometimes,"
he grinned. "It's just that Justin's a little shy around pretty
girls."
"I am not," objected Justin.
"Have it your own way, Justin," replied the old man. He turned to
Dannie. "Would you go into the stock room and get that item Justin
needs?"
"Sure thing, master." For a moment or two, Dannie glared at Justin,
then abruptly turned in the direction of the stockroom door and walked
off.
Justin watched Dannie walk away with an apparent growing interest.
"She's certainly a pretty young girl," said the old man with a
widening grin. "Don't you think so, Justin?"
"What?" asked Justin, engrossed with watching Dannie. As he watched
her walk through the open doorway and disappear into the stockroom,
he stammered, "Oh yeah; she's very pretty."
"But as far as you're concerned, she's not nearly as pretty as Lana
Tyler. Isn't that right, Justin?"
Justin looked at the old man with surprise. "How do you know about
Lana Tyler?"
"Justin, Justin. I thought we had already covered all of that,"
replied the old man. "I'm a wizard. Remember? I know all about your
longtime crush on Lana Tyler, your even longer running feud with Chet
Warner, your problems at the swim team practice this morning, and that
seemingly ton of homework you were assigned that you must complete
tonight." Justin looked surprised by what this strange old man knew
about him. "And I also know about those two free throws you made that
won the basketball game the other night."
Justin's look of surprise turned to one of confusion. "But how could
you..."
"He told you how, Justin," replied Dannie, as she returned from the
stockroom carrying a small package in her hand. "Or don't you bother
listening when people tell you something? He's a wizard. And I'm his
apprentice. We're simply trying to help you."
"Help me?" Justin sounded puzzled. "But how?"
"We're going to fix a few things in your life. You and Lana will soon
become much closer friends. At the same time, we're also going to put
a stop to your silly little feud with Chet Warner," replied Dannie.
"And after we're finished, I really won't be very surprised if you
wind up being a whole lot more popular than you currently are."
Justin smiled. "You'll need a huge barrel of industrial-strength luck
to accomplish something like that."
"Not at all. Luck is a totally unnecessary quantity, Justin," said
the wizard. "And Dannie's already taken care of all that homework you
were given today."
"It's been done to absolute perfection, I might add, although I can't
remember ever finishing that much homework so quickly before," added
Dannie. "And you won't have any problems at either tomorrow morning's
practice or the afternoon meet ... with this." She handed Justin the
small package she'd retrieved from the storeroom.
"What's this?" asked Justin, as he took the package.
"Open it and find out," replied Dannie.
After opening the package, Justin stared at its contents for several
seconds. "It's a Speedo." He shook his head. "It's identical to
those we wear at practice. How is this supposed to help me?"
"It might look exactly the same," replied the wizard with a grin, "but
trust me, Justin, this one is not quite as identical as it seems.
You'll become an improved swimmer just by wearing this at your morning
practice tomorrow."
"I will?"
"Of course, you will." Dannie smiled at Justin. "Didn't he just tell
you that you would? Or weren't you paying attention again?"
"I suppose; if you say so. But - assuming I'm at all interested - how
much is this going to set me back?"
"Why absolutely nothing, Justin. It's a freebie," replied the old
man. "I wouldn't feel at all right about charging you anything for
our service, especially while you're being a practical exercise for
Dannie."
"And, if you have any problems - which, by the way, you won't - then
just come back and see me, Justin." Smiling warmly, Dannie battered
her eyelashes at Justin.
"Okay, I'll take it," he smiled back at Dannie. He carefully put the
Speedo back in its box. "Even if everything works out okay, can I
still come back and see you anyway, Dannie?"
"Of course you can," she replied sweetly. But after watching Justin
almost literally float out of the shop, Dannie questioningly turned
back to her mentor. "Is he all right, master? He's acting kind of
odd."
"He's just fine, Dannie" smiled the old man. "As I said earlier, he's
just a little shy around pretty girls. I suspect he's been more than
a little overwhelmed by all your feminine charms, just as any other
boy in his same situation would have been."
Dannie blushed. However, after thinking about what she'd done for a
moment, she knew if she'd had some girl do to her what she'd just done
to him when she'd still been a boy, then she might have tried
aimlessly floating out the front door as well. "Then you don't think
I laid it on a little to thick?"
"Not at all, Dannie."
"What about those free throws?" asked Dannie. "Do you think I should
have mentioned that I kinda helped him sink those two free throws the
other day?"
"No," replied the old man with a wry grin. "Not at all."
* * * * * *
As soon as Justin returned home, he went straight to his room, where
he opened his books and checked his homework. Impossibly, not only
was every last assignment finished, but he now also remembered
actually doing every last bit of it himself. However, with all the
things he'd been up to since school had ended, he couldn't seem to
remember when he'd found the time to do any of it. Even as he opened
the book he'd been assigned to read several chapters, he remembered
he'd already read every chapter. Not only that, he could also answer
every question at the end of each assigned chapter.
He began wondering if the old man and Dannie might have actually been
a wizard and his apprentice wizard as they'd claimed they were,
instead of being just another odd pair of crackpots hanging out in
the mall.
He took the Speedo out of its small box again and looked it over
carefully. If this were actually some magical artifact, then, in all
likelihood, it would be some kind of icon representing his swimming
ability. Justin assumed that wearing this Speedo would let him swim
better and faster than ever before. But he saw no way how wearing
this simple Speedo could do anything to help him get closer to Lana,
or end his feud with Chet.
"Poor Chet," smiled Justin, "He really won't know what to do with
himself once he doesn't have me to pick on any more."
* * * * * *
The next morning, Justin woke later than usual. As a consequence, he
was going to have to skip breakfast - something he really didn't like
doing - in order to get to practice on time. Unless he was lucky,
he'd also end up listening to his mother's tirade about how bad it was
for a growing boy to skip breakfast. But he also knew he'd be able to
eat something during his snack break after second period.
Once again, he picked up and examined the Speedo that the strange old
man, who'd claimed to be some kind of wizard, and the pretty girl,
who'd told him she was the old man's apprentice, had given him the day
before. After a good night's sleep, he saw things more clearly. He
didn't care what either of them told him about this Speedo; it was
identical, right down to the school logo, to those he wore during
practice. In the light of a new day, he couldn't begin to imagine
what this particular Speedo could possibly be capable of doing for him
that any other one he picked up at random in the locker room couldn't
do just as well.
He decided the old guy and the girl must have been pulling his leg.
It must be some kind of a practical joke; a joke made more sense than
believing in magic. There were no such things as wizards. Someone he
knew must have tipped them off about everything and given them the
Speedo to give him as part of the joke. That must be the real reason
the old guy knew all that stuff about me, reasoned Justin. And, as
gullible as I am, I almost fell for it.
However, as he was busily rationalizing all the magic away, Justin
never once considered the completion of his homework as anything out
of the ordinary. If he'd only thought about it, he would have
realized that all of his homework assignments had been done while he'd
been in their shop. But on the other hand, if he had taken some time
and thought about it, Justin would have simply remembered doing all of
his homework himself.
And yet, thought Justin, as he considered the Speedo again, what harm
can possibly come from wearing an ordinary Speedo? Besides, if I'm
wearing it, then maybe it will give me some great psychological edge
over all of my competition. Justin began to smile. "Yeah right," he
muttered, as he packed the Speedo into his school bag and headed off
for school, relieved his parents had already left for work.
* * * * * *
Justin still arrived late for practice. Although he thought it was
much later, he was only tardy by about five minutes. Only a few of
the guys were currently in the pool. He didn't know how he'd arrived
so quickly, but he had noticed that Coach Gannet was frowning in his
direction.
Just great, thought Justin.
As he entered the locker room, he ran into Chet coming out. "You're
late, Stevens," snarled Chet. "Coach Gannet is going to be royally
pissed, you know. After all, you're the captain; you're supposed to
set good examples for the rest of the team." Unseen by Justin, Chet
smiled, as he turned away and walked out to the pool. He couldn't
believe his sudden good fortune - Stevens already had a black mark
on his record from his poor practice of the day before and now he'd
arrived late for this important practice. Stevens is
self-destructing, thought Chet. At this rate, I won't have to do very
much to help him along.
Justin went straight to his locker; he was now the only person left in
the locker room. After quickly stripping, removing his contacts, and
stuffing his clothes into his locker, he snapped the combination lock
shut. For a moment, he gazed at the Speedo the old man had given him,
then casually slid it on. As he'd been expecting, it fit perfectly.
However, when Justin took his first step towards the door, something
about the Speedo began feeling very peculiar. Justin shook his head.
Was it all in his imagination or had his Speedo begun changing?
Without noticeably thinning as it did, the material from which it was
made impossibly seemed to expanding upwards. At the same time, the
Speedo was also riding upward on his hips.
Alarmed at what appeared to be happening to his suit, Justin tried,
without success, to remove the Speedo. But the altering swimsuit
stubbornly refused to budge. Horrified and helpless, Justin watched,
as well as felt, the Lycra fabric continue creeping upwards over his
body, covering first his stomach and then his chest.
After covering his chest, the material extended two tendrils further
upwards and around his neck, which then eagerly slithered down his
still bare back. As if they were alive, he felt the two tendrils
converge and meld into one near the middle of his back before
splitting apart and branching out again as twin serpents. One of the
sinuous vines joined the newly extended material a few inches below
his armpits; the other one fused seamlessly into the material above
his hips. Justin could tell that his deltoids were still bared, as
was the middle of his back, but he was very definitely wearing a
swimsuit that was a far cry from the one he'd originally donned.
As if afraid of what he'd see, Justin slowly and nervously walked over
to the mirror that ran nearly the entire length of the locker room
wall. "Oh shit!" he swore at his reflection. "This dumb Speedo has
somehow become a girl's swimsuit." Once again, he tried removing it,
but just as before, the willful suit resisted his every effort. "I
can't go out to practice dressed like this," he moaned. "They'll
laugh at me. I'll never hear the end of it from the guys, especially
Chet. What am I going to do now?"
Suddenly, Justin noticed that everything around him seemed to be
getting bigger. How was that possible? But then, he realized things
weren't getting larger around him; it was him - he was actually
getting smaller. Fortunately, his shrinkage ceased before he'd lost
very much of his height. Justin thought he might be only a couple of
inches shorter than he'd been, but certainly no more than three at the
most. But two or three inches removed from his previously 5'10" frame
was still a definitely noticeable change.
And yet, that wasn't the worst it. As he watched in the mirror, his
waist seemed to be contracting inwards. And even though he saw no one
standing near him, Justin could almost swear someone with huge hands
was squeezing him. His hips and buttocks tingled oddly. But his
altering reflection left little doubt that both of them were swelling
increasingly larger and wider, while his waist thinned.
He looked at his eyes; they were brown. But that was impossible; he
knew his brown contacts were in his locker. He always removed his
contacts before swimming. His eyes should be blue. And yet, even
though he knew they were in his locker, Justin saw everything around
him as clearly as if he were still wearing his contacts.
Even his light brown hair had changed. It had very quickly spurted
out several inches longer. And with every new inch it had grown, his
hair had become increasingly darker. By the time his hair finally
stopped growing, it had become an inky black hue and easily reached
down to the tops of his newly expanded buttocks. As he slowly shook
his head in total disbelief of what was happening, the tickling of his
ass cheeks, as his long hair swished over them, felt most peculiar.
An odd itching sensation spread quickly across his chest. "What now?"
he mumbled, although he was afraid he already had a good idea. He
gasped at his reflection as two small nubs started pushing out the
reformed top of his altered Speedo. Without consciously thinking
about it, one of his hands shot up to chest.
The twin nubs were small, but unmistakably there. As they rubbed
against the fabric of the swimsuit, the little nubs felt sore and
overly tender. But as he absently began massaging them, they started
feeling better - actually, they felt even better than better. A
completely new and unknown set of pleasurable sensations began
coursing through his entire body, rapidly replacing all feelings and
thoughts of both soreness and tenderness. "This really feels good,"
he mumbled.
As he continued gently caressing his chest, he felt his small nipples
stiffen. It was an odd feeling - unlike anything Justin had ever felt
before - but the pleasure accompanying it was absolutely incredible.
He wondered if what he was doing could be addictive. And yet, as the
itchiness in his chest continued increasing, Justin, wrapped up in his
newfound pleasures, simply ignored the feeling and, as a result,
failed to notice the other changes in his body.
Abruptly the itching ceased. Its sudden absence jolted Justin back to
reality. He was stunned at what his mind told him he now held so
casually in his hands. But a look into the mirror confirmed it all.
He had breasts?
And they weren't little ones either.
Although he considered it possible, given his earlier loss of height,
that his breasts might just look bigger than they actually were, he
was reasonably certain, without really knowing how he knew, that he
now possessed an impressive pair of 38D female breasts.
Once again, Justin stared at himself in the mirror; he didn't want to
believe what he saw reflected back at him. In spite of the continued
presence of the telltale bulge at his crotch, he looked exactly like a
girl, especially with his new firm and full breasts. He imagined he
could see a little of himself - an almost sisterly image, who was even
sort of pretty - in the girl looking back at him from the mirror.
As he gazed at his reflection in disbelief, he suddenly felt - what he
could best describe as a pair of hands - grab his balls and pull them
upwards into his body. There had been a momentary twinge of pain at
first, but it had been quickly followed by indescribable, but
intensely pleasurable, sensations as his genitals and internal
structure altered in the leading wake of his family jewels' journey
to their new homes.
Without conscious thought, Justin's hand fell to his crotch. He'd
never even noticed his penis disappear. He'd never felt his new
fleshy mound or the slit within it form. Another look into the mirror
again confirmed it all. The bulge that had been the final remnant of
his manhood was gone, just as if it had never been there in the first
place.
In body, even if not in mind, Justin was now completely and
unquestioningly a girl.
"But how can this have happened? It's impossible! It's just like
magic," he wondered aloud. "Magic!" he exclaimed suddenly, as the
cause of his sudden change of gender finally dawned on him. "That
damn old man and the girl weren't pulling my leg after all. They
really are wizards. They did this to me! But why? I didn't ask
to be a girl. And I've never in my entire life wanted to be a girl."
Once more, Justin looked at his altered self in the mirror. He shook
his head. "I've got to go back to the mall and talk to them again.
If they can change me into a girl, then they can just change me back
into a boy again."
But first, he had another problem in need of a solution.
Justin had to find some way of escaping the boys' locker room without
being seen. And, given his new appearance as well as the way he so
impressively filled out this girl's swimsuit he was wearing, that
escape was definitely going to be a difficult task. How could he get
out of the locker room without getting caught?
Once again, the suit wouldn't budge as he tried to remove it. He
wondered if he'd change back to normal if he could only find some way
to take the suit off. It was a possibility, but there could be no
guarantees.
Even if the suit allowed him to doff it, what could he wear if he
remained a girl? He briefly considered putting his old clothes on
over the suit, but then quickly decided they would neither fit his new
smaller frame nor make him look very much like a boy. Whatever he
found to wear in the locker room, he was still going to look like some
girl who had mischievously sneaked into the boys' locker room for a
quick peek of some naked male flesh. Justin shuddered at the thought.
He was probably going to wind up spending the rest of the day in the
office of the girls' vice-principal, while they tried to figure out
who "this girl he'd become" was and why "she" was found in the boys'
locker room.
For a fleeting moment, Justin felt oddly disoriented. "What now?" he
muttered. Although the strangeness passed as quickly as it had begun,
nothing seemed out of place following his swift perusal of the room.
And yet, he realized that his assessment wasn't exactly true. There
was something intangibly different about the locker room, but, no
matter how hard he tried to figure out what might have changed, he
just couldn't put his finger on anything specific.
He heard the outside locker room door open. When he looked towards
it, he was surprised seeing Lana Tyler walking unexpectedly towards
him. "Shit," he muttered. What does Lana think she's doing walking
into the boys' locker room so blatantly? We'll both catch shit if
we're caught here, he thought, while wondering where he could hide.
"There you are," said Lana as she spotted him. Strangely, she sounded
relieved. "Coach Drake sent me in here to find out what was keeping
you."
Justin was thoroughly puzzled. In spite of what she'd said, he still
couldn't believe that Lana was here with him in the boys' locker room.
But, not only was she here, she was reacting to him and his newly
altered form as if absolutely nothing was wrong at all. "Lana?" he
asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
"Is that really you?"
"Of course it's me, silly," replied Lana. "Were you expecting someone
else? Some boy perhaps?" she asked with an impish smile.
Justin wondered what she meant. "But you know who I am? Don't you?"
With a sudden look of concern, Lana looked back at him. "Are you sure
you're all right?"
"I think so," he replied uncertainly. "But I've been having a really
strange day."
"I think we should make sure you're all right," replied Lana. "Just
sit down on the bench. I'll go get the coach."
Justin watched in growing confusion as Lana hurried off only to return
moments later with Miss Drake, the girls' swimming team coach. Why
was Miss Drake with her? And why was being inside the boys' locker
room not bothering either of them as Justin thought it should?
"Lana says you're not feeling well," said a concerned Miss Drake.
She put her hand across Justin's forehead. "What seems to be your
problem, Justine?"
Justin's eyes grew wide with surprise. She just called me Justine.
From the bench, he looked up at Miss Drake. But as he started to
answer her question, the peculiar events of the day with all their
attendant stresses finally caught up with him.
Justin passed out.
* * * * * *
As his consciousness returned, Justin found himself stretched out on
the cot in the small room adjoining the school nurse's office. He
could hear Mrs. Watkins speaking to someone on the phone.
Not wanting to look at himself, he kept his eyes shut tight while his
hand quickly confirmed the longer length of his hair, as well as the
two rather large mounds of flesh on his chest. He shuddered when his
exploring hand discovered his penis still missing. He quickly
realized what had happened to him hadn't been a bad dream after all.
It was all too real; he'd actually been transformed into a girl.
Slowly opening his eyes, he saw he was still wearing the girl's
swimsuit that had been a boy's Speedo before its own metamorphosis
right after he'd put it on. He was glad they hadn't tried removing
it. Or had they tried - only to discover it wouldn't come off? He
wondered what Nurse Watkins would have done if, while he had been
completely naked, he'd changed back into his male self while she
watched. Of course, that scenario assumed the mere removal of the
transformed suit was the only thing necessary to restore his normal
form. Somehow Justin didn't believe the restoration of his maleness
was going to be as simple as that.
After the nurse hung up the phone, she peeked into room. "I see
you've rejoined the living, Miss Stevens."
Justin blanched. Miss Stevens, he thought. She thinks I'm a girl
too. "Yes ma'am."
"Are you feeling better now, Miss Stevens."
"Yes, Mrs. Watkins," replied Justin nervously.
"I just spoke with your mother."
"Did you have to call her?" asked Justin.
"Of course, I had to call her. You know that's S.O.P., young lady.
She told me you might have skipped breakfast this morning. Is that
true?"
"Yes ma'am," he replied shyly. "But I was late for practice."
"That's no excuse, young lady. As an athlete, you should know better
than that."
"Yes ma'am." Justin nervously fidgeted, as Mrs. Watkins gave him the
full lecture - modified somewhat for his newly acquired gender - he'd
managed to avoid hearing from his mother this morning.
"You and your boyfriend haven't been experimenting, have you?" asked
Nurse Watkins.
Justin paled noticeably. Boyfriend, he thought, I can't have a
boyfriend. Can I? "Of course not, Mrs. Watkins," he replied with all
the indignation he could muster. But as he continued fidgeting on
the cot, the strange look the nurse kept giving him make him think she
didn't believe him. He was very relieved when Mrs. Watkins changed
the subject.
"When is your snack break, Miss Stevens?"
Looking up at the clock, Justin was surprised by the time. "In about
twenty minutes." He'd only now realized that he'd already missed his
first class entirely and most of his second.
"All right, Miss Stevens," replied Nurse Watkins. "I want you to go
eat something high in carbohydrates; you definitely need the energy.
And I don't want to hear any of those complaints or excuses you girls
always give me about being on some kind of diet. You're too skinny
now as it is."
"Yes ma'am," replied Justin, surprised he wasn't being sent home as
he'd been expecting. "What about my clothes?"
"I'll close the blinds and the door so you can change your clothes in
here," she replied. "Miss Tyler retrieved your clothes from your
locker and brought them here. I'm sure you're aware you aren't
supposed to share locker combinations with your friends. Now get
yourself dressed, Miss Stevens. Make sure you eat something high in
carbohydrates during your snack break. And don't skip breakfast
tomorrow morning; I don't want to see you back in here tomorrow."
"Yes ma'am."
After Nurse Watkins left the room, Justin quickly looked around, but
he couldn't spot the clothes he'd been wearing earlier. And what had
that been she'd said about Lana getting his clothes from his locker?
He'd never told anyone his locker combination. On the other hand,
even if he had told her, it wouldn't have made any difference since
Lana wasn't allowed inside the boys' locker room. But hadn't she and
Miss Drake been in the locker room with him earlier? "Oh, no,"
muttered Justin, not liking what his mind was suggesting to him. He
took another look around the room. "Oh shit," he mumbled, as he
spotted the only clothes in the room. In all likelihood they were his
clothes, although they weren't what he'd been wearing earlier. As his
mind had kept trying to tell him, the clothes he saw very obviously
belonged to a girl.
The nurse peeked back in at him. "Let's hurry up, Miss Stevens," she
said with mild annoyance. "We just can't have you hanging around here
all day." Mrs. Watkins ducked back out again.
Justin slowly stripped out of his swimsuit, which surprisingly came
off without any trace of its previous resistance. But after several
seconds of standing around naked and hoping he'd regain his true form,
he was annoyed, although not overly surprised, when his body simply
refused to change its newly gained shape.
He stared at his clothes.
If he was going to leave the nurse's office, he had no choice but to
wear them. But how was he supposed to wear these strange things? He
had no idea how, or even where, to start putting any of these girlish
clothes on.
He decided to start with the panties, which, other than the soft silky
material from which they were made, didn't seem all that different
from his shorts. They slid on easily enough.
However, the brassiere was a complete mystery to him. After several
minutes of totally exasperating trial and error with the damn thing,
he was still holding it in his hands. Finally, he fastened every
hook and pulled the whole damned contraption over his head. "There
must a better way to put one of these stupid things on," he muttered.
At the same time, he was glad Nurse Watkins had closed the blinds and
the door. He would have been thoroughly embarrassed trying to explain
the weird contortions he'd just gone through to simply put on this
bra, especially since, given the better than average size of his
breasts, everyone would probably believe he'd been wearing one of
them for years. But at least it was now in place. And, just as
remarkably, the stupid thing seemed to fit perfectly.
Like the panties, the blouse didn't turn out to be very difficult.
Other than the fluffy softness of the fabric and the buttons being on
the wrong side, it was just like wearing a shirt.
Even the skirt slipped on easier than he'd imagined it would. But its
length disturbed him. Justin thought it was far too short for him to
be wearing to school. He was worried that boys would stare at him,
since the short skirt revealed a little too much of his new slinky
legs. However, he also knew that, before his own metamorphosis, he
wouldn't have minded seeing one or more of his female classmates
wearing something just as short, if not even shorter.
Justin worried about the white sneakers for a while. But they were
the only shoes in the room ... and, thank goodness for at least one
small favor, they had no heels.
As he looked up at the clock, Justin saw that only a couple more
minutes remained until his snack break started. Seeing his reflection
in the wall mirror unnerved him. He noted quite nervously that not
only was he a girl at that moment, but he was also an attractive one
as well. That thought made him remember the nurse's earlier comment
about him and his boyfriend experimenting. What will I do if some boy
comes up to me thinking I'm his girlfriend? It's too bad Nurse
Watkins didn't just send me home - it would have simplified
everything. But I guess I'll have to take my chances with school as
a girl for the remainder of the day. "Just how hard can being a girl
really be?" he asked himself, while absently picking up the purse that
had lain beneath the clothes he now wore. "As soon as school ends for
the day, I'm definitely heading for the mall to have a word or two
with that old man and his apprentice."
* * * * * *
Leaving the nurse's office behind, Justin walked slowly and
apprehensively towards the snack area. He wasn't exactly certain
what to expect.
Even though everyone he passed now treated him as if he were this girl
he appeared to be, he still encountered a few difficulties of his own
with others thinking him female. Guys turned their heads and stared
at him with very obvious intent written across their faces. Even some
of the girls turned as he passed. Although their looks were every bit
as obvious as those from any boy, Justin didn't appreciate the glares
he was getting from them. On top of that, he couldn't believe how
femininely his body moved. It almost seemed as if he'd been walking
this way his entire life. But in any event, it still felt strange to
feel his ass swaying back and forth with each step he took, the twin
weights that kept shifting on his chest, and his long hair swishing
across his back.
But right now, he was really hungry - even more than he usually was
after practice whenever he'd skipped breakfast before. And he hadn't
even done anything all day. He wondered if his transformation might
have tapped into his own energy resources. As hungry as he felt at
the moment, Justin knew he would soon be gobbling down every calorie
he could possibly buy, even if the nurse hadn't told him to load up
on carbohydrates.
After impatiently waiting in line for what seemed like several hours
instead of only a few minutes, Justin finally bought his overloaded
junk food carbohydrate-laden snack. A couple of skinny girls standing
behind him gaped at him and what he'd bought with a mixture of
surprise and disbelief as he left with his little "snack". Justin
heard some of the other girls whispering as he passed, but he really
didn't care what they were saying about him. He was famished.
Shortly after sitting down at one of the tables, he heard a familiar
voice behind him. "Justine, how are you!" exclaimed the voice. "I'm
surprised to see you here. I was certain Nurse Watkins would send
you home."
Justin turned around and found himself looking directly into the blue
eyes and smiling face of Lana Tyler. "I'm okay, Lana," he answered
quietly. He was glad to see her. He was also happy that Lana,
instead of ignoring him, was treating him as if they were really good
friends. At the same time, he was not overly enthused that he'd had
to become a girl in order for them to be such good friends. The old
man's apprentice in that peculiar shop last night had mentioned
something about him getting closer to Lana, but this was definitely
not what Justin had imagined Dannie had meant. "Have a seat, Lana."
As Lana sat down, she asked, "What happened to you this morning,
Justine?"
"Nothing really important," replied Justin. "I must have forgotten to
set the alarm last night. I just overslept this morning and then
skipped breakfast to help make up some of the time. I guess my body
decided to tell me I shouldn't have skipped breakfast."
"You know better than that, Justine."
"Yeah, I guess so. But I really don't need another lecture right now,
Lana," replied Justin, sounding contrite. "Nurse Watkins told me you
got my clothes from my locker."
"That's right. I knew you wouldn't want to walk back to our locker
room from the nurse's office in that old swimsuit. It's almost okay
for the meets and the swim team, but it's not all that flattering to
your figure. I'll bet you wouldn't have minded walking back to the
locker if you'd been wearing that hot little thong you bought last
week to wear at my sleepover tonight." Lana suddenly looked
concerned. "You will be able to come tonight? I hope your parents
won't decide to ground you and keep you home tonight because of this
little problem. After all, it wouldn't be much of a party if my very
best friend weren't there.
I'm now her best friend, thought Justin. However, being her best
friend right this moment didn't exactly mean the same thing to him
that it would have meant earlier this morning. "I'm fairly certain
I'll still be able to make it tonight, Lana. Hopefully there won't
be any major problems with my parents." And yet, as Justin began
thinking about all the girls that Lana had likely invited to her
little gathering tonight, he couldn't seem to get real excited about
seeing any of them. "But what about today's meet?"
"Our next meet is next week," replied Lana. "The boys have one after
school today, but we don't; we have a bye." A light seemed to go on
in Lana's eyes. "Oh... I understand. You must be thinking it would
be a good idea for the captain of the girls' team to show up and
support the boys' team. That makes sense. If that's what you want to
do, you should have plenty of time to watch their meet and then make
it over to my house." Lana suddenly hugged Justin. "But just
remember tonight's little get together is a girls-only party, Justine.
That means he can't come with you tonight."
Justin looked puzzled. "He?"
"Are you sure you're all right, Justine?" asked Lana. "Although I
really wish you would forget all about him, the 'he' in question is
that dipshit of a boyfriend of yours. I'm sure you remember him; he's
the captain of the boys' swim team - Chet Warner."
Justin paled and wanted to gag. Chet Warner was his boyfriend? How
the hell could those two pull that kind of an asinine stunt on him?
"That's not a problem, Lana. I know you don't like him very much."
But to himself he added, but he was your 'dipshit of a boyfriend' this
morning before I slipped on that stupid Speedo.
"I don't like him?" smiled Lana in sheer disbelief. "You must know
that's the biggest understatement about anything I've ever heard in my
entire life. Chet's an idiot, and that's being overly kind. I really
don't understand what you can possibly see in someone like him." Lana
paused. "But we've already had this argument more times than I care
to remember. Arguing about him has never changed anything before. I
can't see any sense in starting up that old argument again." Lana
looked at her watch, then stood up. "I'm glad you're all right,
Justine. But I really need to get headed for my next class."
Justin watched Lana leave with mixed emotions. Even if she was now
his best friend, he knew that watching her walk so sexily away from
him and towards her next class would have definitely aroused him a
lot more yesterday than it was doing right now.
"Damn," he muttered, thinking about what Lana had said about his
boyfriend. It had been bad enough that those two oddballs from the
mall had gone and changed him into a girl to be closer to Lana, but
this newest development was absolutely intolerable. "How could they
have decided the best way to end our long running feud was by making
me and Chet a couple?" Justin decided there must have been a better
way to end the feud that wouldn't have involved turning him into
Chet's main squeeze. "That settles it," muttered Justin, as he slowly
stood up. "As if I didn't have enough reasons to be angry with those
two wizards already, they turn around and give me another reason. As
soon as school's out, I'm heading for the mall."
Before he could move very far, a pair of male arms slid around his
newly slendered waist from behind. "How are you feeling, babe?" asked
the male voice he'd rather never hear speak to him again. "I heard
you had some problems at your practice this morning, babe."
"You could say that, Chet," replied Justin icily. "I passed out
before practice started this morning." With difficulty, Justin
wiggled out of Chet's grasp.
"You'll still be coming to my meet after school; won't you, babe?"
"No, I won't be able to go to the meet, Chet," lied Justin. "I've
got to go home right after school. The nurse called my mom."
"How about we get together afterwards, babe?" Chet flashed him a
smile; Justin didn't appreciate the obvious meaning behind it.
"I can't," replied Justin. "I'm going over to Lana's house tonight."
"Whatever for?" snarled Chet. "Why don't you just blow that stupid
cow off. The two of us could easily have more fun tonight than you
could ever have with her," he grinned. "That is, if you know what
I mean, babe."
You dumb asshole, thought Justin, suddenly tired of being called babe
all the time. "I told you I'm going to Lana's tonight. I don't care
whether you like her or not, I'm going and that's final." Justin
turned and stormed off in the general direction of his next class.
"I wonder what's bothering her?" mumbled Chet as he stared after his
departing girlfriend. "It's a good thing she's so pretty, because
sometimes she can be just as stupid as all the other bitches around
here," he muttered. "I guess I'll have to think up some way to remind
her that there are a lot of other girls just waiting for their chance
to replace her as my girl."
* * * * * *
With the exception of attending classes he'd never been to, and in a
couple of cases had never heard of, before, the rest of Justin's day
was more or less uneventful. To his eternal joy, he had even somehow
managed to avoid crossing paths with Chet again. Unfortunately,
successfully avoiding Chet all day had a downside that was equally
worrisome for Justin. Knowing him as well as he did, Justin was
certain Chet would not take kindly to "his girlfriend" dodging him all
day. Justin had no desire to be made some sort of example for Chet's
inane group of friends.
Despite what he'd decided earlier, Justin had changed his mind about
heading straight for the mall after school. Instead, he'd decided to
go home first. By the end of the day, he was sure every boy in the
school had stared at him at least once. He'd had more than enough of
being ogled for one day. He wanted to change his clothes before going
to the mall. He was certain there must be something in his closet
that would be just as comfortable, but far less clingy and revealing.
After all, he definitely had no intentions of attracting any boys once
he was inside the mall.
Justin also had a big advantage in going home first. His parents
should still be at work. He'd be able to go inside the house, quickly
change his clothes, and then head over to the mall without anyone
asking him any embarrassing questions or telling him he couldn't go
out again. Of course, his simple little plan required him and his
parents to still live in the same house he'd left this morning.
Living in the same place had been such a simplistic assumption that
he'd never even considered it until he'd walked out to the parking lot
and couldn't locate his twenty-year-old clunker.
At first, he'd been really pissed that someone had stolen his car.
But why would anyone want to steal his old car? And then, after
opening his purse to see if he had any money for the pay phone, he'd
found a strange set of car keys. As it turned out, one of the keys
opened the door of the brand new sporty red Mustang parked in the
stall where he remembered parking his old junker in the morning.
As soon as he sat down in the Mustang's bucket seat, he reached over
to the glove box. As he checked the car's registration, he saw that
it was made out in his name - or, more correctly, it was made out in
the name of "Justine Stevens". Even though the address on it wasn't
where he'd awakened this morning, he still recognized the address on
it as his home. He couldn't believe that he now owned this brand new
Mustang. Apparently, he was now another of those spoiled girls at
school whose doting parents had bought their daughter a sporty car.
Driving as if he were on automatic pilot, he found himself turning
onto a familiar-looking street several blocks away from where he'd
been living this morning. A few minutes later, he pulled into the
familiar driveway of an equally familiar house. After locking his
brand new Mustang, he strolled up to the door of the house and very
casually opened it with the house key that was on the ring with his
car keys.
As he went inside the house, he picked up the mail that was lying on
the floor. He was surprised to see another letter from the State
University. "How many times must you reject me? Wasn't once enough?"
But then he noticed the name on the envelope - Miss Justine Stevens.
After quickly opening the letter, Justin discovered that his alter
self Justine had just been accepted on a swimming scholarship to the
same school that had sent him a rather impersonal form rejection
notice only last week. "This isn't fair!"
But then, his attention was caught and focused on the family portrait
sitting on the mantle above the fireplace.
The photograph had obviously been taken very recently. But very
surprisingly there were four people posed in it. He immediately
recognized his parents - they were totally unchanged from how he
remembered them. He, or rather Justine, was in it; he hadn't noticed
before now how much Justine resembled his mother. But who was that
other girl in the picture? She must have been at least three or four
years younger than him. And from her appearance, she was obviously
some close relative. If it were possible, she might very easily be
his sister. "Sally Ann?" he muttered. This girl had to be his
younger sister Sally Ann.
But how could she be here now?
He remembered seeing Sally Ann struck by a car and killed in the
street just outside this very house about eleven years earlier. That
must be why this house seemed so familiar. Sally's death had prompted
his parents to sell this house and move across town, but now, for some
unknown reason, she was alive again and his parents had never moved.
Justin realized there must have been something about his becoming a
girl that had kept his sister from being killed. But what could it
have possibly been?
As if he knew where he was going, Justin quickly and easily found his
room, even though it was totally a teenage girl's room that bore no
resemblance to the room in which he'd awoken this morning. After
finding exactly what he was looking for in his dresser drawer, Justin
quickly changed into the baggy pair of pants and the matching
sweatshirt he'd selected. Hoping they would make him appear modest
and unattractive, while not being overly revealing, Justin sighed with
disappointment as he gazed at his reflection in the mirror. In spite
of what he was wearing, Justin still thought he looked really hot.
"Even wearing baggy things like these, I guess I'm still not going to
be able to hide myself for long in the crowd at the mall."
He slipped his tennis shoes back on his feet, then picked up his purse
from the dresser. After a quick look around the house for what he
hoped would be the last time, he exited the house, closing and locking
the door behind him. As he reached his car, he looked back at the
house that he'd lived in as a young boy. A moment later, after wiping
a tear from his eye he wasn't exactly sure why he'd shed, he jumped
into his red Mustang and sped away towards the mall.
* * * * * *
Justin parked in the same mall lot he generally used, then headed for
the mall door. With every step he took along his way, he swore he
could feel the eyes of every guy he passed staring at him. He didn't
like this feeling of being seen as some kind of an object. Things
even took a turn for the worse once he was inside the mall. Several
guys had found enough courage to quit staring at him; they were
actually coming up and hitting on him.
Justin felt a surge of relief as soon as he arrived outside the little
shop that sat between the computer store and bookstore. After quickly
ducking inside the old man's shop, he was surprised when none of the
annoying boys, who'd been right on his heels almost from the moment
he'd entered the mall, followed him inside.
The little bell above the door tinkled to announce his arrival.
"Hi Justine. While you in here, you don't need to worry about any of
those boys outside," said Dannie with a wide smile as she looked up
from the counter. "Welcome back. I just knew you'd be back today."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" snarled Justin, his hands firmly
planted on his hips. "Just what did you and that old man do to me?"
Dannie shook her head. "Well, gee whiz, Justine," she continued
smiling. "By now, I'd think it was pretty obvious. I mean, you must
have noticed that you're now a girl, much closer friends with Lana
Tyler, and no longer involved with that silly little feud with Chet
Warner. And just as I told you the other day, you're even a lot more
popular than you were. That was what you wanted - wasn't it?"
"But I never said anything about being turned into a girl." He
returned his hands to his hips for added emphasis, which inadvertently
pushed out his ample breasts. "I wanted Lana to be my girlfriend; I
didn't want to become her girlfriend. And, given a choice, I'd much
rather be punching Chet in the face than have to be his girlfriend."
"Oh," replied Dannie simply. "But aren't you and your parents happier
now that your little sister Sally Ann is alive and well once again.
After all, Justine always watched her little sister better than Justin
did."
Justin stared at Dannie. How? He wanted to ask her the question, but
decided he already knew the answer she'd give him. "I haven't seen my
parents... or Sally Ann... yet. I need to talk to the old man. Where
is he, Dannie?"
"He's not available right now. He had a few other urgent errands that
needed being done elsewhere first. But he told me to help you as best
I could when you finally arrived."
Justin looked at her hopefully. "Does that mean you can change me
back into my real self?"
"I'm sorry, Justine, but I can't do that," she told him. "I wish I
could - I mean I will be able to e