The Price of Friendship By The Professor I was just in the middle of my junior year at Cal State Fullerton when

the dot com industry hit the wall. I mention that as a turning point in my life for two reasons - one is how I thought it would affect my life and the other is how it really did affect it. I'll explain the first reason first. I was a Computer Sciences major in those days. I was born the week IBM unveiled the personal computer, so I guess I could boast that I just grew up with computers. From the time my parents bought me an Atari 800 to play games on, I was hooked. Before you could say Space Invaders, I was actually programming my own games using cumbersome Atari machine language. By the time I reached high school, I was supercharging all the Macs in the computer lab to do things even my teachers didn't think they could do. Naturally by college, I was destined to be a computer whiz. With dot coms all the rage, I seemed to have a bright future in front of me - especially since I wasn't exactly the stereotypical computer geek. Reasonably good looking and passably athletic, I expected to start my own company, generate an IPO, and retire a multimillionaire all before the age of thirty. I might have made it too, in spite of the nosedive the industry took - except for the second reason I mentioned. The second reason involved the house next door to mine. Well, I suppose I should say the house next door to my parents' house. My dad made his money the old-fashioned way - he inherited it from his dad. Well, really he inherited the company, a firm headquartered in Wyatt's Grove, the town we lived in. Dad's company made casters - those little gadgets at the base of wheeled carts used by everyone from highly-paid technicians on their lab carts to street people pushing supermarket shopping carts. In other words, he made something everybody needed, and it meant a good lifestyle for our family. Our house was worth seven figures on the market, but that's a low seven figures. This wasn't one of the monster houses Southern California was famous for, but it was large enough to be impressive and was located in the right neighborhood. Of course, all of Wyatt's Grove was the right neighborhood. The little town had become a refuge for the well-to-do, another expensive suburb that had helped to make Orange County the hotbed of Republican politics on the West Coast. Of the four houses on the stately cul-de-sac where I lived with my parents, all had pools and two (but not ours) even had tennis courts. The house right next to ours was undoubtedly the most expensive, sporting a four-car garage, built-in HDTV, pool and one of those tennis courts, gazebo, and lots of other toys. Maury Wilcox and his wife had built the place just after the IPO for his dot com had put fifty million dollars in the company and a substantial amount of that had trickled into his pocket. Good old Maury was

sitting on top of the world - for about two years. To make a long story short, Maury Wilcox lived well, parlaying his little dot com into a "market force" until he sold out to an even larger dot com. Maury just made one mistake - he sold out for stock. When the dot coms got trashed, his millions became thousands and the grand house he had built became an albatross around his financial neck. So I wasn't at all surprised one cool February day to see the moving vans in front of his house carting away all that remained of the Wilcox fortune. "I'm not surprised," my father said with just a bit of smugness in his voice. He was sitting with us for a usual weekday's breakfast of bagels, orange juice and coffee as he watched the movers over the top of the morning's Orange County Register. "I told you Maury's company was a flash in the pan. Didn't I tell you, Donna, that his company was a flash in the pan?" My mother didn't even bother to look up from the cinnamon bagel she was slathering with low-fat cream cheese. "Yes, you did, Paul," she agreed. I smiled inwardly as I treated myself to a bite of my own bagel. Dad may not have thought much of Maury or his company, but Dad had lost a tidy chunk of change on hightech stocks over the last few months. Oh, we still had plenty left. After all, the caster business wasn't exactly high-tech, and it seemed as if everyone still needed casters even if they didn't need web sites. I imagine Dad was like a lot of businessmen - just a wee bit smug about how his relatively low-tech enterprise continued to chug along while every dot com in sight seemed to be crashing in flames. So the house next door sat vacant for a few days. Well, not entirely vacant, I suppose. My girlfriend from Cal Fullerton, Tanya Daly, and I made use of it on Saturday night, or at least the pool, for a midnight swim. "We shouldn't be doing this," she whispered to me as I pulled the top of her bikini off. We lay together on the lawn a few feet from the pool. "Your family has a perfectly good pool." "True," I agreed, "but we might disturb my parents." She giggled at that. Actually, I was a little sensitive about living at home. Many of my friends had already graduated from college and had their own apartments by now. A couple had even bought homes. There I was still living with my parents. I had taken a year off to bum around Europe and do some serious skiing while I was there. Then I took another year off from school to do some sailing with a friend of mine who needed crew for his charter in the Caribbean. Who was I to say no? So when I came back to go to school, my parents offered me the opportunity to live at home. In return, they paid all my tuition and bought me a car - a sweet Mustang GT - to

commute to school. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course, that was before I realized what a damper it would put on my love life. Don't ever try having sex in a Mustang unless you and your girl are contortionists. There just isn't enough room. And besides, as I quickly found out, college girls are a little more sophisticated than the mattress queens from high school. College girls actually expect to be taken back to an apartment for a long evening of foreplay and lovemaking rather than a quick bang in the back seat. Unfortunately, I didn't have an apartment, and neither did Tanya. Like me, she lived at home. So that meant our lovemaking had to be, shall we say... opportunistic. And what could be more opportunistic than the neighbor's pool? It was actually a little dangerous as well as being romantic, and that appealed to both of us. I thought sometimes Tanya must be part Gypsy with her olive complexion and her dark, curly hair. And like the Gypsies, she seemed to live life of the edge. Having sex in dangerous places, which had already included a classroom at Cal Fullerton and her parent's own bed seemed to turn her on. So making love on the neighbor's back lawn next to their pool was just what she craved. "What if somebody sees us?" I whispered to her as she tugged off my trunks. Of course, I really didn't expect that to happen. It was dark and the fences were fairly high. The residents of Wyatt's Grove expected privacy and were able to pay for it. I only asked the question because I knew it would turn her on. "Then we'll have to put on a good show," she breathed, squeezing my cock as I pulled the bottom of her suit off. Of course, while there was little chance of us being seen, a casual passerby might easily have heard us. Tanya was not exactly quiet at making love. I suppose I made a bit of noise, too. "God, that was good, Darren!" Tanya sighed when we finished. I smiled. Actually, I had been rather proud of my performance, if I do say so. If I had been any better, Tanya would have aroused the entire neighborhood. I had met Tanya at the start of my junior year. Well, I suppose that isn't quite true. We were in high school together but I never really knew her there. She was a sophomore when I was a senior, and to be completely honest, she had been a late bloomer. When I was reintroduced to her in a class at Cal, I hadn't even remembered her. Now it would be hard to ever forget her. Let's make one thing perfectly clear: Tanya and I were madly in lust but not madly in love. We both knew that so neither of us was duping the other. We made love like minks but we fought like alley cats sometimes. It just wasn't the sort of relationship to plan a long-term marriage around.

Tanya had her career goals and I had mine. Neither of our goals included marriage - at least for the foreseeable future. "Maybe we should try to get inside and do it again," she suggested. "I'd love to," I said honestly, "but the house is alarmed. I don't know the code even if I had the key." Our conversation was interrupted by a sudden creak, which seemed to come from inside the house. It's a good thing it hadn't happened before we made love or I would have wilted in a heartbeat. "What was that?" I asked nervously. Unlike Tanya, I didn't like the idea of being discovered while making love. Tanya laughed, "It's probably just the house settling. Look for yourself." I turned and looked back at the house. Sure enough, everything was quiet, although I couldn't really make out anything in the darkness inside the house. Just for a moment, I thought I saw the outline of someone small, a young girl perhaps, but I realized almost at once that it must have been my imagination, for the outline merged with the darkness to form the shape of a tree in the window beyond the one I was looking into. With a meaningless shrug, I lay back down. "Who's moving in?" she asked as we lay together naked on the beach towel I had smuggled over from our house. "Beats me," I shrugged again. The real estate sign out front had a big white banner with red letters on it that said, "Sold," so we knew someone had bought it. "Whoever it is, maybe they'll have a cute daughter." "Bastard!" "A cute rich daughter," I amended. "Yeah, but will she do the deed like I do?" Tanya wanted to know, laughing. I laughed, too, and one thing led to another. And that led to something else again. God, that was a good night! I didn't have to wait long to find out who was moving in. Monday morning as I was getting ready to drive to classes, there was a moving van waiting out front, its engine idling away. The van told me nothing, though. Usually, a moving van touts its home city in prominent letters along the side of the trailer, but this van was completely devoid of any markings. The metal was silver, shining almost with the appearance of an expensive car rather than a van. I couldn't even read the state the tractor was licensed in since it sported a nondescript white plate with black letters that could have been almost any state.

Two movers, both big burly men were setting up a ramp at the back of the truck. From their size, I knew they'd have our new neighbors moved in, in no time. I waived at them as I pulled away. One of them, a huge guy with an almost comically feminine face and long copper hair, waived back. Looking in the back of the van as I drove away, I could see what appeared to be a disassembled white canopy bed. Maybe with any luck they really would have a cute, rich daughter, I thought. It gave me something to fantasize about as I drove off to school. By the time I returned home, the van was just pulling away. A couple of fine cars were parked in front of the house - a black BMW 740i and one of the new little Lexus hardtop convertibles in white. Considering the fact that the two cars had a combined worth of about a hundred and forty thousand dollars, I decided our new neighbors would fit into Wyatt's Grove just fine. I parked my Mustang in the driveway since I might be going out later. Tanya was going out to eat with her parents but we had talked about getting together later. It wasn't a date cast in stone though. I was in such a rush I didn't even notice the figure standing just across the property line maybe twenty feet away. "Hi." The voice was sweet and feminine - the sort of voice I liked to hear, even if it did sound just a little on the young side. I looked up and saw her for the first time. The first word that came to my mind was "cute." The second word was "young." Let's take them one at a time. She was definitely cute. Her hair was honey blonde, tied into a long ponytail. She had that healthy tan so many California girls enjoyed, and from what I could see of her considerably exposed skin, it was the sort of even tan that comes from basking in the sun with very little on. Her top was white spandex, doing little to hide well developed if not entirely mature breasts. The denim shorts she must have had trouble pulling up over her nice hips were short enough to please any typical young male, such as me. She was barefoot, showing off little pink-painted toes and a couple of ankle bracelets. In short, she was a fine looking girl. Now to the other part of the impression - the young part. I guessed her age at no more than fifteen, and as I found out later, I was right on the number. Unfortunately, she was a little young for me, but that didn't mean I couldn't look. "Hi," I replied with a smile I hoped looked more brotherly than lecherous. "I'm Dannie," she said, approaching me with a small outstretched hand. "It's short for Danielle, but nobody calls me that. It's just Dannie Winters."

"Darren Post," I replied, taking her small hand in mine. "Dannie and Darren," she said with a smile. "That's easy to remember." I found myself hoping Dannie had an older sister - someone about my age. If she had an older sister who looked anything like her, I might find living with my parents just a little more palatable. "We just moved in," she said, stating the obvious. "Oh sure," I commented banally. "You have any brothers or sisters?" Did I sound too hopeful? She shook her head. "Nope. Just me and my parents. How about you?" "I have an older brother," I told her. "He's married though and lives down in San Diego." "Aw, too bad," she said. "I was hoping maybe you had a sister - you know, somebody about my age." I flushed a little, realizing I had been hoping the same thing but for a different reason. If only she had had an older sister... "You know," she continued, "it's tough starting school in the middle of the year. It would have been nice to know something about the school." "Well, I might be able to help you a little," I allowed. "I went to high school here in Wyatt's Grove. Most of the teachers who are there now were there when I was in school, so I can tell you about them." Her face, which had looked a little sad a moment earlier, brightened considerably. "Hey, that would be great! I don't have to start for a few days, but I've got to decide what I'm going to take before then. Maybe you could come over later. We could sit out by the pool and you could tell me about school." "Well..." Oh come on," she pleaded. "After all, I know you like our pool." With that, she smiled a strange little smile and ran back to the house. "Come on over after dinner!" What did she mean by that comment about the pool? I wondered. I shrugged it off. It was probably just a casual remark. After all, Maury Wilcox had built what was by far the nicest pool in the neighborhood. One thing Mom always insisted was that we eat as a family. When Bud, my older brother, was still home, the four of us nearly always ate together, and now that Bud was gone, the tradition continued. Mom was a stay-at-home Mom and a

damned good cook, so there was plenty of incentive for Dad and me to be at the dinner table on time. "Save some room," Dad warned me with a chuckle as I shoveled an extra helping of Mom's special meat loaf on my plate. "There's peach pie out there for desert." "That's not our pie," Mom said primly as she shot me a disapproving glance over my table manners. Dad's balding forehead wrinkled in a combination of puzzlement and disappointment. "It's not for that church bazaar, is it?" "That's next week," she informed him. "The pie is for the Winters family." "Winters?" Dad repeated in confusion. "Oh, next door," I told him." "Darren, don't talk with your mouth full." "Sorry, Mom." "I wasn't aware that you had met Sarah and Bill," Mom said to me. "I didn't," I replied, assuming that Sarah and Bill were Dannie's parents. "But I met their daughter." Dad grinned. "That figures. Is she cute?" "Very." "But a little young for you," Mom said with an obvious note of disapproval. "True," I admitted. "I guess she's about fifteen. But I did offer to help her pick some classes over at the high school - since I know most of her new teachers." Mom smiled. "That's very nice of you. Then you can both go with me when I deliver the pie." So after we got the kitchen cleaned up, we prepared to go next door for the official meeting of the new neighbors. "Now I'll warn you," Mom said, stopping us before we could walk out the door. "Sarah and Bill are just a little odd." "Just a little?" I mocked. "Yes," she replied, ignoring my witticism. "They both see a little nervous. I suppose it's moving to a new neighborhood and all." "Where are they from?" Dad asked. "I'm not sure," was her answer. "I think I saw California plates on their cars, but Sarah didn't say where they were

moving from. Bill is into investments and works out of his home, so I guess they can live wherever they choose." "He must be into some damned good investments to be able to afford Maury Wilcox's house," Dad commented. "Now don't get started on business," Mom cautioned him as we crossed the lawn to the Winters' new house. "I was just thinking maybe he could steer me into some good investments," Dad mumbled, ignoring Mom's commanding stare. I saw just what Mom meant about the new neighbors when Dannie's mother opened the door. She had a hesitant almost frightened - look on her face until she spotted Mom. "Oh, hello... Donna!" I could almost sense her tension dissipate as she asked us in. Her husband, Bill, was right behind her. Mom handled the introductions and we were invited in to a living room, which was surprisingly well ordered given that they had just moved in. Bill was quiet, letting Dad do most of the talking. Actually, that suited Dad just fine since talking was what he enjoyed doing most. Of course, Mom got her share of the conversation in, too, telling Dannie's parents everything she could think of about their new town. It was all pretty normal and low-key, but I noticed after a few minutes that any questions my parents asked their new neighbors were either vaguely answered or deflected entirely. As I sat there trying to be quietly sociable for about ten minutes, I began to realize that I still knew nothing about Bill and Sarah Winters except their names. One thing I did notice about them though was that they were a very attractive couple. Bill had the look of a man who would be equally at home in the boardroom or on the deck of a sailboat, with his tanned California casualness. His wife, Sarah, was very attractive, and I could see where Dannie got her good looks. She had the same honey blonde hair her daughter enjoyed, and with her warm brown eyes and youthful face, she could have had some of my own friends howling at the moon with one of her smiles. There was one thing I did find odd about Sarah Winters, though. Unlike most good-looking women I had seen, she seemed almost uncomfortable with her appearance. When Mom said something to her about liking her hair and suggesting a hairdresser she might like, our new neighbor looked almost embarrassed for some unknown reason. And when Mom said something about how "cute" her little overshort outfit looked, she actually turned red and seemed to be fussing with the hem of the denim shorts as if to make them stretch further over her smooth legs. "Hi." I was brought out of my reverie by a sweet, feminine voice. "Hi, Dannie."

Our parents heard us and another round of introductions was made. But when Dannie's mom got around to me, she ventured, "And it sounds as if you two have already met." Dannie giggled, "Yeah, Mom. Darren is going to help me pick out what courses I should take since he went to high school here." "That's very nice of you, Darren," her mother said cautiously. Something was bothering her; it was easy to see. "And he's going to be my best friend," she added. Sarah Winters' face suddenly turned pale. "Dannie honey..." "Oh don't worry, Mom," Dannie said brightly. "It'll be all right." I was a little unsettled by their conversation to say the least. Of course, I could understand her mother's concern. There I was - over twenty-one years old and an adult by any measure of the law. Dannie was scarcely more than a child, really. At fifteen, she wasn't that far away from pigtails and dolls and Mary Janes. But she was a well-developed fifteen; anyone could see that. And I wasn't so old that I didn't remember being fifteen and watching girls my age awakening sexually. And since girls seemed to mature faster than boys, it wasn't that hard for a fifteen year old girl to be more infatuated with a guy my age rather than her contemporaries. "I'm just helping her learn who the best teachers are. It shouldn't take too long," I assured her mother. What I was trying to get across to her was that I had no lecherous interest in her daughter. Her eyes didn't signal me that she was relieved, though. But then again, she didn't seem to be looking at Dannie with motherly concern either. I noted she also caught her husband's eye and saw strange concern there as well. "Well, come on," Dannie said, impulsively grabbing my large hand in her dainty one. "We can talk out by the pool." "Dannie..." he mother began tentatively. Dannie rolled her eyes. "Oh mom, we're just going to talk." For some reason, that seemed to relieve her mother - a little at least. Of course I would have imagined that her mother would be more concerned about what I had in mind instead of what her daughter had planned. I tried not to think of her sexually as she led me to a pair of white wrought iron chairs placed next to a matching table. It was hard to do. It's strange how society thinks nothing of a six year age differential among a couple, say, in their twenties or beyond. But a twenty-one year old and a fifteen year old getting too close was obviously frowned upon. Not that I was interested in a relationship with

Dannie. After all, I had Tanya and who could ask for more? In fact, I recalled, Tanya and I had enjoyed ourselves in front of this very pool only a day or so before. "Tell me about the neighborhood," she requested, handing me an icy can of Diet Coke before she sat down, taking a sip of her own can. I looked at the can strangely. Diet Coke was my drink of preference, but how had she known that? For that matter, where had the can come from? As we had walked to the pool, she had been holding my hand. And I hadn't noticed her carrying the cans in her other hand. I was sure the table had been bare when we came out, so the cans couldn't have been there... "Is something wrong? Would you rather have a beer?" "Oh! No, this is fine," I managed to say. "I just..." "You were about to tell me all about the neighborhood." I was? "Oh, sure. Well, the Logans live on the other side of us." "Any kids?" she asked, taking another sip. "No, they're both doctors and I don't think they're ever together long enough to start a family. You know how it is with doctors; they're busy all the time." "That's sad," she mused. I shrugged. I had briefly toyed with the idea of becoming a doctor, but my interest in biological sciences had always been outweighed by my interest in computers. Besides, it was too late now. I had played around a bit in high school, and my college work would hardly qualify me for medical school. "I think it's by choice. I really don't know them very well. They moved here after I started college." "And how about the house next to ours?" I laughed, "Oh, that's... well, uh... two business partners live there. They have a high-end antique store over in Laguna Beach and another one in San Diego." She looked at me with amusement. "Business partners?" "Well..." "Darren," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I'm fifteen, for God's sake, and I wasn't raised in a convent at least not exactly. Are you trying to tell me that they're gay?" Olin Palmer and Frank Kelly could have been the Advocate's Couple of the Year if the magazine had such an award. Neither was what I would call "flaming" and they stayed to themselves. Even my socially conservative father had once

remarked that at east their presence meant there wouldn't be a bunch of unsupervised screaming children at the far end of the cul-de-sac. "Yes, they're gay," I finally admitted. "What a waste," she commented, as if she had seen them. Maybe she had. Both Olin and Frank were good-looking guys. Even I could tell that. "And beyond their house?" she asked. I started to say that there were only four houses on the cul-de-sac, but that wasn't right - there were five. How could I have forgotten about the Shaws? Carter Shaw even worked out at the same gym I sometimes frequented, and Melissa Shaw with her long, copper hair was not to be forgotten, even if she was probably in her mid-thirties. What a body! "The Shaws have lived there about four years," I told her, surprising myself as I rattled off details of the couple almost like a computer spitting out a report. Dannie didn't see to take notice, though, listening to me patiently as I recited. It was funny that I had forgotten the Shaws. Their house was al the way around on the cul-de-sac - the first house anyone passed entering our little street. When I thought about it, I could visualize the Shaw's impressive house easily, but just for a moment, I could also visualize an empty lot where their house stood. "Well, then that's it," Dannie said, smacking her hand down on the table. "You and I are the only young people on the street. We'll have to be best friends." I know my mouth must have fallen open. It was such a strange statement from a girl who seemed to be as odd as she was attractive. "Dannie... I'm a little..." I started to say "old", but it was hard to think of myself as being old at my age. "Don't worry. It's not important," she laughed, almost as if she knew what I was thinking. Maybe she did. "Now tell me about the high school." Relieved to move on to that subject, I gave her a rundown of what she could expect when she started classes. Of course, I knew few of the students now. The only ones I knew were the younger brothers and sisters of my former classmates. For that matter, Tanya had a sister who was fifteen. I made a mental note to try to introduce them soon. But I was able to tell Dannie which teachers were the best and which should be avoided if possible. I could also give her a heads up on places that were considered cool and those that weren't - or at least as of four years ago. "Ready to go, Darren?" It was my mother calling me. Apparently our parents had decided to call it an evening, so now it was my turn. After

all, it wouldn't do to leave me out in the dark by the pool alone with an attractive young woman. Thinking back to my recent activities with Tanya by that same pool, I suppose leaving was a good idea. "Gotta go," I said, feigning reluctance. In fact, I was ready to leave. As we had talked, Dannie was getting more and more intimate - in the non-sexual use of that word with me. It was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I could tell she was starved for a friend. It was only natural, I supposed. Her family had moved her to a strange town where she knew no one, and to make matters worse, they had moved her to a neighborhood that was devoid of any young people her own age. If I had been fifteen, I fantasized for a moment, I could be the boy next door. At fifteen, I would have loved to have a girl like Dannie next door, even if she was a little odd. She was attractive enough that I could have put up with odd. "See you tomorrow," Dannie replied with a grin. I returned the grin but secretly hoped I could avoid her tomorrow and a lot more tomorrows before things got out of hand. I was afraid she was developing a crush on me. In retrospect, that was probably just my male ego talking - considering what did happen later. Dannie's mother gently touched my arm and indicated that I should fall back for a second as her husband chatted at the door with my parents. She looked around to make sure Dannie had stayed by the pool. "Darren," she began just above a whisper, "you need to stay away from Dannie." I felt my face flush. "Now wait a minute, Mrs. Winters. Dannie is very nice looking but - " "Darren!" she said sharply, cutting me off. Then, more quietly, she continued, "That's not what I mean. You don't have to defend yourself. I just think Dannie... How can I explain this? She's... different. You don't want her to get attached to you. The consequences are... well... I can't explain it. Just please, Darren, promise me you'll avoid her." "Like the plague," I blurted out, harsher than I had planned. To my surprise, she nodded and replied, "Good!" "Dannie seems like a nice girl," Mom said as we walked back into our own house. I grunted noncommittally. Mom looked at me in surprise as we walked inside. "But you seemed to get along with her so well. The two of you were chatting by the pool for over an hour." Had it really been that long? "Isn't she a little young for you to be pushing me toward her?" I asked Mom.

She blushed. "That isn't what I mean." "Bill is a fine guy," Dad chimed in, oblivious to the repartee between my mother and me. "Did you know he's an investment counselor? That's where he's made his money. I'm thinking about throwing in with him - letting him manage my portfolio. Why, he's actually been making money in a down market. The man almost seems to know what the market is going to do before it does it." "And Sarah is very nice, too," Mom added, a little relieved to move the subject away from Dannie. "Although she's a little odd..." "Odd? How?" Dad asked. I was curious, too. Since I considered Dannie a little odd, what had Mom picked up on with her mother? Had she warned my mother to stay away from Dannie, too? Why? "Oh, I don't know," Mom said as she settled into her favorite chair in the den and picked up her latest sewing project. "She just acts a little... mannish." "Mannish?" Dad laughed. "In a package like that? Do you think she's butch or something?" "Oh good lord, no!" Mom gasped. "I mean, did you notice the way she and Bill looked at each other? I thought we'd better leave so they could get on to..." Her voice trailed off as she noticed I was still in the room. Mustn't say such things in front of the children, eh Mom? Poor Mom. There I was, a twenty-one year old man - almost twenty two - who had lost his virginity at the tender age of seventeen. But in her mind, I'd probably always be her little boy. I grinned. "Well, I have classes tomorrow. I'd better get some sleep." But I didn't go right to sleep. I don't think anyone would have been able to sleep in my bed with the show that was going on next door. Now let me make one thing very clear: I'm not a voyeur. But there are some things that just can't be ignored. As I lay in bed starting to drift off to sleep, one of those things happened. One of the windows in my room looked directly out at the Winters' master bedroom. Oh, their window was partially shielded by a couple of trees, but the trees hadn't as yet grown big enough or thick enough to hide the window completely. And of course, when there was a light in their bedroom, images from within the room at night were as clear as they would be watching a television. Not that this was any great advantage for me, even if I had been a voyeur. When Maury Wilcox and his wife had owned the house, the blinds in their bedroom were always drawn at night. I think it's one of those things women do instinctively to discourage Peeping Toms. Men never seem to

be quite as aware of it. Or maybe men have more inclination to be exhibitionist and don't fear Peeing Thomasinas, if there are any. It seems that Sarah Winters didn't have that normal feminine instinct. The light she had left on in her bedroom was a small one, but it was enough to attract my attention. I rose up out of bed to see what was going on and was surprised to see Dannie's mother completely in the nude standing just a few feet from the window. Okay, I have to admit, I was tempted to use my binoculars. After all, Sarah Winters might be almost as old as my mother, but she sure didn't look like my mother. Her body looked young and firm, her breasts large and inviting as her hips swayed in a most provocative manner. She could have passed for late twenties if I hadn't known she had a fifteen year old daughter. She was walking into her husband's arms. He was naked as well, but who cared? I heard her mutter something to him through the open window, but I was too far away to hear. As I watched, she pulled him down to the bed. If I wanted, I could have watched the whole show, and I have to admit, I wanted to. I was becoming hard as a rock as I sat there on the side of my bed watching them make love. Damn, I needed Tanya! This was just too much, sitting there watching the new neighbors make love. I think I might have rushed into the bathroom to do something about it if it hadn't been for the giggle. It was the sound of a young girl, carried on the evening breeze. And it seemed to be coming from just behind me. Feeling icy fingers of imagination playing up and down my bare back, I turned quickly. There seemed to be an image dark on darker on the other side of my bed, but my night vision was too weakened by watching the neighbors make love with their bedroom light on. Then the image vanished and I was alone. The image looked a little like the one I had perceived when Tanya and I were making love by the neighbor's pool. I hadn't recognized the shape then, but I did now, just as I recognized the giggle. It was Dannie. "Did you enjoy watching last night?" Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see Dannie waiting for me as I hustled out to my car to get to classes the next morning. I had hoped to avoid her, even stretching my head outside the door to make sure the coast was clear. Dannie had an annoying habit of appearing out of nowhere. It was eerie to say the least, and even the bright warmth of the California sun couldn't dispel my feeling that something wasn't right next door. "I don't know what you're talking about," I replied gruffly as I threw my books in the back seat. I was feeling those

cold chills on my back again. Who was this girl who looked so sweet and innocent one minute and so nefarious the next? Whatever she had done to me the night before with her ghostly presence had sapped everything out of me in an instant. As I lay back down in bed, a cover over my head in spite of the warm evening, I felt as if I could never get hard again - that's how frightening it was. I just lay there involuntarily listening to the grunts and moans of the lovemaking going on next door. "Sure you do," she grinned confidently as I tried to ignore her. "I thought Mom and Dad did very well last night, didn't you?" I turned to her, trying to look big and brave, but in fact, I was becoming very frightened of this young girl. "Look, I don't know what's going on - " "Would you like to?" she interrupted, her innocent eyes dancing with mischief. Did I want to know? There was something very strange going on in the Winters' home, and I was being dragged into it against my will. Why me? I suppose the answer was obvious if I just thought about it. If she had somehow been in her house when Tanya and I were there by the pool, she knew who I was. I had violated her home in a way - certainly enough to come to her notice. And there was the fact that I was the only person on the cul-de-sac even remotely close to her age. I flattered myself into thinking she might even have a little bit of a crush on me. But I didn't want her attention. I didn't want to be her friend - or at least not a close friend who she seemed to need and crave. Why couldn't there have been another girl on the cul-de-sac - someone near her age? If there had been, she wouldn't be the object of her attention, would I? "Would you like to know?" she asked again. "I have to get to class," I mumbled, not really answering her question. It was with a sense of relief that I saw her in my rearview mirror, still standing there, receding in the distance as I drove away. But I could swear I could still see a grin on her face, and I knew she wasn't finished with me yet. Perhaps she hadn't even started. I was so shaken I nearly creamed Mr. Shaw who was just backing his silver Mercedes out of the driveway as I shot past. It was hard to keep my mind on my classes that day. And as a Computer Sciences major in upper division courses, it was hard to not embarrass myself since the classes were small and the instructors usually knew each of us fairly well. One of my instructors even asked me after class if everything was all right. I lied and told him everything was fine. Why was I being intimidated by a fifteen year old girl? Oh

sure, she had managed to spook me somehow and her mother had intimated that I should stay away. Of course, I thought, that could just be the motherly impulse of trying to keep an older, experienced man away from her sexuallyawakening daughter, couldn't it? "Darren, are you okay?" Tanya's voice brought me back to my surroundings. I had been standing there in front of my last classroom just staring into space, I guess. "Yeah, I'm fine," I lied again. Then truthfully, "I just didn't sleep well last night." She grinned. "Poor baby. You slept just fine with me the other night." I grinned back. "Yeah, that was sweet." "Want to do it again tonight?" I shrugged. "If we can find a place. Our new neighbors moved in." She looked a little disappointed as we walked together to the next class that we shared. "I might be able to arrange something. Kellie Warring is staying with Brady tonight and I might be able to borrow her place." For the first time that day, I actually felt good. "That would be great," I told her as we walked into our class. "Pick me up at seven," she said, the sultriness of her voice leaving to doubt that by seven thirty, we'd be on the sheets. Tanya had done so much for my spirits that by the time I got home from classes at three, I had pretty much forgotten my concern about Dannie. I wondered if she'd be waiting for me as she had been earlier. To my relief, she wasn't. The only person outside on our cul-de-sac was Melissa Shaw, out watering her flower garden. The day was warm to be so early in the year, and Mrs. Shaw was taking full advantage of it, her body well displayed in a tank top and tight shorts that showed off her magnificent body. She favored me with a smile and a feminine wave, her long hair wafting in the light breeze. I waved back, wondering how I had almost forgotten about the Shaws when I was telling Dannie about the neighborhood. One other thing caught my eye and triggered an odd thought as I was waving at Mrs. Shaw. I kept noticing how her copper-colored hair shone and how it reminded me of something... Then I remembered: the movers. Melissa Shaw's hair was exactly the same shade as the big moving guy's hair - the one I thought looked a little effeminate (in the face at least). What a weird coincidence, I thought. It wasn't every day that you saw such a striking red color in

someone's hair, and to see it on two such disparate people was really odd. Not that "odd" should have bothered me. Everything seemed odd since the Winters family moved in. I had the house to myself as I walked in. That wasn't really unusual. Dad had his business and Mom had what seemed like never-ending social obligations. She was probably over at the Persimmon Hills Country Club chairing a committee on some worthy cause or another. It was a quiet time I'd usually use to study before dinner. That left me with the evenings free, and I had a date with Tanya that had Little Darren already trying to stand at attention. As I sat up in my room, I found it hard to relax. I kept expecting to hear Dannie's mischievous giggle from across the yard, or look out and see her looking up at my room. Or worse yet, I might feel her presence in my room. I sighed putting down my textbook. I was getting carried away I chastised myself. Dannie hadn't been in my room - or in the house the previous weekend watching Tanya and me. It was just my imagination running wild. I had been working too hard, trying to do well in school. Dannie just had a natural devilishness in her and I was biting at her every playful whim like a hungry fish on a baited hook. Why, she wasn't even there, I imagined. She was probably out with her parents or something. The Winters house seemed quiet and peaceful. I looked back at my textbook: A network is said to consist of... HI, DARREN! DID YOU MISS ME? WHEN I GET HOME, WE CAN PLAY! ...two or more computers linked by... My heart leaped up into my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, then looked back at the text. There was nothing there but a verbose description of a computer network. But I had seen the message, and I knew it was from her. My mind tinged with new fear, I threw the textbook across the room. There would be no studying today. Slipping my shoes back on, I ran to the kitchen, left a note for Mom telling her I wouldn't be there for dinner. I had to get away from the house - and quickly. I was frightened out of my wits. The more distance I could put between me and Dannie Winters the better I would feel. What was I dealing with? I asked myself as I drove over to Grove Center, the regional mall that served our town and several others in the area. A witch? No, that was stupid. Witches didn't exist except in fairy tales. But if she wasn't a witch, what was she? What kind of a girl could spook a guy substantially bigger than she was? How could she be watching me and not really there at all? How could she salt that message in the middle of my textbook - and then make it disappear? Who says there's no such thing as witches? I got out of my car still flustered and practically ran into the mall. I wanted to be surrounded by people - lots

and lots of people. I never wanted to be alone again. The mall was predictably slow for a workday afternoon, but I knew business would pick up as people stopped off for after-work errands and maybe a bite of dinner. I just spent my time walking around, looking in the windows pretending I was killing time, maybe before meeting someone. I suppose that's exactly what I was doing in a way. I'd grab something to eat just before I picked up Tanya, I thought, idly looking in the window of a... Shit! I was just standing there staring at the mannequin in the window. It was wearing a dusty rose (now how did I know that?) tank top and a very, very short denim skirt. And I had been looking at it with apparent interest. No, not sexual interest; the mannequin was just one of those impressionistic headless displays. I mean I was looking at the clothing as if I was intensely interested in the outfit. I heard a girl giggle. My face turned red at once; I thought I had been caught by some girl who had been strolling down the mall and noticed my interest. With my luck, it would be some girl I knew from school - some girl who would tell Tanya about how her boyfriend was into teenybopper outfits. Reluctantly I turned around. To my surprise, there was no one there. Oh, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. The giggle was familiar, wasn't it? A shiver went up my spine. I couldn't get away from her. Dannie was like a malevolent spirit, attaching herself to me and watching my every move. No, that couldn't be right, could it? It had to be paranoia. It couldn't be Dannie's giggle I rationalized. Dannie was nowhere in sight. It must have been a girl who had ducked into a store. Maybe she wasn't even giggling at me. Perhaps she was just sharing a joke with a friend I had missed. That had to be it. I looked down at my watch. It was only an hour until I had to pick up Tanya. I decided to shuck off the feeling of being watched as best I could and get something to eat before I picked her up. But I wasn't really all that hungry, I realized as I stepped up to the counter at a Wendy's in the mall. Maybe just a salad and a glass of water... I sat there trying my best to enjoy the salad with low fat dressing I had purchased. What had possessed me to order such a boring meal? Possessed. My God that was an ugly word. I hadn't been possessed. It's just that as I got ready to order, nothing had sounded very good to me. At least a salad was healthy. Yes, that was it. I was just trying to eat healthy. I gobbled the last of the salad and struck out for Tanya's. I would be a few minutes early, but I could wait no longer

in the mall. I suppose I could have just driven around for a while, but I was so distracted that I didn't trust myself to drive very far. Tanya's dad met me at the door. We had always gotten along well, but that evening, he seemed surprised to see me. He had a confused look on his face as he asked, "Darren? What are you doing here?" "Uh... just picking up Tanya," I stammered, unsure as to why he was challenging me. It was unusual for him to be acting that way. Tanya's not here," he informed me. "She left about half an hour ago with some friends right after you called." "I called?" I repeated stupidly. What was he talking about? He looked at me suspiciously. "Yes. According to Tanya, you weren't feeling well." "But I never called!" I protested. His eyes squinted as he stared at me. "Darren, I think Tanya can recognize your voice by now. Besides, I'm the one who picked up the phone. Son, you don't look well at all. Is there something wrong - something you can talk about?" "Uh... no," I replied, backing away. "It's just a... a misunderstanding. Tell Tanya I'll call her later." "She may not be back until late." "Then tomorrow. I'll see her tomorrow at school," I amended as the door shut. Back in my car, I just sat there for a few minutes trying to sort things out. I know it was irrational of me, but I knew Dannie was behind the phone call. If there even was a phone call. No, I didn't think Tanya or her father were lying, but I did wonder if reality was somehow a little out of phase. Things were happening that didn't seem real. But that wasn't possible, was it? Could Dannie make them think they had a phone call they really didn't have? Could she appear in my bedroom or make words appear and disappear in my textbooks? Could she pull two cold Diet Cokes out of thin air? Of course she couldn't, could she? I had to talk to Dannie. Yes, I know her mother had warned me to stay away from her, and that was exactly what I had planned to do. It had seemed like good advice at the time. But that bratty little fifteen year old was somehow wrecking my life. Already she had me looking over my shoulder, acting strangely, and if she didn't lay off, she was about to cost me Tanya. It had to stop and stop now. I pulled up in my driveway with screeching tires and slammed the door loud enough that yard lights came on at the Shaw house across the way. I was so mad I wouldn't have cared if Melissa Shaw had suddenly come out under the light

wearing nothing at all. There was only one person in the neighborhood I wanted to see and I wanted to see her right then and there. Sarah Winters came to the door at my insistent knock. I hadn't even bothered to use the bell. "Darren!" she said barely above a whisper, censure in her voice. "I thought I warned you to stay away." "I've got to see Dannie," I insisted. My eyes narrowed as I realized she was looking at me with real fear. No, she wasn't afraid of me; she was afraid for me. "Darren. I..." "Is that Darren, Mom?" Dannie called from the top of the stairs. Her voice sounded sly, playful. I felt just for a moment like an ant about to be fried by a magnifying glass. I didn't give her mother a chance to deny it though. "Yes, it's me, Dannie." "Come on up." "Dannie," Sarah called up the stairs, "I don't think that would be a very good idea." Now in my experience, most mothers would have told their daughters to come downstairs if they wanted to talk to a boy, but under no circumstances would boys go to their room. Sarah wasn't reminding Dannie of the rules; she was pleading with her daughter. It was almost as if Dannie was in charge. "Mother, I want to see him now." If I had been half smart instead of angry, I would have heard this for what it was: an order. I didn't wait for her mother to give me permission. I moved toward the stairs. Sarah Winters took my arm before I could climb the stairs. "Darren, for God's sake, be careful." I nodded, noting with discomfort the alarm in her eyes. Part of my mind still wanted to think she might be cautioning me about the impropriety of an adult male visiting the room of her young daughter, but as I've already said, her concern seemed to be for me rather than for Dannie. But whatever was going on, I should be strong enough and smart enough to hold my own against a small girl, shouldn't I? Well, shouldn't I? Dannie was waiting for me on the landing. She gave me that feisty grin again as I made my way up the stairs in purposeful strides. "I was wondering what it would take to get you to come over here. I've missed you." "Dannie, what the hell is going on?" I demanded when I was

finally facing her. My fists were clenching and unclenching in frustration. Of course I towered over her and should have been an intimidating figure. "What are you doing? And how?" She just smiled to my frustration and turned toward what had to be her room. "Come on in and I'll explain it to you." Her room was, I suppose, typical of a young teenage girl's room. I had only been in one fifteen year old girl's room lately, and that was the room of Gloria, Tanya's sister. Since Dannie's room resembled Gloria's, I assumed it was typical. There seemed to be an abundance of white furniture, frilly drapes and comforters, and pillows, and pastel fabrics. The smell was sweet without being cloying, and the walls were decorated with pictures of studly young men who must have been members of the latest bands worshiped by young girls. "Sit down," she said lightly, motioning to a white chair decorated with a frilly pink cushion. "Dannie..." "Sit!" The word seemed to echo inside my head, and I felt my body half fall and half crouch until I was sitting on the cushioned chair. It that one moment, I began at last to wonder if I had been right about my ability to handle things. I had not intended to sit, but there I was. And while nothing in particular was holding me back, the thought of standing up again in defiance seemed to be a very, very bad idea. "Dannie," I began again, less forcefully than before, "please tell me, what's going on." She smiled smugly, and I realized she was now in complete control. "That's better. If we're going to be best friends, you need to be nice to me." "Be... best friends?" I stammered, not quite understanding. "Of course," she said as if it was all so obvious. "I need a best friend. This neighborhood is too dull. There's just no one nearby to chum around with. But when you're my best friend, we'll be able to do all sorts of things together. It will be so much fun!" "Dannie... I - " The situation was completely out of control. I felt as if I had to be in some sort of weird nightmare. Nothing Dannie had said or done seemed to make any sense. How could she be watching me when I knew she wasn't really there? How could she make me see things that couldn't possibly be there? How could she keep me from standing? And what was all this talk about being her best friend?

"We can share so much," she went on, twirling merrily around the room. "Like nail polish. Do you like nail polish? Oh, of course you don't, but you will." I felt something brush along the tips of my fingers, almost like tiny insects concentrating on my fingertips. I looked down with trepidation and saw that my fingernails were now a little longer and given a more defined shape - and they were pink! No, it couldn't be happening. It was just some sort of illusion, I told myself. I tried to move my hand, but it refused to budge. I had to content myself with staring down at it as if it were some sort of display. She held up her own hand with nails sporting the same shade. "See, pretty, isn't it? But my hands look so much better than yours, Darren. Yours are so big and rough. And ugh - you even have hair on the knuckles. That's just disgusting!" Something clamped my hands. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was as if my hands had been pushed into gloves several sizes too small. I watched in horror as my fingers grew thinner and smaller, and my larger wrists tapered down out of proportion with my hands. "Let's just size you right now," Dannie said brightly. "I'll make you just my size. That way we can share clothes and everything. It will be a lot of fun." "Dannie..." I managed to plead weakly, "please don't do this." I of course knew now what she was doing. As impossible as it seemed to my terrified mind, she was reshaping my body into that of a girl. She had meant exactly what she had said - she was going to make me her best friend - her best girl friend. "Oh quit worrying," she laughed. "You'll like what I do for you - eventually. Just relax and let it happen. It's not like it's going to hurt or anything." But it did hurt. Now it wasn't just my hands but instead my entire body that felt as if it was wrapped in a viselike cocoon. It was as if the contents of my body were being compressed. I watched in horror as my body twisted and warped beneath my clothing, rippling as if a thousand snakes were burrowing just under my skin. I felt almost as if part of me was being siphoned off, disappearing invisibly into the air like steam from a teakettle. And the sensation was not limited to the surface of my body. Inside, I felt as if I was being torn apart and put back together. I suppose that was what was really happening to me once I thought of it. Parts of me were pushed and pulled by invisible forces as my body continued to be reshaped in the image Dannie had chosen. I looked up with pleading eyes at Dannie, unable to speak other than to utter a high-pitched moan. I got no sympathy from her though. "Now it's not that bad, is it?" she

laughed merrily. Not that bad? A sharp pain in my groin told me I was no longer a man. Whatever Dannie was, she had robbed me of my very sex. I could feel tears in my eyes - tears of pain, frustration and loss. If I could have moved I think I would have strangled her, regardless of how that rash move might have left my poor body, but I couldn't move except to grimace and double over as my body was torn asunder. "Well, maybe it hurts a little," she allowed, "but only for the first time - or so I'm told." The first time? What was she talking about? Did she mean she would change me back? I could only bear the pain and hope. I gritted my teeth in anticipation of still more pain. As I braced myself, though, the pain seemed to ebb. The worst of it seemed to be over. Rather than sharp pains, I felt only aches and then twinges. I could feel my body settling back into a solid shape. But I could feel other things as well -alien things that would redefine the person I now was. Unnoticed in the painful transformation, my clothing had now changed as well, so I was treated to new sensations from both my body and the clothes that covered it. The two often went hand in hand. To start with, I now had breasts. Oh they weren't terribly large. If I was to be Dannie's best friend, that meant I was probably her age. As a fifteen year old, my breasts must still be developing, but they felt heavy and unnatural to me, encased as they were in something soft but supportive. And I could feel straps pushing against my shoulders as my bra sought to distribute weight away from my chest. If these relatively small breasts could pull so noticeably against my chest, what must the really large breasts some women had be like? I hoped I never had the opportunity to find out. Over those new breasts was a yellow sleeveless tee with what I would later learn called a scooped neckline. There was even a little silver heartshaped locket resting against my fair, freckled skin. My pants were very tight - or at least what there was of them. I had been wearing khaki Dockers for my date with Tanya, but now my sizeable butt was wrapped in denim, short and tight. I was wearing the kind of shorts I always liked to see Tanya wear - the kind that are ragged along the hem line and so short that the legs are exposed all the way up the thigh. Below them were long, smooth legs I had unconsciously tucked up into the chair with me, ending in tiny feet with little pink toenails peeking through the end of my white leather sandals. The second toe of each foot even had a delicate little silver toe ring on it and there was a silver chain bracelet on my well-turned right ankle. I couldn't see myself - my face, I mean. There wasn't a mirror close by, but I could tell what I had become just from the sensations, which assaulted me unmercifully. Long hair tickled the top of my arms and the nape of my neck.

And while the hair rested on the top of my ears, I felt tiny but perceptive weight at the bottom of them, making me aware that I was wearing earrings. I imagined I was cute, though. After all, Dannie wanted me as her best friend. She was cute and probably wanted a cute friend to associate with. "Dannie..." I began, then stopped. My voice was higher not as high as I would have expected, but I've read that your own voice always sounds deeper to you than it does to others. I no doubt had a sweet, high and very feminine voice. "Oh, you just have to see!" she laughed, grabbing me by a slender arm and pulling me to my feet. Hair, breasts, hips, and slender muscles moved with alien sensations, and I found to my horror that she was at least as strong as I was now. A closet door opened by itself, and on the inside of it, I could see in the full-length mirror two girls, both the same and very different. Dannie and I were dressed very much alike, but her tee was white and the denim garment at her hips was a very short skirt. But while Dannie's hair was golden and pulled into a ponytail, mine was a rich brown, naturally curled and ending at my shoulder blades. Her skin was California tanned while mine was a little pinker, accented by small, light freckles. We both had blue eyes, but hers were vibrant and dancing in undisguised delight while mine stared in horror at the sweet young thing I had become. "You are really cute!" she announced with just a touch of a giggle. "Dannie," I finally managed, "I don't want this. I don't want to be a girl. Please... change me back." Now she frowned. "Change you back? But that wouldn't be any fun. Then we couldn't go to school together." School. Oh God, I hadn't even thought about that. I was about her age. I'd be expected to go to high school again unless I could convince someone that I was really a twentyone year old man. And there seemed little likelihood that I would ever be able to convince anyone of my true identity. "No one will ever believe you were a guy," she whispered, apparently reading my thoughts. "You... you can tell what I'm thinking?" "No," she admitted. "Not really. I can sense moods, though. I know you're frightened and angry, but that will pass. It does for everyone - especially when they figure out there's no way back." "But Dannie, I don't want to be a girl!" She shrugged. "You'll get used to it. Besides, I want you

to be a girl, and that's that. You're my best friend - or you will be when you start thinking right." "And what happens if I don't 'start thinking right'?" I asked angrily. It was the wrong thing to say. It happened so suddenly I couldn't even recognize the moment of transition. One minute I was sitting there in Dannie's room, defiantly demanding that she turn me back and the next minute I was on my back, naked, in a strange, dimly-lit room that smelled of stale smoke and cheap perfume. "Maria, you look very fine." The voice was deep and masculine and spoke in Spanish, a language I shouldn't have understood, but I did. As my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, I saw a man - middle aged, paunchy, a mostly-gray moustache drooping in the center of a pockmarked, Latin face. He was slowly removing his trousers, and I could see a large protrusion in the front of his shorts. I was still female, I realized in fright, but I wasn't the teenage girl I had been in Dannie's room. Instead, my skin was dark, my breasts large and mature, tipped with dark brown nipples that rose up in expectation. My legs were already spread across the coarse bed sheet, and no amount of effort on my part could put them back together. I watched in horror, unable to move as the man removed his shorts. My God, there was no way that thing could fit inside me, but that was where he was going to put it as he slid onto the bed next to me. I tried to speak - to tell him who I really was - but the sounds that came from my throat were not sounds of warning. Instead, they were soft moans of expectation. There was to be no foreplay, I realized as he settled himself between my legs. Involuntarily, my hand reached up to grab his penis and pulled it closer and closer to... I was back in Dannie's room, standing once more in front of the mirror. I was the fifteen year old girl she had transformed me into once more. I gasped in relief as she rewarded me with an amused smile. "It was an illusion!" I blurted out. "Was it?" "You know it was; you caused it." Her eyes narrowed. "Of course I caused it, but the only reason it was an illusion is that I wanted you back here to be my friend. If I had chosen, you'd be little Maria, the Mexican whore. You wouldn't be the first person I had left in a brothel. Now, what's it going to be, Darla, because that's your name now? Are you going to cooperate and be my friend or shall I send you back to your customer?" I wanted to defy her. I wanted to tell her she could go to Hell before I'd be her friend, but the one who would be

going to Hell would be me. She could do it; she could really send me back to that brothel. I had no doubt that she could. But if I went along with her plans - at least for a little while - maybe I could convince her to change me back. Besides, how was she going to explain my disappearance? I had no ID or anything, did I? "All right," I said quietly, refusing to look her in the eye. "I'll do what you say." "Then tell me you'll be a good little girl." "I said I would, didn't I?" "Say it, Darla," she pressed, the menace in her voice obvious. "Say it just like that." "I... I'll be a good little girl." The smile returned. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it? Oh Darla, you and I are going to be very good friends." There was something else in her eyes, but I wasn't sure what it was. "You'd better go home now. I'm very tired and tomorrow we both have to go to school." "But I can't go home like this!" I protested. "Sure you can," she told me. "As far as your parents are concerned, you're Darla Sue Post, their fifteen year old daughter." "You mean no one knows who I am - was? You can change reality itself?" I didn't know whether to be pleased or saddened by that. It was sad to think that everything I was would be forgotten, but I certainly didn't want everyone laughing at pointing at the man who was changed into a teenybopper. It was better to be seen as a normal fifteen year old girl than to be thought of as some sort of sorceress's victim. "Not exactly," she said vaguely. "Now go on; I've got to get some sleep." Cautiously, I backed out of her room as she lay down on the bed fully clothed. That was the look I saw in her eyes fatigue. Had transforming me and playing with my mind and moving me either physically or mentally to the brothel weakened her somehow? It was worth remembering. It was a weakness I might be able to exploit. Sarah Winters was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. I expected her to smile and say, "Good night, Darla," but she didn't. There was a resigned sadness to her face as she said softly, "Oh Darren, I tried to warn you." "You... you know who I am?" I asked when I was at the bottom of the stairs. I had thought everyone would remember me as Darla. This could be an unpleasant development. I also noticed to my chagrin that I was a good three inches shorter than Sarah was. For the first time, I realized how

small I had become. I hadn't been a particularly big man only about six feet tall with an average male build - but now I was probably no more than five-four or five-five at the most and as slender as the average fifteen year old girl. "Yes, I know." She nodded at her husband who hurried up the stairs to Dannie's room. After looking in, he called back to us, "She's asleep." "Okay," her mother said with obvious relief. Then to me, she added, "Come into the living room and we can talk." I followed her numbly, trying as I walked to ignore the sway of my widened hips and the subtle movement of breasts inside the cups of my bra. God, how was I ever going to get used to this new anatomy? I had to convince Dannie to change me back, but how? She seemed intent on recruiting me to be her new best friend, and I was powerless to stop her. "Sit down... did Dannie give you a new name?' she asked as she sat demurely on the couch, indicating that I should sit next to her. "My name is Darren," I said through gritted teeth, but I certainly didn't sound like anyone who should be named Darren. Sarah Winters shook her head. "I understand how you feel. Believe me, I really do. But you've seen her power. She gave you a new name, I'm sure, and you have no choice but to use it or things could get a lot worse for you." "Like being stuck in a Mexican whorehouse?" I asked as I sat next to her. "So you've been there," she acknowledged. "No wonder she's tired." "But that was just an illusion, wasn't it?" I asked hopefully. "She didn't really... I mean I wasn't..." She placed a slender hand on my trembling one. "I'm not sure. I've been there, too. Only she kept me there for... well, for several hours. It felt real, and she's certainly capable of changing someone and transporting them to that place. She may have even told you she's left people there before." I nodded with a shiver. "Don't worry; she hasn't - yet. That's what you have to remember. Even if it wasn't real, it could be if she wants it to be. But at first, she just uses that... awful place to frighten her victims." "What is she?" I demanded. In spite of all that had happened to me, I still found it hard to think of her as a wielder of magic - a witch/bride of the devil or some such supernatural nonsense.

"I'll explain what I can... I still don't know your new name." "Darla," I sighed in resignation. She gave me a sad smile. "Darla. That's a pretty name." I could feel my face flush a little at her comment. "I don't feel like a Darla." She ignored that. "Darla, have you ever heard of Black Projects?" "Sure," I replied. An avid reader of Cussler and Clancy novels, I knew these were projects undertaken by the government that wasn't announced to the public or in many cases even known about by high-ranking government officials or the military. I had thought they were just the stuff of fiction. "Well that's what we're dealing with here." "The government is behind all of this?" I gasped. "In a way," she admitted. "This will take some time to explain..." I listened with rapt attention sitting next to her on the couch as Sarah Winters told me about Dr. Daniel Malone, a genetic scientist light years ahead of others in the field. Apparently many genetic "discoveries" which were just now being announced had been known by Dr. Malone and his team for several years. As she described the young genius, though, I could tell from the tone of her voice that she respected his abilities but didn't like him. Apparently not all mad scientists had a fringe of white hair and exhibited a maniacal laugh. "Dr. Malone had a theory," she explained, "that things like ESP, telekinesis, and even witchcraft were all the products of abnormalities in human DNA." "Oh now wait a minute," I interrupted. "Witchcraft? What are you talking about here? I thought we were talking about Black Projects." "We are talking about Black Projects," she confirmed. "Did you know that back when the Soviet Union was around, they had a number of facilities established to investigate the paranormal? Just think about it, Darla, what if you could find a way to read people's minds or change their behavior or use a thought to turn off a device like a radar or defensive missile system at a critical moment? You could change history without the messiness of armed conflicts." "But that's pure fantasy," I argued. "So were travel to the Moon and transplant surgery not too many years ago," she countered.

"That's different. Things like witchcraft are just ignorant superstitions." She shook her head. "No, it isn't. Indians used to put molds on wounds. The Europeans thought that was just superstitious nonsense until they found out that things like penicillin came from molds. Oh, I don't mean that witchcraft is the work of the devil. It isn't. It's just another genetically based talent like being good in sports or longevity. It just happens to be a lot more rare and not as well understood." "So this Dr. Malone sought out a genetically rare specimen - namely Dannie - who happened to be a witch," I surmised sarcastically. "You still don't get it. He didn't seek her out; he created her." "What?" She explained that Dr. Malone and his team had cracked the human genome nearly two decades earlier, using advanced techniques, which were only now being made available to researchers outside secret laboratories. By collecting and modifying DNA samples of individuals known to have or suspected of having the genetic traits which led to extreme paranormal powers, they had created a test tube baby who would grow to be Dannie - named apparently for Dr. Malone who had actually contributed the required sperm. Apparently the male donor wasn't as important as the female donor, the traits which led to paranormal powers being carried exclusively by the female. "You mean to tell me the government created Dannie on purpose - as an experiment? They created someone with powers to change people and transport them anywhere?" Sarah Winters nodded sadly. "Yes, but we didn't know how powerful she would become." "It seems a little irresponsible to create a hazard as great as a teenage girl who can change reality. What were you thinking?" It was an accusatory question, for I now realized that Dannie's own mother was part of the project. "Wake up, Darla!" she snapped defensively. "Do you think this is the first time a secret project has been set up without fully understanding the consequences? Did you know that when the atomic bomb was first tested, some scientists on the team were afraid it might ignite the atmosphere and wipe out all life? Yet they built it anyway. And what about the biological weapons several nations have created? If some of them got loose, there's no telling if anyone could survive." I had no answer for her. What she said didn't excuse what had been done with Dannie, but Sarah was right; it was just one more incident in a long line of dangerous incidents.

Other experiments although probably not similar but equally dangerous - if not more so - were going on all over the world as we spoke. "Everything went fine for the first few years," she explained when she realized I was ready to listen again. "Dannie showed great promise as a child with any number of extrasensory powers. But her powers were manageable things like moving objects and seeing things out of the line of sight. She could just do things like that better than natural-born gifted individuals. "And then came puberty. With it came powers we never dreamed she had. Literally overnight, she developed powers infinitely stronger than she had exhibited before. She developed the power to not just move things but to reshape matter as well. Tables became chairs and doors became windows - that sort of thing. After we had seen what she could do with inanimate objects, Dr. Malone decided to try her with animals. Housecats became lions, and mice became birds - although they couldn't fly. " "And then came people," I added angrily. "No," she replied, shaking her head. "We never experimented on people. Frankly, we didn't want to give her the idea. Dr. Malone considered it far too dangerous. Dannie was becoming a loose cannon. That was my department anyway. I was the primary psychologist on the team. I tried to warn him that she was becoming more willful. We tried to keep her under control, allowing her to be exposed to what you might call wholesome entertainment. But I knew it was only a matter of time until she learned she could change people as well whether we encouraged her or not. "It happened by accident about six months ago. One of the guards on the project - a young fellow only eighteen or so - made a pass at her. Well, more than a pass really. He cornered her alone and began to get grabby. He was new to the project and I don't think he really believed Dannie could do things like changing matter. I don't think he would have really done anything too out of line with her anyway, but remember she was raised in a controlled environment. She panicked, and then all hell broke loose." I was becoming intrigued with the story in spite of myself. It wasn't hard to imagine what had happened. Sarah confirmed it. Afraid and confused, Dannie had changed the guard. One minute he was looming over her, a big strapping boy, and the next minute he was a little girl - no more than three or so crying in fear as well as rage. "We got Dannie calmed down," she told me. "It wasn't easy but we managed. She was very tired and frightened. But the damage was already done. Higher-ups decided she was dangerous. Security was heightened immediately." I knew what was coming next, though. They might have increased security around Dannie, but the powers she had exhibited to me wouldn't be the sort of powers that could

be suppressed with more guards and bigger locks. What had they planned to do - drug her? Keep her docile until they could figure out a way to control her? Probably. After all, to them, she was nothing but a sophisticated lab rat. I found myself actually becoming a little sympathetic to Dannie's plight. "But she escaped," I prompted at last. "Yes, she did," Sarah agreed. "She created a diversion, setting the lab complex on fire. I don't know how serious the fire was, but flames seemed to be coming from every building. I think it may have burned to the ground." "And you and your husband went with her." "Only because we were forced to do so. In case you haven't figured it out by now, we aren't her parents. Well, genetically I suppose we are now since she changed us to match her genetic code somewhat, but I never gave birth to her and Bill didn't father her. She created us to be her parents. Darla, all she wants is to be a normal teenage girl like she's seen in the TV shows we let her watch, and she's determined to mold the world around her to support that dream. Bill isn't really my husband. He was one of the other scientists on the project. But Dannie liked him so he got to be her father." "And since you were a woman, you got to be her mother," I surmised. "Except I wasn't a woman - not then at least. She changed me into one to be her mother." I thought about what I had seen through their open window the two of them making passionate love together. Yet Sarah Winters wasn't really a woman. No, that wasn't right. She was a woman although she hadn't been born as one. Dannie must have forced them to act as she wanted her parents to be, and that included having sex as a normal married couple. Did that fate await me? Would she decide that now that I was a girl, I needed a boyfriend - no more than a boyfriend - a lover? "She has to change me back," I murmured. "I don't want to be a girl." Sarah put her arm around me. "Oh Darla, I wish she could, but even if she wanted to, she can't." I felt as if my world had just collapsed around me. "What do you mean she can't?" I asked slowly, hoping that perhaps I had just misunderstood. "There are some strange limits to her powers. I can't exactly explain them because we were still studying them when she decided to escape. But I have a theory. Do you remember when I told you how she changed mice into birds but they couldn't fly?"

I nodded. "Well, we think it's because she knows what a bird looks like but has no real understanding of how they fly. Among birds, that's instinctive behavior which Dannie couldn't give them." I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. It felt as if I had an extra cushion under me but I realized it was just my feminine ass. "So what do birds have to do with her not being able to change me back into a man? Being a man has nothing to do with instinctive behavior." "True," she agreed, "but being male is somehow beyond her understanding - just like how birds fly." My eyes narrowed. "You're lying! If she could turn a housecat into a lion, why can't she turn me back into a man?" Sarah shook her head. "I don't know for sure. Maybe that's because a housecat and a lion are related. And maybe with the mice she could change their appearance but not their function. Remember, it's easier to change a male into a female in theory. We already have one of the X chromosomes. All you'd have to do in theory is eliminate the Y chromosome and duplicate the X. But to do it the other way around, you'd have to postulate a Y chromosome that didn't exist." "But it exists in other people," I pointed out. "Besides, you can't be sure she can't change us back into men." "Yes I can," she replied confidently. "She tried with Melissa Shaw." "What?" She put her hand to her forehead. "Oh, of course, how stupid of me. You wouldn't know. Craig and Melissa Shaw were guards on the project. They came here with us." "Oh now wait a minute!" I stopped her, standing up suddenly. "Craig and Melissa Shaw have lived here for three years - ever since they built their house. I've known them since the day they moved in." And lusted after Melissa Shaw's spectacular body, I added silently to myself. "Sit down, Darla!" Sarah commanded. "You're being loud enough to wake Dannie no matter how tired she is." When I reluctantly sat again, she continued, "We needed help escaping. She approached a couple of guards who she had come to trust. Craig and Melissa - although she was Paul then - helped us get away. And before you get worked up about that sex change I should point out that Paul was more than willing to undergo it. It seems he always wanted to be a woman as strange as that might sound to you and me. So Dannie kept them close to us - to protect us in our escape and at our new home. Craig and Melissa moved us here..."

I suddenly remembered the two movers the other day and how one of them had an almost feminine face. "So she can change a woman into a man. Melissa was one of the moving men." "Moving woman," she corrected. "That's how I know for certain we can never be male again. She tried to change Melissa back into a man to help us move. The closest she could come was to turn her into a muscle-bound woman who only looked like a man. That much she can do. She could change any of us into something that looked like a man, but where it counted, we'd still be female inside and out." I tried to imagine what that would be like. It meant I could probably look like my old self again, but I'd still be sitting down to pee, and Tanya would expect a whole lot more out of our relationship than a strap-on dildo. "But she could change me into another woman," I suggested hopefully. "I could be older - an adult at least." Sarah nodded. "Yes, she could do that - if she chose to. Frankly, I doubt if you could convince her. Bill and I didn't exactly want to be stuck as her parents either, but here we are. And I suppose if I have to be a woman, there are worse lives than this one. But here's something to think about, Darla. When I got changed into a woman, I had to figure out most of this girl stuff myself. When I'd ask Dannie, she'd tell me that a woman shouldn't have to ask her own daughter that particular question. At least you'll have your mother to help you learn to be a girl. If you were any older, you'd be expected to know how to be a woman without help from your mother." "Oh God!" I exclaimed. "What are my parents going to think when they see me?" "They won't see anything unusual, remember?" When she recognized my quizzical look, she explained, "Reality reshapes itself to Dannie's whims - or at least memories of reality do. Most people never know there's been a change. The only reason I know is that I'm the product of one of her changes, so I'm not mentally affected by any new changes." "So that's why I remembered the Shaws already being here and you didn't," I reasoned. "Exactly. Now any new changes Dannie makes will be apparent to you as they are to me." I shifted nervously. "What other changes?" She shrugged. "I don't know. But knowing Dannie, there'll be more changes. You see, we made a serious mistake with Dannie. Back at the lab we never instilled in her the moral compass all of us have to one degree or another. I tried to explain it to Dr. Malone, but he didn't think it was important. Dannie was never a person to him - just an experiment. As a result, Dannie doesn't fully understand the concepts of right and wrong. Bill and I are doing our best to change that, but it takes time - particularly when

you realize something like a Mexican bordello could be the result of her displeasure." Before I could ask anything else, the phone rang. Sarah picked up a cordless unit from beside her chair and spoke softly into it, looking up at me suddenly. She handed the unit to me. "It's your mother, Darla." I remembered what she had said about my parents believing that I had always been a girl. Still, I couldn't stop the nervous quaver in my voice as I said, "Hello?" "Darla, I told you to be home by nine!" my mother said primly. "You know you have school tomorrow." "But - " "No buts, young lady. You get home right now!" I heard the click as she hung up. "She... she talked to me like I was..." "A child?" Sarah offered. "A girl child?" I nodded. Exactly. I think the last time my mother had talked to be like that was when I was fourteen. She talked to me as if I were a child again. Well, wasn't I? I mean in her mind, I was a fifteen year old girl - scarcely more than a child in her eyes. The freedom and independence I had enjoyed as a young man were gone. I was an underage girl, subject to dozens of rules I'd be expected to know. Since I was a girl instead of a boy, I suspected some of those rules would be even stricter than the ones I remembered. Apparently being home at nine on a school night was one of them. How could I possibly cope with all the others - especially when I didn't even know what they were? "I guess I'd better go," I announced, jumping up nervously. Sarah got up with me and gave me a warm hug. It felt so strange to have my small breasts pressed against her larger ones, and to realize that I had to look up slightly to meet her eyes. "Don't worry, Darla. It won't be so bad and I'll always be here to help you." I managed to give her a faint smile before I left. It was nice that she would be there for me, but it didn't change the fact that my very life had been taken from me apparently forever. For the first time since being transformed, I was alone. It was only a short walk across the lawn and our driveway, but I felt more alone than I had ever felt before in my life. I looked up at the stars, imagining that the tiny points of light in the sky were laughing at me. I was not who I was supposed to be and each distant sun knew it. It was as if my own universe had rejected me, throwing me into this strange cosmos where nothing was as it should be. In my universe, men couldn't be changed into young girls. I shivered, and not just from the cool air on my unusually

exposed skin. "You're grounded, young lady!" Those were the first words out of my mother's mouth as I timidly closed the door behind me. "But Mom," I protested, disturbed to hear my voice take on a childish whine, "it's only nine thirty. I was talking with Sa... Mrs. Winters." "Don't try to blame her," my mother said primly, her arms folded as she confronted me there in the front hall. "She didn't know what time you were supposed to be home; you did." "Yes, Mom," I murmured in defeat. I really couldn't think of anything else to say. It had been too many years since I had had one of these arguments with my mother for me to remember the best way to handle them. In full retreat, I started up the stairs. I could feel the sting of frustrated tears in my eyes. Damn! I never used to cry when Mom got upset with me. "So you'll remember next time," she added more calm now that she knew she had won, "your curfew this weekend will be ten o'clock instead of eleven." I almost stopped on the stairs. Curfew? Ten? When I had been a fifteen year old boy, I had been allowed out until midnight. Being a girl really bit the big one. How could I stand being treated like a child after enjoying adult status for the last three years? Still angry, I opened the door to my room and was greeted by a room so feminine I wanted to throw up. It seemed as if everything in the room was either pastel or trimmed in lace or both. Oh, the basic layout was still there, but my bed was now a four-poster. My desk hadn't changed, but the items on it had. Instead of the latest sports and car magazines, titles like Young Miss and what looked to be a teen version of Cosmo were in evidence. Instead of my masculine mementos, there were little feminine items, including a tube of lipstick and a pencil with a plastic red heart where the eraser should have been. Even my computer sported little glittery feminine stickers on the side - flowers, hearts, and most disturbing - a sticker of some grinning boy who I assumed was probably the current heartthrob of young teen girls all over the country. "I can't do this," I said in a whisper, the tears I had fought back starting again. I almost expected Dannie's ethereal voice to say, "Sure you can," but there was nothing but silence. "Are you getting ready for bed?" Mom called out from below. I probably had a ten o'clock bedtime, I realized, coming out of the stupor I had fallen into upon seeing my room. Mom and Dad had always set stock in a good night's sleep.

"Yes, Mom!" I called back, uncertain of what girls did to get ready for bed. Should I sleep in my underwear? I didn't think so. Like many guys, I had usually slept in boxer shorts and nothing else. I supposed that was out now. With grim amusement, I wondered what my parents would say if they saw me sleeping in boxers, my new breasts exposed. So what was I to wear - a nightie? Of course many girls wore them, but I had no desire to run around in something flowing and lacy like a nightie. I'd rather try sleeping in my clothes. And what was I to do with my hair? I suspected most girls did something with their hair so they weren't always waking up with it in their faces. I knew enough to know that sleeping with my long hair loose would probably result in awakening with an unmanageable mess in the morning. Should I tie it back? How did I do that? Damn Dannie, she could have at least given me the knowledge I needed to be a girl. "Darla, I - " I had been so deep in thought that I never heard Mom come upstairs. "Why, you haven't even started getting ready for bed!" she exclaimed. "You don't seem like yourself tonight." Well, that was an understatement! "Do you feel all right?" Any angry edge in her voice that had been there before had evaporated. She had asked the question with real love and concern. I had changed, but my mother hadn't. She was still the warm, caring person I had known growing up as a boy. That was something of a relief. Her anger for me was nothing more than concern for my welfare, I realized reluctantly. And did I feel all right? Strangely enough, I did. Oh, I had no desire to be a girl, but the slim and reasonably fit body Dannie had created for me actually felt good in a perverse sort of way. I had never realized before how male body hair itched or how even the most comfortable of pants could tug uncomfortably at my crotch. I felt somehow lighter and cleaner, and I did feel all right - for a girl. "I'm fine, Mom," I replied at last. Then, an inspiration hit me. "Mom, I'm sorry I stayed out late. Now I'm awfully tired. Could you help me get ready for bed?" I might have never been a girl before, but I remembered how my mother used to talk wistfully of helping me get ready for bed when I was a little boy. I suspected girls let their mothers help them far longer than boys did, and I was right. "Oh Darla, you haven't asked me to help you get ready for bed in a long time," she said with a motherly grin. "Go wash your face, get your pajamas on and get your hairbrush. I'll do your hair for you." "Bingo! But...

"Uh... Mom, would you get me some pajamas while I wash my face?" After all, I had no idea where they might be. "Of course, honey." I did the best job I could washing my face. To my alarm, I realized I was wearing makeup. Oh, it wasn't very heavy but it was hard to wash off with soap and water. Still, I managed. I was actually a little relieved to see that my face was cute enough that I wouldn't require much makeup. I had taken a terrible chance when I had asked Mom to pick out some pajamas. I held my breath, half expecting her to pick the frilliest, most feminine pajamas I had ever seen outside of a Victoria's Secret catalogue, but I was wrong. She pulled out a pair that made me sigh in relief. Oh, they were feminine; there was no denying that. But while they were soft and silky, they were not at all frilly, and their pastel blue color wasn't unpalatable, even with the little pink flowers embroidered along the neckline. I grabbed them with a proper smile and hustled into the bathroom. I was tempted to take the time to look over my new body as I dressed for bed. Call it perverse curiosity, but it wasn't every day that I found my sex changed. As disturbed as I was by the whole incident, I couldn't help but be just a little bit curious. And besides, if I was to be stuck with this body for the rest of my life, I wanted to see what it was like. There would be no time for exploring tonight, though, I thought. Mom might get a little disturbed if she barged into the bathroom and found me carefully examining my new breasts or studying the folds of flesh between my legs. There would be time enough for that later - a lifetime in fact, I realized grimly. So I hastily dressed, trying not to notice my pert, smallish breasts (or at least small compared to Tanya's, I recognized), and the very feminine swell of my hips. Long hair was going to be a pain, I realized again, as I wrestled with it while disrobing and after putting on the tops of my pajamas. I have to admit, though, the pajamas felt good. As a man, I had taken to sleeping in boxers partially because the sheets felt better against my skin than pajamas. The silky feel of these pajamas against my smooth skin was very satisfying - almost sensual, and as the smooth fabric slid along my new expanded nipples, I began to realize why women insisted upon smoother fabrics than those worn by men. "Darla, are you ever coming out of there?" Mom's voice brought me out of a reverie I seemed to be falling into in spite of my awareness that I had to ignore the changes as much as possible. "Coming, Mother!" I called back, hoping I at least sounded normal. Mom carefully brushed my long brown hair as I watched in the mirror of the dressing table I now had. My gaze shifted back and forth, watching her motions one minute so that I

could duplicate them when required and watching my new face the next. I was cute; there would be no denying that. If I were still male and saw the female me, I'd be interested. In all honesty, I wasn't as cute as Dannie. I suspected that was on purpose. After all, if I was to be her best friend, it wouldn't do for me to attract the interest of every boy around. She would want to have first choice, leaving me with the nice looking but less than perfect sidekick like the plots on the TV shows designed for teens. Come to think of it, the TV version of teen life was really all Dannie knew. Brought up in a lab surrounded by scientists, her view of life as a teenage girl had to be warped by television and magazines, I realized. What would that mean when we both started school? I wondered. With her powers, she would be able to warp reality to meet her expectations. But each time she did it might draw her closer to discovery from the people who had to be looking for her. After all, they would be looking for some evidence of Dannie's powers in order to recapture her and since they had been exposed to her powers in the lab, they would be aware of the changes she wrought. Sarah had mentioned that Dannie's powers had grown immensely after puberty. Would they continue to grow? If they did, she might reach a point at which she could turn me back into a male. It was a long shot but I supposed it was possible. That would mean that it would be in my best interests to protect her. To do that, I'd have to play along and be her best friend for real. Of course, I probably didn't have much choice, did I? But it was probably best to play along. "There!" Mom said, admiring her work. I had watched carefully as she had pinned my hair up for bed. I was pretty sure I could do it myself now. At least that was one less thing I'd have to learn. So after a warm and very comforting goodnight hug from Mom, I settled down to bed on my first night as a girl. But I didn't get much sleep - not at first anyhow. For starters, Dannie's parents were at it again. At least they had turned off the lights, but the sounds of lovemaking carried on the gentle spring breeze. I remembered how hard I had become watching and listening to them the night before. Now, I had nothing to get hard. I had to wonder, too, about Sarah Winters. How much of what she was doing with Bill was forced upon her by Dannie and how much was natural instinct? Dannie sought to create a perfect little world for herself with loving parents which in part she interpreted as parents who made love. But how much of it was caused by Sarah's new nature? Did Sarah see men as sex objects now? Did she gaze longingly at Bill's penis, imagining it inside her or her lips wrapped around it? Did the hormones of her female body compel her to want... to need a man? I got part of my answer as I lay there thinking about it. There was a twinge between my legs. No, it wasn't a feeling

as strong or demanding as my male physiology would have produced, but its message was obvious nonetheless. To make it worse, it wasn't confined to the region between my legs. There were complimentary sensations emanating from my nipples as well. While the sensation below had its equivalent in my experience, the one coming from my breasts was new and unexpected... and to be frank, pleasant. But what were these sensations telling me? Were they nothing more than mental echoes, reactions from my body saddened by its inability to respond properly to Sarah's attractive body? Or were they sensations alerting me to my new physical existence, announcing that while Sarah was an attractive woman, Bill was no less an attractive man, and what he was doing to Sarah even now could be done to me as well. And if he were to do so, my body would welcome it. As if in response to this alarming thought, I felt a moist warmth from inside my body, focused on my new vagina. I wrapped my pillow over my ears so I could no longer hear the grunts and sighs from our neighbor's house. I might have the body of a girl, but my mind was my own - and it remained male. Didn't it? The why couldn't I get the strange image out of my mind of what it might be like to lie back on the bed, my legs spread as... as... I sat bolt upright in bed, terrified by the fact that unconsciously, my legs were exactly in the position I had imagined under the sheets. As I dropped back with exhaustion onto the bed, I could have sworn I heard the soft sounds on Dannie's laughter on the night breeze. They say things are always brighter in the morning. As my eyes came open, I knew that was not really true. There was no moment of "my God, I'm a girl. I thought it was all a dream!" Instead, I woke slowly as I usually did as a male. That meant I could feel it all even before I opened my eyes... breasts... hair... smooth skin... sensitive nipples... the void between my legs... I nearly jumped as something on the nightstand chirped at me. It was a tiny cell phone with a pink faceplate on it completely unlike the larger black one I had left in my car the night before. Of course I didn't have a car to leave a phone in now, I realized - I was too young to drive. The phone chirped again. "Hello?" I managed, barely able to speak above a whisper. "Oh, get up, sleepyhead!" Dannie giggled. "I don't want to," I mumbled. That's it. I would stay in bed all day. I'd pretend to be sick. Then no one would see me in this scrawny little girl's body, and... "Fuck!"

I shot out of bed as an electrical current administered a mild shock through my body. I watched in horror as I looked back at the bed and saw tendrils of bluish energy snapping over the surface of the sheets. Dannie was laughing. "I'll bet that got you moving." "Damn you, Dannie!" I shouted. Hell, let her turn me into a frog. I was seriously pissed and wanted her to know it. "I'll make it up to you," she offered coyly. "How?" I challenged her hopefully. "By changing me back?" After all, maybe Sarah was wrong. Maybe there was a way. "Not even if I could," she replied matter-of-factly, dashing my hopes once more. "But after your shower, I will come over and help you get ready for school." "Coming over to dress your new dolly?" I asked dryly. "Oh Darla, you're so funny!" she laughed. "Now hurry up and I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Before I could reply, she hung up. Fifteen minutes, huh? That didn't leave me a lot of time. I pulled the least feminine pair of panties I could find out of the drawer and padded off for the bathroom. Sitting on the can wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. After all, guys sit sometimes, too. But it felt funny for it to come from somewhere inside me, and I realized when I was done exactly why women wipe themselves. I was going to miss being able to take a piss behind the first available bush. But then again, I was going to miss a lot of other things more important than that. The image of Tanya came into my mind with that thought. I was pretty sure my former girlfriend wasn't going to be interested in a lesbian relationship with a fifteen year old girl. Of course, that wasn't even an issue. As far as Tanya was concerned, Darren Post had never existed. The shower was disquieting to say the least. As I washed each part of my new anatomy, I thought wistfully how I used to touch those parts on Tanya and how she responded as I massaged her nipples and stroked the smooth skin between her thighs. Now such things were mine, and the memory of foreplay was causing my new body to tingle in anticipation. Damn! What was it about a female body that made it so sensitive? And I was only fifteen now. What would it be like when I was eighteen? I didn't even want to think about that. I rinsed as quickly as I could and tried to touch as little as possible. Getting out of the shower, I realized I had made one small mistake. Out of habit, I had grabbed a pair of underpants (or panties, I suppose) but thinking like a guy, I hadn't worried about anything above the waist. My breasts were glistening with the water, and my nipples had expanded some

in the cool air. Oh what the hell, though. No one would see me. I'd just walk back to my room and get a dreaded bra. "Nice tits!" I had just gotten back in my room and was so intent on locating a bra that I hadn't seen Dannie sitting on the bed. She was dressed in a cream-colored peasant blouse that fit sexily over her breasts and a pair of jeans. She wore sandals with a little heel and looked like your typical fifteen year old girl. I imagined I'd be similarly dressed - or worse - in a few minutes. I tried to cover my breasts in a most un-masculine gesture. 'Dannie? Who let you in?" "Your mom, of course. Hasn't anyone told you that you should wear a bra?" "As a matter of fact, no," I replied. "Well, let's get to work," Dannie sighed dramatically. "Obviously, you have a lot to learn." She spent the next half hour getting me ready for school. She selected everything for me, and after a couple of weak protests from me, she decided another electric shock was called for to keep me in line. After that, I just stood back and let things happen. She dressed me from the skin out - including discarding the unfeminine panties I had chosen, forcing me to put on a pair that was much lower in cut. I was to learn why shortly. Soon, I was wearing a white ribbed tank top that made me feel as if I was not wearing anything at all. Then came jeans. I was thankful she had chosen them instead of a skirt, but my relief was short-lived. The jeans were low riders, resting snug against my new wider hips while creating a definite gap that exposed my flat stomach. I thought I looked like a brunette parody of Britney Spears and I told her so. "Nonsense," she insisted. "You look great. Or at least you will when I get finished with you." "Finished with me!" I screeched looking in the mirror. "You mean this isn't enough?" "Of course not! We've got to do something with your hair. Then there's makeup and jewelry..." I had no choice but to cooperate with her. What else could I do? With her powers, I could either become her version of a "best friend" or I could incur her wrath. Given her powers, that didn't seem like a good idea. So I let her play with my hair and apply my makeup with a minimum amount of protest. But I found that even my passivity wasn't going to be enough to please her.

"Pay attention!" she demanded with just a little irritation as she applied lipstick to my lips. "You're going to have to do this yourself, you know. I'm not always going to be around to help you." "I don't see why I need all this stuff anyway," I protested, experimentally licking at the lipstick and wincing at the sweet taste. "Because you're a girl and girls need to look their best," she replied primly as she selected a dainty gold necklace and a couple of gold bracelets for me. I let her slip them on me without another word. I even kept my mouth shut as she put dangly little earrings in my pierced ears, but I did gasp a little when she attached a matching piece to my navel. Oh my God, I had a pierced belly button! Could things get any worse? After a quick breakfast of juice and cereal, we struck out for school. It was a short walk - only four blocks - and I had made that walk hundreds of times, but never like this, I thought. I felt as I walked as if I was parading down the runway at a strip joint. Cars loaded with high school boys (and a few males disturbingly older than that) slowed down to watch us swing and sway our way to school. Yes, I was wearing sandals with a little heel on them just like Dannie was. I felt as if my hips were going to swing completely out of control as I walked in them. "Ooh... he's cute!" Dannie squealed as a particularly impressed boy not much older than we were leaned half way out of the passenger side of a car to wish us a good morning. It was almost enough to make me wish Dannie had turned me into a plain, unnoticed girl instead of the obvious hottie she had transformed me into. Almost. I have to be honest about it. Even at that early moment in my new life, I had to admit there was a certain satisfaction in being attractive. Maybe it's because girls just aren't as aggressive, but I certainly couldn't recall walking to school as a boy a few years earlier and having cars filled with girls slow down to look at my butt. Not that I was exactly the world's greatest hunk, but I had never found myself wanting in the looks department and had been one of the reasonably popular guys in my class. I began to suddenly realize that my thoughts at that moment were probably not too dissimilar from the thoughts of any attractive teenage girl. In my experience, nearly all vacillated between disgust at the ogling they took from boys and the concern that they felt if the ogling stopped. It actually made me feel... I suppose proud is the word, to be admired. But look, boys; don't touch. I wasn't ready for that and doubted if I ever would be. "Hi, Darla!" a girl yelled out when we were less than a block from the school. She was very attractive with a healthy California tan and long dark hair. She was dressed

much as Dannie and I were, but her makeup was a little less subtle, I noted, and her heeled sandals just a little higher. And she looked a lot like her sister - my former girlfriend. "Hi, Gloria," I responded, a little relieved that the first girl to approach us was someone I actually knew since Dannie had not managed (or been able) to give me the knowledge of classmates Darla would be expected to have. Gloria was Tanya's sister, though, and I knew her well. Like her sister, she was sweet, sexy and smart. I actually felt a little relief that apparently Darla ran with a good crowd, for there was no doubt from the warm smile Gloria gave me that we were good friends - at least as far as she remembered. "You look great this morning!" she said, giving me a sisterly hug. "So do you!" I replied, knowing at least that much of the mantra from observing other girls. I hugged her back. Strangely, I felt warm satisfaction from the hug. Oh, it was nothing sexual; it was just a feeling of belonging - or something like that. Whatever the feeling was, it felt good. "And this is your new neighbor?" Gloria asked, obviously sizing Dannie up to see if she had the potential to be one of us - whoever "us" was. "Hi, Dannie Winters," she said, almost shyly to my surprise. Then it dawned on me. Dannie had shaped me to be her friend, but I wasn't a real girl - at least not in my head. But Gloria stood before us as everything Dannie really wanted to be. It was as if Pinocchio newly transformed to flesh might react when suddenly confronted with real boys. He would wonder if he could measure up to them. Here was a girl who could have transformed Gloria into just about anything, and yet she was looking at Gloria as if my former girl's sister held her very life in her hands. "Gloria Daly," she answered with a friendly grin. Dannie looked relieved; she had been accepted. Gloria was a godsend for me, because as we got closer to school, she handled the introductions to each of the new girls who joined our little pack. Quietly, I learned the names of my new friends so I wouldn't look brain damaged when talking to them. I recognized a number of the names. They were the younger sisters of my own classmates, so it was fairly easy for me to remember them even though I had not seen them for several years since my graduation. Of course when I had last seen many of these girls, I had still been in high school, and they were so young then that they still played with dolls and looked like the children they were. Now, though, at fifteen or so, they showed evidence of significant womanly development. My appreciation of their appearances was muted only by the

realization that I was now one of them. By the time we reached our school, I was feeling a little relieved. I was walking with a pack of girls - protected by my own kind. The butterflies in my stomach were still there, but one or two of them had flown away. I wasn't the freak I had secretly feared I might be. As far as the other girls were concerned, I was indeed one of them, and while I didn't exactly want to be one of them, it was the best I could have hoped for under the circumstances. And then there were the boys... It was one thing to be admired by boys in passing cars, but it was quite another thing to be thrust among them in the halls of high school. Calls of "Hey, Darla babe" and "Hi, sweet stuff" were made by several of the jocks, making me fear I was maybe just a little too popular around the school. One even put an arm around me as Dannie and I walked to our lockers. "So Darla, who's your friend?" he asked. I felt like a dwarf next to the male mountain in a letter jacket who was getting way too friendly. He was one of those big, bulky guys who still managed to look handsome. And yes, I did notice he was handsome, as much as I hated to admit it. "Dannie Winters," my companion said for the umpteenth time that morning. Only this time it was different. Before she had been introducing herself to other girls. This was a boy of the first order, and she was obviously pleased with the attention. "Chas Dahlgren," he announced with a leer, almost expecting her to be dazzled by his name. "New here?" "First day," she replied, just a little shyly. I thought it must have been the first time in her life that a boy had been interested in her. Then I remembered Sarah's tale of the young soldier before Dannie's escape. Still, this was different, and I suddenly realized that Dannie had created an environment for herself that she must have craved for years. I began to realize sympathetically what life must have been like for Dannie. A freak of nature, she had been shut up in a secret facility, denied the life of a normal young girl. I could imagine that at first, she would have accepted it after a fashion. She would have known she was missing something but would have been uncertain as to what it was. But they had to let her develop at least a little. That meant she had been allowed to read books and magazines appropriate for young girls her age. She had even been allowed to watch television and movies - highly censored, of course. She must have realized how other girls lived and wanted to experience such a life for herself. Now, looking in Chas's eyes, she must have thought she had come a long way in achieving that goal.

"So, where you from?" Chas asked. It wasn't the world's most original line, and for Dannie, it was actually a little threatening, given where she had actually come from. "Oh, around," she said as nonchalantly as she could. "Mystery woman, huh?" Chas laughed. Oh, if only he knew. "Uh... we'll be late for class," I told her. Actually, I wanted to break things up. Dannie wasn't ready for a guy like Chas. Of course, come to think about it, Chas probably wasn't ready for a girl like Dannie either. Who was? "See you later?" Chas asked. "Sure," Dannie said so meekly it was hard to imagine she was a girl with more psychic power than most people could ever imagine. "Come to think of it, where are our lockers?" I asked her when we were clear of Chas. "Look in your notebook," she urged. I pulled a slim notebook out of my small backpack, and sure enough, my locker number and class schedule were there. Apparently Dannie had thought of everything. I survived that first day back in high school, but I'm not sure how. It was a genuine gold-plated nightmare in every respect. It would have been bad enough to be thrust back into high school as my male self, but to be back there as a girl was far worse. To begin with, I must have been on every guy's hit list, because I couldn't step in a classroom without half a dozen boys trying to talk to me. Of course, part of the attraction was Dannie. She was both new and cute, and all of them wanted to meet her. Dannie was delighted with the attention. I suppose I couldn't blame her. She had never had the chance to be fawned over by boys before, and with her looks, she was going to get a lot of it. I just wished they would all concentrate on her and ignore me, but it didn't work out that way. Had I been such a dork as most of those guys when I was a high school boy? I suppose I was, I realized glumly. And why not? In the game of love, the girls held most of the cards when you got right down to it. Boys had to play their hands carefully or they'd go bust in a heartbeat. The problem was I didn't want to play the game. I was friendly but cool to their advances. Fortunately, Dannie didn't seem to notice that I was being standoffish. She was having too much fun to notice my problems. I think though that the thing that bothered me most in the area of male attention were the male teachers. Oh, they were subtle enough about it, but I turned quickly enough to see Mr. Kramer, my old physics teacher, giving my swaying

ass an appreciative stare. He turned away as quickly as he could, his face turning red as I watched. His interest was unsettling enough, but by the time the last class of the day ended, I had caught three other male teachers doing the same thing. I hated to think how many stares I had missed. Did the entire male population of my high school think with their dicks? No wonder girls got so annoyed with boys. "Did you see him?" Dannie gushed happily as we walked home from school. "See who?" "Jack Bradshaw," she answered. "Isn't he just the cutest?" I had met so many boys that day - although they didn't know it - that I wasn't sure who she was talking about. Then it dawned on me. "Wait a minute. Was he that guy with the sandy blond hair we - I mean you - met in American History?" She nodded with a giggle. "Wait a minute, Dannie," I cautioned. "If he's who I think he is, you might want to be careful. One of his brothers was in my class." I went on to explain to her that there were four Bradshaw brothers, and every one of them had a bad reputation. The oldest had ended up in jail on a statutory rape charge. Oh, it had been hushed up since his dad had been a big-shot professional baseball player, but everyone knew. The next one who was two years older than me had skipped town, leaving a girl pregnant. Colin Bradshaw, my classmate, had probably been the best of the bunch, and he had a reputation for screwing everything in skirts. "Maybe it's not the same family," Dannie ventured. "The more I think about it, the surer I am," I told her. I didn't mention that one of the reasons I thought he was the youngest of the Bradshaw brothers was the way he kept ogling my breasts as we talked. Something had told me he was bad news, and surely there couldn't be two reprobate Bradshaw families in our town. "Well, that's okay," Dannie sighed. "I'm not that interested in him anyway. Not when there's Chas..." "Chas? Chas Dahlgren?" I practically exploded. "My God, Dannie, he's worse than Jack Bradshaw. I played high school football with his brother, Frank. He used to beat up the Bradshaws for practice." "Well I think he's nice." She said it so firmly that I shut up. There was going to be no convincing her. I suppose it made some sort of perverted sense. Guys like Jack Bradshaw and Chas Dahlgren had girls panting around them. As a guy, I could never understand why. As a girl, I was beginning to have some understanding of the phenomenon, though. Guys like Jack and Chas exuded a

natural self confidence that girls found attractive. I was finding that most girls had even less self confidence than guys. That was why they constantly worried about being attractive and having guys like them. So guys like Jack and Chas became attractive to them, almost as if their self confidence could be made to rub off on their girlfriends. If I hadn't known what shits their older brothers had been, I might have been taken in, too, I suppose. Dannie could see that I wasn't buying into her dream guy, so she quickly changed the subject. "Did you see the way Mike Ralston looked at you?" I shuddered. "No, I didn't notice," I lied. "Sure you didn't," she laughed. "He's a doll!" The frightening thing is that I knew what she meant. I had dated his older sister, Penny, a couple of times in high school, but the Mike Ralston I remembered had been a geeky kid in junior high. He had outgrown his awkward stage, apparently, and was apparently one of the more popular guys in our class. I had actually enjoyed talking to him at school that day. He had treated me like a human being instead of a walking sex toy. And while he hadn't undressed me with his eyes like some of the other guys did, he had looked at me with obvious appreciation. I had found to my discomfort that I didn't really mind him looking at me. And so it went for the next few days. I found myself growing if not comfortable at least accustomed to my new identity. While applying makeup was still a serious challenge, I had been able to do a reasonable job with my hair and had little trouble inserting the studs and earrings in the holes in each of my ears and (sigh) my navel. Also, I was beginning to develop a sense for selecting appropriate clothing to wear. Mostly, that consisted of selecting a matching top to go with whatever jeans I wore that day. Although I had never realized before my transformation that there were so many different styles and cuts of jeans for girls. At least high school was turning out to be easier the second time around. I was surprised and a little pleased to find that I was one of the top students in my class. That was quite a change from my male experience in high school. I suppose I could have been a better student the first time around, but I had too many distractions then it seemed. As Darren, I had been active in athletics while Darla seemed to have little interest in sports. If I was truly stuck as Darla Sue Post - and each passing day looked more as if that was going to be the case - I resolved to keep my nose to the grindstone. I might have to be a woman, but I was going to be a successful woman. Of course there were distractions for girls as well, but not the sort I was interested in. I'm talking about boys, of course. And while I might not be interested in them, they were certainly interested in me. Boys seemed to be determined to do everything possible to get me to notice

them. Some, like Chas and his friends, had the confidence prowess in athletics had given them. They were the worst. They'd get right up in my face and put all the moves on me. I'd often have to squirm fast to avoid their confident caresses. At the other extreme were the boys who were terminally shy. Oh, they were just as horny as the jocks; of that I was certain. But their lack of confidence made their approaches ineffective to the point of being almost laughable. I had felt sorry for their type when I was male, but to be the object of their actions (or inactions) made me feel even worse for them since it was now I who was forced to turn them away. I must admit that there was another type somewhere in the middle who did intrigue me a little. Mike Ralston certainly fell in that category. That isn't to say I was interested in them in that way, but I was able to use them to try out my new perspective without the danger of being raped in some jock's back seat. The guys I'm talking about are guys who I felt were very much like I had been. They were guys who were interested in girls but were willing to see them as friends rather than conquests. They were confident enough but not to the point of being overbearing. When I was with a guy like that, I didn't feel threatened, and I could almost feel as if I was just one of the guys again. Of course I had some help in dealing with boys. The magazines like Cosmo Girl and Seventeen that I had looked at with disgust right after my transformation were becoming my primary leisure reading now. Oh, not because I wanted to know Ten Ways to Make Your Eyes Look Sexier or about Hot Swimwear for Summer. No, the articles I was drawn to were articles on how to cope with boys. Sure, some of the articles were of the How to Find the Boy of Your Dreams variety, but some of the articles had helpful hints on how to deal with my former sex. I found myself wishing that as a fifteen year old boy, I could have found a magazine called Esquire Boy that would have walked me through how to deal with teenage girls as Cosmo Girl was helping me to deal with boys. Dealing with boys was one thing; dating them was something else again. I had no desire to date them, and Dannie had been too busy the first couple of weeks of my girlhood just developing friendships to worry about me and boys. That all changed one fateful day, though. "Chas wants me to go to the movies with him this Friday," Dannie said proudly to me as I got ready for school. Even though I no longer needed her help getting ready, she made it a point to come over to my house and walk with me to school. "Chas? Chas Dahlgren? Isn't Dannie - for a first date I girl for several weeks now, - not to my surprise - that before. he a little... much for you, mean?" I asked. I had been a and in that time I had learned Dannie had never had a date

"Oh, I can handle him," she assured me smugly. "Good for you," I replied as I fluffed out my hair in the mirror. I said it as blandly as I could since I thought Chas was every bit as much of an overbearing prick as his brother Frank who had been in my class. At least with his brother I could deal with him man to man. With Chas, I had to endure his endless gazes at my breasts. I think if asked to describe any girl, he would start with a description of her breasts. He would probably end there, too, since he never looked at anything else. She was silent for a moment before adding, "I got a date for you, too." I turned so swiftly that the clip I had been applying to my hair went flying. "You did what?" "You need to start dating sometime," Dannie said defensively. "You're going to be a girl for the rest of your life. You can't be gay." "Why can't I?" I didn't really think I was cut out to be gay, but I felt like tweaking her. From Sarah I had learned more about Dannie's confinement and eventual escape. One of the things I had learned was that Dr. Malone had unintentionally given Dannie a number of his own opinions and prejudices. Since others were hardly in a position to argue with the head of the project, Dannie accepted many of them as home truths. Among these prejudices was a strong dislike for gays. When introduced to our gay couple on the cul-de-sac, she had been quite cool. She looked horror-stricken. "You can't be gay!" "No, I'm not gay," I assured her. And essentially, it was true. The longer I was a girl, the more I was starting to think like a girl. Oh, I wasn't ready to jump some guy's bones, but a steady diet of listening to the other girls discuss boys had at least started me looking at them to see what I was missing. I had come along far enough to at least entertain the possibility of becoming attracted to boys, but I certainly wasn't there yet. Maybe in another decade or so... "Then come with us," she pressed. "Tommy really wants to take you out." "Tommy Alexander?" I practically screeched. If there was a more boorish boy in the entire school than Chas Dahlgren, it had to be Tommy Alexander. Maybe that was why they were such fast friends. "No way, Dannie. I'm not going out with that idiot." "Oh please." "You can forget it!" I snapped. "I have no intention of

going out with Tommy Alexander - or any other boy for that matter." "But you have to date. All the girls do. And if you're going to be my best friend..." "Damn it, Dannie, you made me into your best friend. I didn't ask for this. I was happy the way I was. You had no right to change me into this... this... little sexpot of a girl." Dannie's face clouded. I was on a roll, so I hadn't noticed how upset she was getting. She hadn't used her powers around me since she had transformed me, so I guess I forgot how powerful she was. "If you don't like being a little sexpot, maybe you should be someone else," she growled. It took me a moment to comprehend what she was saying, and by then it was too late. I felt the same strange sensations I had felt when I had been transformed into Darla, but this time instead of growing smaller, I felt myself growing larger. There was no actual pain this time, but all the little twinges were back. It was as if my form was stretching outward. For a moment, I had hopes that Sarah had been wrong and that Dannie really could transform me back into my larger male self. My hopes were quickly dashed when I looked down at myself. My chest - and my breasts - were growing larger, but not in a particularly feminine way. I was getting bigger and rounder all over as my little white tank top morphed into a baggy USC sweatshirt. Thankfully, my jeans were expanding as well to accommodate my widening hips and protruding stomach. "What are you doing to me?" I screamed, my voice still female but a little deeper than it had been before. "Just making you so you won't have to worry about being sexy any more," Dannie said with irony dripping from her voice. I rushed to the mirror on my closet door and gasped in horror at the sight that greeted me. I was still Darla sort of. My face was still Darla's, only it was rounder and supplemented with a second chin. My hair was still brown and long, but lacked the body and luster it had enjoyed since my original transformation into a girl. I touched my face with pudgy fingers and looked down at the body I now possessed. I was fat. There was no other word for it. Plump would have been a severe understatement. I was just plain fat. "Dannie, change me back!" "You know I can't change you back into Darren," she pointed out slyly. "No! Not Darren. Make me into Darla again."

"But you are Darla," she laughed. "But this is the way everyone will remember you now. You're a fat chick, so you won't have to worry about boys being interested in you any more." "Please, Dannie," I begged her, tears forming in my eyes as I faced her. "Change me back." "I'm too tired now," she shrugged. "Maybe later." Unfortunately, I believed her. When she had transformed me, she had been so tired that she had to go to bed. Apparently changing things or people took a lot out of her while little tricks like pulling Cokes out of the air didn't seem to take much effort. Not as much had changed this time, though, so she looked as if she didn't need to rest, but to change me back into the slim, attractive form of Darla was probably too much for her to do on top of this transformation. "Then I'll just stay home today and you can change me back after school," I announced, sitting down on the bed, uncomfortable with the realization that I sank a lot further into the mattress than I had before my sudden weight gain. "Oh no," she told me. "Part of your punishment is that you have to go to school as you are. Then after school, I'll give you a choice. You can either start dating and acting like an attractive, popular girl or you can stay as you are now and not worry about the things attractive girls have to worry about." It wasn't much of a choice, I thought. I didn't want to be a girl at all, but it seemed as if I'd have no choice with that. Instead, the choice would be to live my life as an attractive Darla or as The Fat Chick. It wasn't much of a choice at all. Dutifully, I plodded off after Dannie on our walk to school. I felt like a baby elephant, my fat legs churning to keep up with her as my breath came in short bursts, my body too out of shape to carry my new weight. As Darla, I had become accustomed to feeling the graceful sway of my hips and the gentle rise and fall of my breasts in the cups of my bra. As The Fat Chick, I had to become accustomed to new, less pleasant sensations. My breasts literally heaved inside their cups, and my hips rolled in swells of fat, nearly throwing me off balance. Well, I didn't have to worry about boys noticing me - or anyone else for that matter. Fat people are invisible (except at the beach where everyone else just wishes that fat people were invisible). As I entered school - alone now as Dannie had gone off with her friends (her popular friends of which I no longer was numbered) leaving me to face my new peers alone. I can make it through the day, I told myself. I wouldn't let Dannie know how badly I was affected. Then she'd demand

less to change me back. It's funny, but only an hour before I was getting ready for school, fuming at being a cute young thing. Now, I would have given almost anything to be that cute young thing once more. Being a slim, attractive Darla had been bad enough, but being dumpy, unattractive Darla was pure hell. No one was openly nasty to me; I'll give my classmates that. But neither were they particularly friendly to me either. Any girl attractive enough to have a date that weekend avoided me as if I had some disease they might catch. As for the boys, well, when they saw me, they had that far away look that said that entering the priesthood was preferable to spending an evening with me. I don't think I ever felt so alone in my entire life. And to make matters even worse, I was grossly (no pun intended) uncomfortable. I was way too hot, as if the fat surrounding me was insulating me, and it probably was. Walking was physically uncomfortable, with pain in my knees and legs from carrying the excess weight. And when I sat down, it was as if I was sitting on a narrow rail as my buttocks poured over the edge of the seat. And by ten that morning, the ultimate indignity began - my stomach started growling. I was as hungry as I had ever been in my life. A couple of nearby girls heard and giggled softly to themselves. One of them was Dannie. At lunch, I sat alone. It was probably because most of the students were afraid that when I finished the heaping tray I had gotten from the serving line, I might decide to devour one of their arms or legs. At least the large quantities of food quieted my stomach. I walked home from school alone. Dannie had gone off with the more popular crowd, leaving me to trundle home all by myself. I just wanted to get back to my room and cry after a snack, of course. My stomach was already rumbling again. Sarah spotted me with an "Oh my God!" She had been talking with Melissa Shaw in front of her house. At first I was confused as to what she was so alarmed about. Then I remembered. Most people remembered Darla as The Fat Chick, but Sarah - and Melissa for that matter - were aware of what Dannie had done by virtue of the fact that they themselves had been transformed. "Talk to you later," Melissa said with a sidelong glance at me. She added, "Good luck, Darla." "What did she mean by that?" I asked as Sarah ushered me into her house. "She means that Dannie must be really, really mad at you," she explained as we sat down in her living room. "Want to tell me about it?" So I told her what had happened, including my horrible day

at school. She listened carefully, asking me a couple of questions about Chas in the process. "He sounds like a grade-A shit," she commented when I finished. "He is," I agreed. "And so is his friend Tommy. That's why I didn't want to go out with him." Sarah shook her head. "You're only telling me part of the truth, Darla. The fact of the matter is that you really don't want to go out with any boy, and Dannie knows it." "All right," I admitted with a sigh. "Inside, I'm still male. I don't see that changing any time real soon. Why when I go over to Gloria's house, I still long for her sister Tanya. I don't mean I want to make lesbian love to her; I just want to be my male self with her. It hurts every time I see her when I'm like this. Or at least the way I was until this morning. I just don't want to date boys." She surprised me with a smile. "But you do find them attractive." "No!" "Don't bother lying to me, Darla. I've been through all of this; remember? After I was first transformed, I couldn't imagine having sex as a woman with Bill, but..." Her voice trailed off with a shrug. I thought about what I had heard in their bedroom - the obvious sounds of pleasurable sex drifting on the night breeze. "I really don't want to talk about it," I managed to say. Her eyes showed genuine amusement. "It really isn't all that bad. In fact, it's sort of fun." "But...but you were a man..." "Yes, and now I'm a woman," she replied. "And Bill is a very good looking man. What were we supposed to do? You'll understand someday when the right boy comes along." I couldn't believe we were having this conversation. She had voluntarily had sex with a man? I couldn't imagine that! I was still convinced that Dannie had changed her mentally to desire sex, even though I had to admit to myself that Dannie didn't seem to have the ability or the inclination to make mental changes to anyone. Oh sure, a couple of the guys in my class were kind of... well, cute, I guess. I had to admit that. Especially Mike Ralston. But I couldn't imagine having sex with any of them - even Mike. Then the thought struck me - I was only fifteen now. Only my memories were those of an adult male. My body and all its developing facets were those of a fifteen year old girl. How did fifteen year old girls think? Oh sure, some were sexually active, but most were not. They were still learning about themselves and were too busy to think about

hard-core sex as anything more than a theoretical thing. They knew they'd start dating boys, if they hadn't already. They knew boys looked attractive and they knew it felt good to be held by one and even kissed by one. But they were, for the most part, able to suppress the strange but inviting sensations their bodies gave off when they were with boys. Spreading their legs and having babies lay out in the distant future - even if that distant future was for some of them only a couple of years away. In many ways, was I any different? Like it or not, boys were beginning to look attractive. And I was going to be stuck as a girl for the rest of my life. Like it or not, those little warm sensations I was beginning to experience when seeing a cute boy were just going to get worse. Eventually, those sensations would overwhelm me, no matter how hard I fought them. A day didn't go by now that I didn't look at some guy like Mike Ralston and wonder just a little what it might be like to be his girl. "All right," I admitted, more to myself than to Sarah. "Maybe you're right. But I still don't want to date Tommy." "I don't think you have a choice," Sarah informed me. "Dannie can be very determined, and with Dannie, determination can be dangerous. If she wants you to go on a date with her and this Chas, I don't think you can avoid it, unless you want to stay the way you are now." "Oh my God, no!" I replied in a quavering voice. "I don't want to be like this for another minute. But Sarah, can't you talk her out of dating Chas at least? I think he might even be dangerous." Sarah put her hands on my now-broad shoulders. "Darla, we've made significant progress with Dannie these last few weeks, and you've been a big help in trying to get her to stop being to willful and conforming to social norms. But this is her hormones talking. She's attracted to this Chas." "But he's an asshole!" Sarah nodded. "Yes, and she's certainly not the first attractive, otherwise intelligent girl to find herself attracted to an asshole. If she were a normal girl, I might be able to stop her. I might need to stop her for her own good. But she's made up her mind that she wants to date this boy. You know, Darla, it might be a help to her if you did date the boy she wants you to go out with. You could keep an eye on her then. It might keep her from doing something she might regret later." "I suppose you're right," I admitted. Besides, even dating Tommy Alexander had to be better than spending another minute as The Fat Chick. "Dannie will be home soon," Sarah assured me. "Why don't you just stay here and study until she comes home? Then you can patch things up with her."

"Thanks, Sarah," I sighed. Then I added, "Uh... I hate to ask, but do you have anything to eat?" Dannie got home about an hour later, dropped off by her friends. I could hear the girls giggling in the car and had a momentary pang of jealousy. Before that day, they had been friends of mine, but now they would have nothing to do with The Fat Chick. I know that sounds so shallow, but that's just the way people are - particularly high school people. When I had been a boy in high school, I had chummed around with a popular crowd. The geeky guys weren't a part of it. Like I said, that's just the way people are. Gandhi and Mother Teresa are exceptions to the rule. Everybody else is just people. "Well hi, Darla," Dannie said with mock surprise when she came in. "How was your day?" "Shitty, and you know it." I tried to blink back the tiny tears of frustration that threatened to run down my fat cheeks. She just smiled. "Dannie, please... change me back." "You know I can't," she said. "You can't be Darren again. We've already discussed that." "I don't mean Darren," I replied, my voice quavering. "I want you to turn me back into the Darla I was." "But that Darla was a cute girl," she pointed out feigning confusion. "Cute girls attract boys. You wouldn't want that, would you? After all, you don't like boys." "Well..." "You'd attract cute boys like Tommy Alexander..." I sighed and plopped back down into a chair, feeling it groan from my weight. "All right, Dannie. I'll go out with Tommy Alexander if that's what it takes." Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at me, her face close to mine. "You'll do more than that, Darla. You'll act like a real girl with Tommy. That means if he wants to put his arm around you, you let him." Reluctantly, "All right." "And if his hands wander a little bit, that's okay." I shuddered but nodded. "And if he wants to kiss you..." "Kiss me!" I jumped up feeling the blubber surrounding me shift like Jell-o.

"You know, Darla, I know of a store that specializes in extra large sizes for women. Maybe we could find something for you there that makes you look a little less... you know." I sat back down, slowly so as not to shift the fat. "All right, you win, Dannie. Anything you want. I'll... I'll kiss him if I have to. Just change me back." "Promise?" "I promise." With those words, I felt my body changing for the third time. At least there was no pain as in the initial transformation. It was more like being in the shower and feeling something unpleasant washed from my body. The ugly sweatshirt was changing, too, back into a tank top covering two very feminine but thankfully smaller and wellproportioned breasts. I never thought I'd be happy to see those breasts again, but the day had taught me there were far worse things to be than an attractive girl. When I had changed back completely, I almost started to hug myself but I stopped rather than give Dannie any more satisfaction. I felt so light I almost thought I could float away. It was a wonderful feeling. Even if I was still a girl, it felt wonderful. "We'll get ready together after school tomorrow," Dannie said happily as if what had been done to me that day had never happened. "I have just the look in mind for us." I was sure she did, and I was sure I wouldn't like it, but just about anything was better than being The Fat Chick. I just gave her a demure little smile and kept my big mouth shut. Dannie went upstairs to rest again, the strain of transforming me once more taking its toll on her. As for me, I was exhilarated as I made my way into the kitchen where Sarah had made herself scarce. It's funny, but when I had originally been transformed into Darla, I was disgusted with my body, in spite of how attractive I had become. I mentally told myself more than once that anything would be better than being an attractive teenage girl. Well, I was wrong. As a slim Darla, I had been popular - even more popular than I had been as Darren in high school. And in the days in which I had learned to live as Darla, I had begun to adapt even more than I realized. Then came my second transformation. I don't think I could have ever become used to being The Fat Chick. Unpopular, ridiculed behind my back, unattractive, and in general considered a loser regardless of what inner qualities I might still have had was a more alien experience for me than just being a girl. And add to it the fact that I could barely walk between classes without being winded was horrifying for someone who had been in good physical shape

for most of his/her life. A moment didn't go by while I was The Fat Chick in which I didn't think about how wonderful it would be to be the curvy, attractive version of Darla again. Now I was. I vowed to myself that I'd have to kowtow to Dannie no matter what. I didn't want to risk being changed into The Fat Chick again. Of course, that meant I was going to have to date Tommy Alexander and any other boy that she decided I should. I would have to do as she said and to be her best friend just as she wanted me to be. Eventually she would get tired of that. She'd find a boy to occupy her time maybe even Chas. Then I'd be free to live my life as I saw fit. I'd still be a girl, but there was nothing I could do about that, it seemed. Sarah looked relieved when I walked into the kitchen. "Thank God," she breathed. "Amen to that," I agreed, sitting down at the kitchen table in relief. I was so elated I couldn't even manage to stand another minute. Sarah poured me a glass of iced tea and one for herself before joining me at the table. "You have to be more careful," she warned me. "Someday she may change you and not change you back. Remember, she didn't grow up with parents teaching her morals. Bill and I have done what we can, but we can't afford to anger her any more than you can." "You're saying she's immoral?" I asked, sipping my tea. Sarah shook her head. "Not immoral; she's amoral." "What's the difference?" "Well," Sarah explained, "rather than opposing morals she's been taught, Dannie was raised without morals. She's like a feral child in some ways." Sarah leaned over and touched my arm. "Darla, it's up to us to teach her the morals she was never taught as a child. The only way we can do that is to act as much like the people we've become as possible. That means I have to give her the advice a mother would be expected to give her daughter..." "And I have to give her the advice she would expect from a best friend," I finished for her. Sarah smiled and nodded. "It would have made it easier if she had just changed my mind so it wouldn't be in conflict with this body. I just don't know why she didn't change me mentally like she did you," I blurted out at the end, cursing myself for having such a big mouth. "Dannie didn't change me mentally," Sarah laughed. "Whatever gave you that idea?" "Oh, well..." How could I tell her that I could hear her

and Bill rutting each night through my bedroom window? Sarah was my friend and I didn't want to embarrass her. It took her a moment, but at last she understood what I was getting at without any reference to what I had heard on the night wind. "From what I've already told you I guess you know Bill and I are... intimate," she said pensively. She smiled. "And of course, you're right. Bill and I love each other. This isn't the life we would have chosen for ourselves, but it worked out all right. In fact, it worked out more than just all right. You'll learn that, too, someday, Darla." "Maybe," I conceded, shifting nervously. It wasn't something I really wanted to think about. "But you mean Dannie didn't make you want to have sex as a woman?" "Well, not exactly," she replied. "But when she changed me, she gave me all the right parts. And remember, sexual attraction is ruled to a great extent by the body. Pheromones, hormones, and all that sort of thing help to make us who we are. It's why the species has managed to continue to reproduce for millennia." "So you're saying I'll eventually want to have sex as a girl?" I ventured even more uncomfortably. "Probably," she affirmed. "Dannie doesn't like homosexuality. It's a little prejudice Dr. Malone managed to impart to her. That's why she changed our neighbor into a woman." "You mean Melissa Shaw," I clarified. Sarah looked surprised. "No! I thought you knew. I'm talking about the gay couple next to us. The blond man Olin I think his name was - is now Olivia Kelly, married to his partner, Frank Kelly." "She did that to them just because they were gay?" I gasped. I had never been a big supporter of gay rights or anything, but this was Southern California and I had always felt like most people in that region that sexual preference was a matter of personal choice and none of my business. "My God! What do they think of what she's done?" I imagined they were no happier with their changes than I was. "They don't know," Sarah told me reluctantly. "But I thought Dannie couldn't alter conscious memories," I pointed out. "How could they not know?" "She changed them as they slept," Sarah explained. "She planned it as a fait accompli. She saw them in an affectionate embrace in front of their house the other day and vowed to 'normalize' their lives. She planned to change Olin and alter Frank's body so that he would respond to women. Nothing I could say or do would stop her." Sarah said that rather defensively, but I didn't blame her.

As I was coming to understand, it was possible to thwart Dannie's will but only so far. "I thought she couldn't change a person's mind," I said with concern. "She can't," Sarah agreed, "but she can tweak the body just enough to override the mind's natural bent. You remember what it was like to have a hard on for a girl? That was as much physical as mental, and you probably never stopped to ask yourself why you were having one." She was right, but that was very worrisome. The same thing could happen to me now in reverse. My body could be made to feel physical attraction for a boy no matter what my mind might tell me. It explained Sarah's attraction to Bill, even though Sarah wasn't really aware of it. But... "What about their memories? They would have memories of being gay partners, wouldn't they?" Sarah sighed, "I would have thought so, but it didn't happen like that. She was going to explain why she had done what she had done to them, but when she visited them the next morning, they acted as if everything was normal. She talked to me about it, and we concluded that because they were asleep when she made the changes to them, their reality changed as well." This was a disturbing revelation. "You mean, because they weren't awake they didn't detect the changes?" "Exactly," Sarah confirmed. "It was a shock to Bill and me as well as Dannie. You see everyone else she has changed has been awake when the transformation occurred. None of us realized this would be the way things worked." As I went home, I was more disturbed than ever. It was as if Dannie's powers of transformation had been expanded dangerously. It was bad enough, for example, that she had changed me into a girl. But what if I wasn't acting girlish enough for her? Couldn't she alter me slightly as I slept, causing me to think like a girl in every conceivable way? Ooh, 'conceivable' was a bad word. I might wake up in the morning looking forward to my date. I might... no, don't go there, girl. It was enough to make me fight sleep that night. The next evening, I was going out on a date... with a boy. It was bad enough that Dannie was forcing me to do it, but to go out with Tommy Alexander was too much. I'd have to spend the entire evening fighting him off; I was sure of that. When I had been male, I had known guys like Tommy. They bragged constantly about how far they got with girls. A lot of it was just bravado, but part of it was a bad case of wandering hands that didn't know when to stop. Thank God we were just going to the movies and with Chas and Dannie. We would be in public most of the time and that would curb Tommy's advances. The most I'd have to do was keep him at bay in the back seat of Chas's car as we traveled to and from the theater. That shouldn't be too

hard - or at least I hoped it wouldn't. I knew that eventually I'd have to cope with dating boys on a regular basis. If Dannie hadn't already tweaked me enough to make me interested in boys, she would eventually. Or worse yet - I would tweak myself. As Sarah had pointed out about herself, I now had all the right equipment just as she did so eventually I would probably see boys in a different light. I had already caught myself looking over at Mike Ralston in class more than once. I should point out that I don't think in many ways my attitude about sex and boys was really all that different from a naturally born girl. I was curious about sex. After all, I had one - it was just different from the one I had been born with. As a fifteen year old boy, I had done a little "experimenting." I suspect nearly all boys do. As for girls... well, I'm pretty sure they experiment, too. And now that I was a girl, I had spent a little time in the shower tentatively touching myself to see what it felt like for a girl. I hadn't brought myself off yet or anything, but I was starting to get an inkling of what it might be like. That being admitted, I had come to the conclusion that as pleasant as it might be, I wasn't ready for anything more just yet. As I lay there trying to get some sleep, I thought about why I wasn't ready for anything more, and I believe my reasoning was once again not too dissimilar from the reasoning of most girls my age. As a boy, sex at fifteen didn't seem like such a bad idea. While I didn't manage that feat - at least with a girl - until I was seventeen, it wasn't from lack of wanting - it was from lack of opportunity. That's because the consequences for boys are less worrisome. Oh sure, boys are concerned about getting girls pregnant, but it's more of a theoretical concern than a real one. For a girl though, it's as real as it gets. I put a slim hand down across my smooth, flat belly and tried to imagine what it must be like to be pregnant. I didn't really want to know - not for a long time and maybe not forever. I did know what a period felt like, though. Dannie had helped me through my first one already. It had brought home to me the central message of womanhood: I could get pregnant. No wonder girls were less anxious to experiment with sex. Being a fifteen year old mother-to-be was pretty daunting. Well, as I began to drift off I assured myself, it was only a casual date with Tommy, not an engagement. And it was just going to be a trip to the movies and maybe a Coke or something right after. And Dannie and Chas would be there all the time. So there was nothing to worry about, was there? Well, was there? That was my mantra until lunch the next day. It was then as I was disposing of my lunch tray that I felt a large hand on my left buttock. The hand squeezed gently and ran up my back, nearly causing me to spill my tray. "See you tonight, babe," Tommy Alexander crooned confidently as he and some

of his pals - including Jack Bradshaw - walked out of the cafeteria chuckling knowingly as they did. I would probably have kicked him in the balls if I hadn't seen the watchful eye of Dannie looking up at me from her own lunch. She was sitting with Chas and looking happy as could be. It's just a movie date, I reminded myself again, but the mantra was less comforting as I remembered the large beefy hand clutching my ass. "You need to get ready!" Dannie gasped as I met her at the door that evening. "I am ready," I replied. I had on a fresh pair of jeans - a little tight but demure enough. A red top with short sleeves, fairly revealing since it was tight but the scoop neckline didn't reveal a great deal of cleavage. My sandals had a small heel on them, so I thought I looked rather nice, all things considered. "Look at me!" Dannie demanded in exasperation. I looked at her and I had to admit she did look nice in her short skirt, tank top, and three inch heels and... "You don't mean you want me to dress like... like..." "Yes! Like me. And just what's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" Uh-oh, I thought. The last time she looked at me like that, I spent the day as The Fat Chick. "I just didn't think..." I began in my own defense. "That's right, girl friend, you didn't think!" she finished for me, her hands on her hips. "Now let's get you ready. We don't have much time." I would have liked to have argued, but it would have been futile. Just as Dannie had decided I should be a girl, she had a definite image in mind for me and fighting that image could have been very painful and/or embarrassing for me. With resignation garnered from unpleasant experience, I put myself in her hands. The result made me wonder if maybe being The Fat Chick wasn't all that bad. Looking in the mirror in my room, what was left of my male mind wanted this girl I had become. Dannie had found a dress for me - a knit dress in an off-white color, accented by a pink belt and matching pink sandals that tilted me three inches up at the heel. The dress covered and revealed all at the same time. Opaque and demure on the one hand, the shortness of the skirt and the scoop of the neckline made it very clear that I was a very nicely built young lady. The material of the dress stretched, making it comfortable, but it revealed my curves in such a way that I might as well have been naked. In fact, the dress was so clingy that it seemed to substantially exaggerate my youngish figure. "Isn't this a little much for just a movie?" I asked.

"Here, try this as she draped a fight it. If it more of skin, I

necklace," Dannie said, ignoring my comment small gold chain about my neck. I didn't covered even one fraction of a square inch was all for it.

"There!' she said with satisfaction just as the doorbell rang. "There" was right. Only one thought ran through my mind as I looked at the exciting girl in the mirror: dinner is served. Tommy didn't disappoint in the crude department. He wrapped a large arm around my body with one hand barely above my ass as he escorted me to the car. I fumed realizing that he obviously got away with this conduct all the time or he wouldn't be trying it on me. It's just for a movie, I told myself for the umpteenth time as he half helped/half pushed me into the back seat. "You girls look just great!" Chas called out as he pulled away from the curb. Somehow, I got the feeling he would have said that if we had come out dressed in flour sacks so long as out asses wiggled and our legs showed. The only way Chas would have really thought we looked great was if we had come out to the car dressed in nothing at all. I thought back of the time when I was a sixteen year old boy like these two. No, that wasn't the way to say it; I was never like these two. Oh sure, when I was a boy their age, I had an appreciative eye for my dates, but Chas and Tommy were more predatory. I could mentally see Dannie and me naked in the center of a meadow while Chas and Tommy, lean and hairy, stalked us in an ever-narrowing circle, teeth bared and pricks stiff. I tried to shake off that vision. It was more than I cared to think about for the moment. Besides, I had something else to worry about. I suddenly realized we weren't headed for the part of town where all the movies were located. "Hey, what movie did you guys plan to take us to?" I asked as I squirmed away from Tommy's cloying embrace. "We got a party to go to first," Chas replied nonchalantly. "A party?" Dannie asked, a little nervous herself for the first time. Obviously, this was not part of Dannie's plan for the evening. Chas shrugged as he turned out onto the highway. "Hey, it's just a few miles from here, and it's my brother's party. It wouldn't be right if we didn't drop in, would it? I mean, what would he think, him being my brother and all? Don't sweat it. We'll just stay for a little while to make my brother happy and then make the later movie." "But I... we're supposed to be home by eleven," I protested. Actually, my parents hadn't given me an exact

time, settling for the admonition of "don't stay out too late," but I didn't want to be with these creeps any later than eleven. Fortunately, Dannie didn't contradict me. I think she was starting to have second thoughts as well. Chas's brother and my former classmate didn't exactly live in the high rent district. I hadn't seen Frank Dahlgren since we graduated from high school. He had gone to San Diego State on a football scholarship, but I heard later that he had blown out a knee and dropped out of school when it cost him his scholarship. From the looks of the neighborhood, Frank hadn't exactly landed a high-paying job when he left school. I found myself predicting a similar fate for Chas. And I might have been right if... but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The party was well underway at Frank's place. The dingy little apartment was packed with people and misted in smoke from legal and illegal cigarettes in about equal proportion. The music was loud and the conversation louder still. As a man, I might have found the party barely tolerable, but as a fifteen year old girl, I felt like a sheep at a wolves' convention. Tommy had the ever-present hand on my butt as he maneuvered me through the crowd. I would have gladly chopped it off except I was afraid of what might happen if one of Frank's buddies decided I was unattached. If I were forced to be with any man in the room, Tommy was probably one of the least objectionable. That's just how bad the crowd of partygoers was. A pack of bikers would have flinched if surrounded by this bunch. "Hey, bro!" Frank Dahlgren called out from across the room. He hadn't changed much from high school, I thought. The little goatee he had grown was about the only difference that and the beginning of a beer gut. He still looked like a prime asshole. When we had played football together back in high school, I secretly cheered for the other team when Frank got creamed. My bad. "Who's the chick?" Chas pushed Dannie through the crowd to where Frank was leaving me alone with Tommy. From the look on Dannie's face, she wasn't any happier about the way the evening was shaping up than I was. So there I was, stuck in the middle of a party that showed every sign of getting out of hand and I was on my own. No, that isn't exactly true. I had Tommy to "protect" me. Some protection. At least Dannie could protect herself, but what about me? It was then that I spotted her - a familiar face. It was Tanya. My God, she looked good. That little male part of my brain nearly cried when I spotted her. She was a reminder of everything I had lost. I wanted to go talk to her, but by now Tommy had a grip on my arm as he gallantly (ha!) handed me a plastic glass of something that smelled nasty. "What's this?" He shrugged. "Just a little wine," he replied innocently.

Bullshit. As a male, I had tasted white wine plenty of times. From the smell I could tell that the wine had been mixed with something else. Everclear? Some sort of date rape drug? A hallucinogen? With Tommy, anything was possible. From the looks of some of the girls who had been there for a while, whatever was in the stuff was enough to make you happy and receptive but not enough to knock you out. There were going to be wild times in Frank's apartment that night. I just wanted to make certain I wasn't part of them. I took the drink and pretended to sip on it while Tommy got occupied with some guys that he knew. I knew them, too. They had been a couple of years behind me in high school. Now they looked like the also-rans in the Grungy Convenience Store Clerk of the Year awards. I could see from their occasional glances in my direction that Tommy was already bragging about what he planned to do with me that evening. It was enough to make me shudder. At least it gave me a chance to talk to Tanya. She was there with a guy I knew at Cal-Fullerton. His name was Ian Something-or-other. He had been interested in Tanya when she and I had started dating but I had won out. Apparently with me out of the picture, she had latched onto him. He was talking to a couple of guys who looked vaguely familiar, so Tanya was just standing around trying not to be noticed by any of the lowlifes. "Hi, Tanya..." She looked at me puzzled for a moment before replying, "Hi... Darla isn't it? You're one of Gloria's friends." "That's right," I acknowledged. Since Tanya and I had been so serious about each other in my previous life, it hurt that I had made so little an impression on her in this life, but I suppose it was to be expected. After all, I was her sister's age now. About the only thing we had in common anymore was that we were both girls, and that was the one thing I wished we didn't have in common. "Excuse me for saying this, Darla, but aren't you a little young for this party?" "Yeah, I think I am," I admitted sadly. Quickly, I explained the events that had brought us here. Tanya frowned as I related our story. "If I were you guys, I'd lean on my dates to get me out of here. Ian and I aren't staying very long. I think Ian and I are a little young - or a little too smart - for this party, too." "Thanks for the advice," I told her. I would have said more but Tommy grabbed my arm and pulled me away. "Hey, babe, you shouldn't be straying too far from me. There's some bad dudes in this room." Yeah, and you're one of them, I thought to myself as I

grimaced at the pressure from his meaty fingers in my slender arm. I gave Tanya one more glance, and she looked back at me with what appeared to be pity. I couldn't have agreed more. I pitied me, too. Tommy plied me with a couple more drinks, which I managed to ditch when he wasn't looking. There was little doubt that he was trying to get me cooked so he could move on to the next stage in our relationship. The funny thing was that he was damned dense he didn't notice how unresponsive I was being. Of course, he was drinking the spiked wine as well, so maybe he didn't care what I thought. I hadn't seen Chas and Dannie since they had crossed the room to meet Frank. I was more than a little worried about her. In spite of her powers, she couldn't very well use them in a crowded room, and she was still so nave I was afraid Chas would be in her pants before she figured out what was going on. And what if she had been drinking the wine? What sort of effect would it have on her? I didn't like to think about that. A tipsy Dannie would be like lighting a match in an explosive's shed - the results were unpredictable but undoubtedly dangerous. "Come on, babe," Tommy said, ushering me away from the crowd. For a moment I had a glimmer of hope that we were getting ready to leave, but no such luck. Before I could realize what he had in mind, he practically shoved me into one of the apartment's two bedrooms. The room smelled a little gamy, from the aromas of undone laundry to another smell I recognized as the raw odors of sex. In the dim light from an outside streetlight, I could see a bed. It was unoccupied now, but I could tell that more than one couple had used it that evening, and Tommy had every intention of being the male half of the next couple to use it. My thoughts went back to the vision of the Mexican whorehouse Dannie had given me weeks ago right after my initial transformation. Was this what Tommy thought of me that I was no better than a cheap whore? I turned without a word and headed back toward the door, but before I could open it, he grabbed my arm - not as relatively gently as he had earlier, but in a vise grip that might even leave bruises. "Where do you think you're going?" "Out," I replied, tight lipped. I didn't know at the time what was happening, but I felt a tingle inside me - almost like a very minor version of the sensations I felt when I was transformed. My body, I realized, was actually reacting to the danger. Tommy looked at me as if he was puzzled over how I was able to resist him. It added to my suspicion that there had been something in the wine he had given me. The only time all evening he had acted like a gentleman was when he was bringing me my drinks. Thank God I had only pretended to drink them.

Tommy's face was suddenly in mine, and I could feel his free hand cupping my right breast. Under other circumstances and with another guy, I have to admit that might have actually felt good, but all I could think about was what a slime ball Tommy was. But it was a time to react, not think, and react I did. Without a thought about how small and weak I was compared to Tommy, I brought a knee up directly into his crotch. Tommy literally screamed in pain, and even in the semidarkness I was able to see his eyes glaze over as he passed out from the pain and crumpled to the floor. I was pleasantly surprised by my strength. I had expected to do no more than surprise him so I could get away. Instead, I had put him out of action. I knew from personal experience how much it hurt to get hit in the balls. All guys - or in my case, former guys - know. But I had never seen anyone fold the way he did. I had heard of fighters with glass jaws. Maybe Tommy had glass balls. I giggled at the thought as I rushed from the room. The music and conversation were so loud that no one seemed to have heard Tommy's scream. That was good, but I was still faced with the problem of being stuck at a party, which threatened to become an unbridled orgy located in the heart of a bad neighborhood. In my sweet little body, it wouldn't do me any good to be caught alone on the street. "Darla!" I recognized the voice, even over the music and the loud conversation. "Tanya!" She and Ian pushed their way through the party crowd. I was never so happy to see someone in my life. I didn't know how long Tommy was going to be out of action. I had kicked him pretty hard, but I had never known a guy to go down as hard as he had. I guess I didn't know my own strength. In any case, when he finally recovered, he was going to be pissed beyond words. I had to get out of there before that happened. I wouldn't be lucky enough to take him by surprise the next time. "Your friend Dannie left a little while ago..." Tanya began. Thanks a lot, Dannie, was my first thought. Then I realized it probably wasn't her idea. Chas and Tommy had never planned on taking us to a movie. They had planned on taking us to this very party, splitting us up, drugging us if necessary, and popping two cherries before going on to the final stage of their plan: bragging to all of their friends. I just hoped Dannie could handle herself... What in hell was I thinking? Of course she could handle herself. It was Chas I should be worried about. He had no idea what he was up against. I remembered Sarah's tale of the young soldier who had sexually molested Dannie. If Chas tried anything, he might find himself with a fate similar

to that of the young soldier - or worse. "I told her Ian and I were about to leave and she asked us if we could drop you off at home." She paused for a moment. "Unless you'd rather stay..." I shook my head. "No. Please get me out of here. Now, if possible," I added looking back at the bedroom door as I expected Tommy to come barging out of the room any moment now. Ian smiled. "Then now it is." As we drove back to my house, I was at least glad to see that Ian was a nice guy. When I was a guy, Tanya and I had a good thing together. I think I might have even asked her to marry me eventually, in spite of the fact that neither of us had been thinking about that when our relationship began. I found with my transformation that I was sad for her as well as for myself, even though I knew she didn't remember that the male me had ever existed. Now, seeing how comfortable she was with Ian, I knew she'd be okay. And I knew that after this night, she'd always be my friend. "He didn't try anything with you, did he?" Tanya asked, leaning over the back of her car seat. "Let's just say he didn't get very far," I replied, grinning as I remembered the pained expression on his face as he had gone down. I think she had a pretty good idea what I had done. She reached back and patted me on my nylon-covered knee. "Good for you." As we pulled up see Chas's car. in front of the Why would he be in front of my house, I wasn't surprised to I was, however, surprised to see it parked Logan house on the other side of my house. parked there? I wondered.

Then it hit me. The Logans were seldom home in the evenings, either working at the hospital or out during their sparse free time. Yet I thought I saw shadows on the pulled shades. Dannie had to be in there with Chas. I didn't know which of them to be frightened for, but I had the sudden feeling that Chas was the one in danger - and he probably didn't even suspect it. I had to get over to the Logan's house, but Ian and Tanya were waiting until I was safely home. Nervously, I gave them a smile and a wave, my hand on the front door, praying it was enough for them, for I had a pretty good idea why Chas's car was in front of the Logan's house. I breathed a little sigh of relief as Ian backed the car out of our driveway and Tanya gave me one more wave before they were on their way. I didn't even wait until their taillights were out of sight before running to the Logan's house as well as I could in those damned high heels. Dannie had expressed to me on several occasions how sad it

was that the Logans were both so busy with their medical careers that they had never bothered to have a family. If Chas had tried the same stunt on Dannie that Tommy had tried on me, Dannie wouldn't settle for just kneeing him in the balls - not with the powers she possessed. She probably had Chas pull up in front of the Logan house, telling him that it was her house. After all, Chas and Tommy had picked us up at my house, and Chas knew only that Dannie lived next door to me. I doubted if he knew which side Dannie lived on, though. Knocking on the door of the Logan's house, I only hoped I had gotten there before it was too late. I didn't like Chas any more than I had liked his brother - or Tommy for that matter - but I would never approve of Dannie's meting out punishment as severe as the one I suspected she was about to mete out. She had to learn to control her powers. She still seemed to think that because she could change someone, there was no moral impediment to doing it. "Hi, Darla!" Dannie said with a grin as she opened the door. She wasn't at all surprised to see me. "Where's Chas?" I demanded. She feigned puzzlement. "Chas?" Then, she brightened with a smile. "Oh, you mean Charlene." Oh God, I was too late. I felt as if I had been too late to prevent a murder. In a way, I was right. While Chas was obviously still alive, his identity had been killed. "Dannie, tell me you didn't..." "Charlene!" Dannie called out. "There's someone here to see you." I didn't wait for anyone to appear but instead ran in the direction Dannie had been calling. I had never been in the Logan's house, but there was a light on in the back of the house and the sound of one of those inane children's programs emanating from an unseen television. Entering the spacious den, I came to a sudden stop at the scene before me. Chas - for I had no doubt that the little person before me was Chas - stood whimpering in the center of the den, surrounded by a myriad of colorful toddler toys while Teletubbies cavorted mindlessly on the big screen TV in front of her. There was no doubt about the sex of the frightened little child. Wispy blonde curls accented with a tiny pink bows and the matching pink dress and pink shoes with tiny white anklets told the entire story. She couldn't have been much more than a year old if that. She could stand on her chubby little legs, but an attempt to walk caused her to plop to the floor, the plastic rustle of her diaper clearly audible. "What do you think, Darla?" "You didn't have to do that to him," I replied through

gritted teeth. As much as I disliked Chas, I felt sorry for him - her. She was terrified and frustrated as only a small child can be. Instead of being a strong, in-charge male, Dannie had changed him into the complete opposite. Small, helpless, feminine, little Charlene had been condemned to a life completely alien to her. Although I knew Dannie couldn't change the minds of her victims, her physical identity had redefined her and would cause her to grow up as the girl she appeared to be. She would really have no choice, would she? "Oh?" she countered. "Look what he tried to do to me." She pointed to a spot on her arm just at the sleeve of her short-sleeved top. She was now in jeans and a casual top as befitted a babysitter. I saw nothing wrong there. She shrugged. "Well, I suppose it's healed since Chas never existed to do it." "Do what?" She frowned at the little toddler, causing the small girl to scuttle back on her bottom until she was up against the couch. "Chas tried to drug me and rape me. When the drug didn't work on me, he tried to rape me the old fashioned way." Her growl changed to a laugh as she told me, "You should have seen the son of a bitch. I took his manhood the very first thing. He knew it was gone. He felt it just disappear. Then I made him younger...year by year as he begged me to stop." "Dannie," I began, trying to stay calm, "this isn't right." "Oh it's right," she insisted. "No telling how many girls he's pulled this stunt on. I knew there was something wrong when I saw him slip something in my drink. I pretended to drink it. Then he wanted to go someplace private. I saw Tommy take you into the bedroom about that time. That's when I decided I'd better give you some help. I quadrupled your strength for half an hour. Otherwise you wouldn't be strong enough to fight him off." "That was you!" I broke in. "I felt a tingling sensation just before Tommy... tried to... to..." "He didn't do anything to you, did he?" I shook my head. "No. I kicked him in the balls." I giggled in spite of myself. "He just folded up on the floor." No wonder he had seemed to collapse so quickly. I had kicked him as hard as I could, and with Dannie's boost to my strength, it was a wonder I hadn't kicked them all the way to his throat. "Great!" Dannie laughed. "We'll find him tomorrow and change him, too. Maybe little Charlene would like a twin sister." She glared once more at the frightened child. I became serious once more. "Dannie, no! I don't want him changed. He's learned his lesson. You've done enough damage for one night."

"Damage?" she bristled. "I saved your ass, my dear. If I hadn't given you the strength - " "If you hadn't threatened to make me permanently fat if I didn't date Tommy, it wouldn't have even been an issue," I reminded her. "Oh, so it's my fault that you nearly got raped!" "As a matter of fact, yes!" By now, we were shouting at each other, and little Charlene could take no more. She let loose with a loud, frightened bawl. "Aw!" Dannie crooned as she picked up the tiny girl. The toddler struggled and nearly gagged as Dannie planted a big kiss on her cheek, leaving a lipstick smudge that was soon covered in running tears. "Is poor little Charlene all upset?" She stuck a finger in the child's diaper. "Ooh, all wet. Well don't worry. Auntie Dannie will take care of that!" I think if the former Chas could have died right then, she would have. There she was, barely more than a baby, squirming in a wet diaper while Dannie teased her. As much as Chas probably deserved his fate, I felt sorry for him. "He'll tell someone what you did to him," I warned her as she carried the little girl into the nursery and placed her on the changing table. "No she won't," Dannie countered as she pulled off the wet diaper exposing a tiny feminine bottom. "I made her a little slow on talking. She can just say a few baby words. By the time she's advanced far enough to make herself understood, her mind will be pretty much the mind of a child." "How do you know that?" I asked. Then I realized Dannie had had experience with this sort of transformation before. The guard she had changed into an infant must have experienced a similar fate. For that matter, Sarah seemed content being a woman, and even I had become accustomed to my new sex. Maybe there was something about the transformation something even Dannie wasn't aware of - that made us all conform to our new roles. For that matter, I hadn't told anyone who I had been. For starters, who would believe me, with the exception of others who had been transformed? Dannie didn't bother to answer my question anyway. She just gave me a stare that said it had been a stupid question. I suppose it was. As I had suspected earlier, little Charlene now had the mind of a toddler, and over time, that mind would rule her actions. She would grow up slowly, scarcely remembering the power and strength she had enjoyed as a male. Whatever memories she had of her manhood would be slowly eroded by the circumstances in which she found her new self. Eventually, she'd reconcile her mind to her new

body or she'd go crazy. Yes, she reconcile herself just as Sarah had and just as I had. When Dannie had finished changing the confused little girl she placed her back in front of the television where the Telletubbies continued to cavort in front of her tearstained face. Charlene's new parents arrived soon after I did. Of course, as far as they were concerned, Charlene had always been their child. Charlene's new mother cooed and made over her as the toddler fussed and did her best to explain who she really was and what had happened to her, but it was just so much baby talk to the Logans. I can't say that I blamed them. Even I had trouble understanding the little girl's juvenile speech, and I had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to say. "Not bad, eh?" Dannie grinned at me as we left. She was flashing a twenty-dollar bill the Logans had given her for babysitting. "Look, Dannie," I began as we neared my own house, "promise me one thing. Promise me you won't do anything to Tommy." She frowned. "But he deserves it." "He got a kick in the balls. Isn't that enough?" "He shouldn't even have balls," she insisted. "Monday morning, he'll be bragging to all the guys about what he did to you. I can stop that." I put my slender hands on her shoulders and forced her to look me in the eyes. "Dannie, you can't just go through life changing people into other people because they make you mad." "I don't just do it because they make me mad," she protested with a pout. "Look at you." "Me? What about me?" "I didn't change you because you made me mad." No, she hadn't. I realized that. At first, I had been dazed and confused by my transformation, but I had come to realize that she had changed me only because she was so desperate to have a friend - a girl friend whom she could confide in. Well, like it or not, I had become that friend, and I was determined to be the best friend I could be to her by keeping her from harming others. "I know that - now," I replied softly. "You wanted me as your friend." Dannie gave me a smug look, thinking she had won the argument. I had to stop her though. Desperately, I tried to think of something to say or do that would save Tommy from the fate Chas had already suffered. I could only think of

one thing - and it was, I realized, very dangerous. "Dannie," I began quietly, "If you change Tommy, I can't be your friend." She gave me a puzzled frown there in the light of my home's porch light. "But you have to be my friend - my best friend." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Dannie, but there is a price associated with friendship. Your price is to leave Tommy alone." She clenched her fists. "I could make you be my friend." "No, you can't, Dannie. You can only force me to act like you friend. Go ahead, send me to that brothel for a few days. Or make me fat again. Then when you offer me the chance to change back, I'll agree to be your friend. But I won't really be your friend, you know. I'll just be acting like I'm your friend." She was silent. I could see she was thinking about what I had said. Please God, I prayed silently, make her understand what it really would take for us to be friends. "Is it really that important to you?" she asked quietly. "Yes, Dannie, it is," I nodded. "So please, Dannie, for your friend, leave Tommy alone." She was silent once more for a moment, then sighed, "Oh, all right." So we parted with smiles and even a little hug. Later, in bed, I thought of how much Dannie reminded me of some of my younger cousins. My aunt and uncle had two children not yet ten, and the two of them could be both nave and destructive at the same time in spite of the fact that both were as smart as the proverbial whip. That was Dannie, too. Raised in a lab with no mother or real father, she had never learned to cope with society as it was. She had gone through early adolescence forming unbending attitudes of how life should be. She should have two parents. There should be a girl next door to be her best friend. Gay relationships were wrong and unnatural. Married adults should have children. And boys should be sweet and chivalrous and never force themselves on girls. The problem was that Dannie had the ability to make all of those things happen without any thought to the consequences. And what consequences there were, I thought to myself as I lay there in bed, feeling the silky nightgown I wore resting softly on my smooth breasts. Just because Dannie wanted a best friend, I would spend the rest of my life in skirts and heels. And silky nightgowns. Oh, it wasn't so bad, I realized. Actually, I was actually starting to feel normal as a girl. Once I had gotten used to the sway of my breasts and hips and felt the sensations

of soft, clinging clothing and the taste of lipstick on my lips, it had not been so bad. I would have preferred to be male again, if for no other reason than to avoid the periods. Having already had my first one, I found I didn't care for them. But being a girl wasn't too bad on the whole, I supposed. Well, there was one exception to that - boys. I found myself getting strangely turned on by good looking boys, but I couldn't bring myself to think of them as sexual partners or life mates. Some of them could be quite nice, though, and few were as bad as Tommy. Tommy. Just the thought of him made me shudder. He would have gladly bedded me and bragged about it afterwards. And he would have done it with no love or affection; he would have done it just to "get his rocks off" as I might have said if still male. Had I been like that? No, I hadn't been. I genuinely cared for Tanya and would have never done anything to betray her trust. Maybe Dannie was right. Maybe guys like Tommy didn't deserve to be guys. Maybe I should have let her turn him into a little playmate for Charlene. No, I thought as I began to drift off to sleep, that wouldn't be right. I had to fight my own battles if I was to be a self-sufficient woman. I couldn't allow Dannie to sweep all obstacles from my path. It wasn't good for me and it wasn't good for Dannie. She needed to learn how to function in society without her considerable powers or there was no telling what she would become. I know if I had hung out with Dannie over the weekend, she would have continued to badger me about changing Tommy, but fortunately, I was out of town with my parents. My grandparents on my mother's side were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary up at their home in Santa Barbara, so naturally we had to go. I can honestly say I didn't think about Tommy even once during the weekend. I was too busy circulating with my family, seeing cousins I hadn't seen in a long time and that sort of thing. Of course, it was strange dealing with them from my new feminine perspective. No longer was I really welcome to stand around with my dad, my uncle, my brother, and my male cousins discussing sports and drinking beer. I was too young for the beer and too female for sports - at least as far as the male members of the family would have been concerned. I was a little hurt about that since my change of sex had done nothing to reduce my love of watching sports. I felt like asking them if they thought all the women at the Dodgers games were just there so they could hang around wearing shorts and halter-tops in front of their men. I didn't ask that, though, because most of them probably thought exactly that. The anniversary party was catered, but as a girl, I was now expected to be the personal serving girl for my grandparents, along with Jennifer and April, my two female cousins. They were roughly my age - my new age, that is -

so at least I wasn't singled out for hostess duty. When we weren't fetching and toting, though, I was forced to listen to my female cousins talking about fashions, cosmetics, boy bands, who they were dating (or would like to date), and things that I could have cared less about. It wasn't that I hadn't had to immerse myself in feminine things. To be an authentic member of the female sex, I pretty much had to familiarize myself with the things they were talking about, but I would have rather been talking with the men about the prospects for the Dodgers winning the pennant that year. All in all though, I couldn't complain about the weekend. Of course, everyone in the family thought I had always been a girl, so I had nothing to prove. And it was good to see all of my cousins. I had spent so much time chumming around with Dannie that it was fun to be with some people who accepted me without question as a life-long girl. In a strange way, it made me feel less... freakish, I guess. But Monday found me walking to school with Dannie and interacting once again with my new classmates. It wasn't so bad, really. As the weeks had gone by, I no longer felt as if I were a man in drag. It felt more natural to be a girl every day. Like them, I knew the names of all the members of NSYNC and who was hot and who was not on every popular TV show. I could discuss shampoos and nail polish colors and current fashions without embarrassing myself. I could even discuss the "monthly visitor" and sympathize with others who were having theirs. After all, I had experienced one myself. That isn't to say I was entirely comfortable with my new sex. That would be overstating things. But on the other hand, I didn't exactly feel exactly uncomfortable either. But that Monday, I did start to feel a little uncomfortable once more. That was because everyone seemed to be giving me strange looks. From the girls, I was getting strange little disapproving frowns, and from the boys, I was getting little superior grins. I found myself looking down to make certain I didn't have an exposed breast or if my low sling jeans had suddenly dropped over my hips to expose my bikini panties. Nothing like that had happened though. Dannie noticed the looks, too. After morning classes as we were headed to the cafeteria for lunch, she told me what was going on. "It's that stupid Tommy Alexander," she explained to me. "Nancy Wallace told me after first period that he's been bragging to all his friends that he 'screwed your brains out' Friday night." "That asshole!" "There's more," she continued. "He told all his football team buddies that you gave him the best blow job he had ever had." I could feel my face turning red and my blood pressure rising. "I'll kill the bastard!"

"Let me have him," Dannie pleaded, taking my arm. "He deserves to find out what it's like to be a girl. I'll tell you what - I'll turn him into a girl our age - one who really loves to give great blow jobs. Then we'll turn the football team loose on her." "Dannie, you don't understand, do you?" I said softly shaking my head. "Understand what?" "It isn't right to change someone like that." "But he needs to be taught a lesson." I looked in the cafeteria and saw Tommy sitting with some of his friends. They were all chuckling and casting knowing little glances my way as we walked into the cafeteria. In a moment of weakness, I almost let Dannie have him. The creep looked so confident and so obnoxious that I had a momentary mental vision of him as a girl. But no, even if he had succeeded in raping me, I couldn't condone that - not after trying to get Dannie to understand that it wasn't right to play judge, jury and executioner in civilized society. She was making progress in understanding the moral implications of her actions and now wasn't the time to send her mixed signals. Still, something had to be done about Tommy... "You're right about him needing to be taught a lesson," I agreed at last, trying to keep my voice even as I watched the scumbag brag. "But I've got a better way of teaching it." I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do as I approached Tommy's table but I knew I had to do something. If I didn't, there was a very good chance Dannie would take action without my permission. I wished she could understand that it just wasn't right to change people without their permission no matter what the reason. The next few moments were going to be crucial ones in her development as well as in rescuing my reputation. "Hey babe!" Tommy grinned at me as if he had nothing to fear from me. It was an evil grin. I knew in that moment that he had been spreading the stories about me just to get even for the knee to the groin I had given him. I knew also that if I protested that he was lying, I would just be ridiculed. All of his friends had decided that he really had popped my cherry Friday night and there would be nothing I could do short of demonstrating physically that I was intact - and I had no intention of doing that! Then an idea hit me... "Tommy," I began, loud enough to be heard by all of his gathered friends but not so loud as to be unnatural, "I just wanted to apologize." His face clouded. This wasn't what he expected at all.

"I talked to someone who told me that kicking a boy in his..." I nodded down at his crotch, "...you know... could seriously hurt him. I didn't want to hurt you, Tommy. I just wanted you to leave me alone. Can you please forgive me?" The little speech was delivered so innocently that Juice Morgan, our star tailback, managed to spray the milk that he had been drinking right out of his nose as he laughed. Tommy turned a furious shade of purple when the rest of his friend joined Juice in laughing. It was all I could do to maintain my sweet, innocent expression of contrition as what I had done spread like wildfire throughout the cafeteria. As I turned and walked away, I gave a small smile to Dannie. "Okay," Dannie sighed as she joined me in the cafeteria line. "I have to admit, you got him big time." Tommy didn't speak to me for the rest of the school year. He continued to try to convince others that he had enjoyed sex with me, but I don't think anyone believed him after that day. I would remain on Tommy's enemies list from then on. That was ironic since Tommy would never know that he had me to thank for maintaining his masculinity. At least by the end of that school year, I had at least managed to convince Dannie that she didn't need to transform boys into girls to achieve her goals. Of course, it was too late for those of us she had transformed, but at least no other boys became girls that year - or anything else for that matter. That didn't mean that Dannie didn't use her powers, though. She still managed to project her consciousness to find out, for example, what a boy she might be interested in was doing. And there were minor conjuring tricks she would amuse herself with, but on the whole, she began to depend less and less on her powers. I think there were two reasons for this. First of all, the use of her transforming powers was very tiring. To my knowledge, she never was able to change, say, one animal into another in anything but appearance. That was far too complicated. Instead, sex and age were her normal limits, although I have to smile to myself when I describe such awesome powers as "limited." Perhaps it was the required shift in reality - or perceptions of reality - that took so much out of her, but she would never have been able to transform more than one personal at a time even if she had ever wanted to since the transformation process made her too tired to perform a second transformation right away. I like to think the second reason was even more important, though. I feel that the influence her parents and I had over her had changed her from a laboratory freak into a normal teenaged girl. Every day she fell into this new role more and more until she was indistinguishable from any other attractive sixteen year old (yes, we both were now sweet sixteen). The normal rituals of making friends, dating, going to class, and even shopping had turned her

into a normal girl. Of course, when I think about it, the same is true for me. I, too, was forced to endure those rituals, and each day that I lived as a girl made my new sex feel more and more natural. As far as my classmates were concerned, I had always been Darla and they treated me accordingly. That meant boys would ask me out on dates as well. To my surprise and pleasure, I found out that most boys weren't like Tommy. They were as shy and polite as I had been when I was a boy their age, and I found I enjoyed their company, even to the point of allowing them to kiss me. And yes, I did start dating Mike Ralston. It was nothing serious - I was only sixteen for god's sake - but I found I enjoyed being with him and didn't feel at all threatened when he put his arm around me or even kissed me. In fact, if I have to be honest, I kind of liked it. Probably the hardest thing for me to get used to as a girl was the shopping, though. I had always considered this most basic of female rituals to be senseless, but after being given the body of a girl, I began to understand why it was necessary. As a man, I had limited choices of clothing distributed in standard sizes. As a girl, though, the choices of styles and colors were mind-boggling, and it seemed as if society had dictated a wide variety of outfits, which could only be used on particular occasions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the wide diversity of bust, waist and hip sizes meant that just because something was in my size did not necessarily mean that it fit well. Nowhere was this truer than in swimwear. "I look like a cow," I muttered as I stood in front of a mirror wearing a lemon yellow two-piece swimsuit. Dannie had talked me into going to the mall with her to shop for beachwear. Summer was just a couple of weeks old, and while I was working for my father that summer (as a receptionist no less), I still had plenty of free time. In Southern California, free time is often beach time. I hadn't wanted to go shopping with her, but it proved to be necessary. Apparently I was a growing girl, because all the swimsuits in my drawer - four of them no less - were apparently left over from the previous summer when I had obviously had a little less... Well, let's just say the tops were a little tight. While Dannie had looked forward to trying on suits, I had dreaded it. I guess I just hadn't been a girl long enough to want to expose so much of my body so sexily. My comment had stemmed from the fact that I had come to realize that not all breast development is typically over at fifteen. My sixteenth birthday presents had included several new bras from my mother, and those bras were up another inch from my measurements when I was first transformed, so I was most certainly "filling out." I knew my breasts weren't inordinately large. I suppose they were about average, but they were the breasts of a

girl just becoming a woman, and they were certainly noticeable if the hungry stares of most boys I noticed were to be considered. Now, standing there in front of the mirror, I felt as if the suit made my growing breasts look even bigger than they really were. Of course, maybe that had been the manufacturer's intent. "You do not look like a cow!" Dannie laughed as she modeled a similar number in hot pink. "You look great..." I was actually flushing with no little pride from the comment when I realized her voice had trailed off, and in the mirror beside me, I could see her eyes wide with alarm. "What's wrong, Dannie?" "We have to get out of here!" she whispered to me. "What?" "Look in the mirror at that man at the entrance." There was nothing out of the ordinary about the man she had pointed out. He was a nice looking, clean-cut guy wearing a knit shirt and khaki slacks and was peering at the clothes in the window with the look of a bored husband waiting for his wife to show up. "I don't see..." "Oh Darla, his name is Ralph Monroe. He's with the government. I met him once at the... the lab. I think he was some sort of spook - CIA or something. We need to get out of here now!" She didn't wait for my reply, rushing away from the mirror. I followed her back to the dressing room where we hurriedly changed back into the jeans and tee shirts we had worn in. Dannie told some wild tale to the store manager about a former boyfriend hanging around outside the store and got her permission to let us leave through the storeroom door in back. The wait for the bus seemed to go on for hours. I was beginning to wish I had pressed mom harder for the car, but in her mind, I had gotten my driver's license only a couple of weeks earlier and wasn't ready to drive to the mall yet. Dannie kept looking around nervously, but whether for the bus or the agent I wasn't sure. In all the time I had known her, I had never seen her frightened. Her fright was catching. "What will they do if they find you?" I asked her at last. She hugged herself. "They'll take me back. Darla, I don't want to go back. I don't want to be a lab experiment. Help me!" "What can I do?" "When we get back home, I'll tell mom and dad. We'll have to get away. The Shaws will go with us. But when they come

to look for us, don't let them know that you know about me. You should be all right. They just want me - not you." "Should be?" I echoed, a queasy feeling rising in my stomach. I thought of how after I met Dannie, I wished for the longest time that I had never seen her. Now, she had become so much a part of my life that I didn't want her to go, no matter what happened to me. Months had gone by - months in which I had not only come to terms with being a fifteen year old - now sixteen year old - girl, but had actually begun to enjoy the experience. Oh, there were downsides certainly. Periods were uncomfortable at best and downright disgusting when I thought about it. Makeup was a pain, although I had become quite adept at its use. And there were times I missed having the strength to handle heavy objects. But on the other hand, I had developed a genuine friendship with Dannie - a friendship I would have never known if I had remained male. We shopped together, double dated, and basically just hung out together. We were both intelligent and popular, and most of the time it was hard for me to remember that it was her psychic powers, which had transformed me in the first place. Now, there was the threat that me. I would still be a girl. I for the rest of my life. There But somehow, without Dannie it transformation occurred for no she would be taken away from knew I was to remain female was no choice about that. would be as if my reason at all.

We said nothing to each other on the bus, but we held each other's hand, as if afraid that we would be lost from each other if we didn't. I could see Dannie was worried. In spite of her incredible powers, the men she feared had held her once for fifteen years. A lapse in security had allowed her to escape, but once they had her back, they would never make such a mistake again. I knew that she had no choice but to flee. But wherever she ran to, they would never give up looking for her. She could escape their clutches a hundred times but they had only to capture her once. We literally ran as we got off the bus at the entrance of our cul-de-sac. We were both relieved that there were no suspicious activities near any of the houses in our neighborhood - no strange cars or men in dark suits milling around. In fact, everything was quiet. If I had thought much about it at the time, I might have even said unnaturally quiet. "There's still time to get away," she breathed relieved as we ran to her house. Once inside, she yelled, "Mom! Dad!" "You don't need to yell," an unfamiliar voice said calmly from the kitchen. I turned as Dannie gasped at the appearance of a man, perhaps fifty with graying hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was casually dressed, as were the two men who flanked him, but while he stood there with his hands empty, each of the other men sported dangerous-

looking machine pistols aimed at Dannie and me. "You gave us quite a chase, Danielle," the man said with mock concern. He turned his attention to me. "And who is your young friend?" "Darla... Darla Post," I replied, almost as if I was responding to a royal command. "Pleased to meet you," he responded with an almost imperceptible nod. "I am Dr. Daniel Malone. I imagine Dannie has told you all about me." Of course she had - or at least Sarah had - but I tried to act as if I wasn't aware that standing before me was Dannie's creator. Genetically, I suppose I should say he was Dannie's father, but I couldn't bring myself to think of him as such. My heart was pounding in my chest as if I had just been introduced to the devil. "Where are my parents?" Dannie demanded as four more men with weapons showed themselves from various parts of the house. "Oh, they're fine," Dr. Malone replied. "As are your friends down the street. You were very creative with all of them, Dannie. I congratulate you. Changing them into such believable identities was part of what made it so difficult to find you. We never realized at first that you would all settle down into such a... mundane existence." "We just wanted to be left alone," Dannie almost pleaded, tears in her eyes. I knew what she was thinking. If there had only been a couple of them, she might have been able to do something, but there were so many weapons trained on her that before she could deal with them all, they would have her cold. I doubted if there were bullets in the guns. I suspected they contained some sort of nerve toxin something which would be active with only the slightest wound and lay her out for as long as needed. "I'm afraid we can't do that." There was the mock concern again. "You're far too important to be left to your own devices." "Sir, what shall we do now?" one of the armed men asked. Dr. Malone turned to him. "You can bring a van around now. We'll take Danielle with us now." As if on cue, another armed man herded Dannie's parents and the Shaws out of the kitchen where they had been held captive. "Mom!" Dannie cried. "Dad!" She tried to run to them, but one of the guards stepped in front of her, barring her path. Sure, Dannie could have swept him aside, but she didn't. She knew what would happen to all of us if she did, and she wouldn't have the strength to stop all of them.

"Very good, Dannie," Dr. Malone smiled triumphantly. "You have learned restraint. So we'll have no more incidents like your transformation of our young guard." Dannie said nothing, but the glare in her eyes was one of pure hatred. Dr. Malone had been right, though. She had learned restraint, and it was probably the only thing keeping the rest of us alive. I was coming to the conclusion that once Dannie was gone, our lives would no longer be important in any case. We were all loose ends. We knew far too much. "What are you going to do with my family and friends?" Dannie demanded, obviously thinking the same thing I was. "They'll be taken care of," he assured her. "You have no reason to worry about them." But the words were hollow. He called over one of his men and said something too him too faint for us to hear. The man betrayed himself, though, by looking up at Dannie's parents, the Shaws, and me with the look of a predator about to make its kill. He meant his assurances to sound casual, as if nothing important was going to happen to us, but Dannie and I looked at each other as he spoke with the man. It was obvious that the rest of us knew far too much to simply be released. At the best, we would be taken to some secure location until we couldn't cause any trouble. That would be standard procedure, I imagined, in a government operation. But just looking at the men surrounding Dr. Malone, I was coming to think that this was more than just a government black project. This was something that had gotten out of control, and while the government probably would never condone it, Dannie's parents, the Shaws, and I were in the way. We knew far too much to ever be released. So what would they do? A gas explosion in the house, perhaps? That would certainly eliminate the witnesses. Or would we just be taken somewhere private and be eliminated? "They're going to kill the rest of us," I whispered to Dannie while Dr. Malone and the agent determined our fate. "I can get some of them," she whispered back, "but there'll still be enough to take me and hurt you." There had to be a way. Then it came to me. It was dangerous, but certainly less so than leaving our fate in the hands of those thugs. It would set off a chain of events to repair reality, which I could not chart in my mind, but it was better than what Dr. Malone and his henchmen were undoubtedly planning for us. Who was to say? "Dannie, you have to change yourself," I whispered. She turned pale. "I... I can't." "There's not much time!" I whispered tersely. "Change yourself so that you don't have any of these powers. Then they won't be interested in you." "You don't know them like I do," she argued. "And besides,

I don't think the past would be changed." We had discussed that point before. While reality changed when Dannie used her powers, she had come to believe that only the present reality changed - not the actual past. She was probably right. While I could still remember the Shaws living across from us for several years, I knew now that they didn't. Their house had been created out of thin air. I had probably played ball where their house once stood, but I had no memories of it. In a way, it may have sounded like splitting hairs, but the past could only be changed by being in the past. That meant that even if Dannie no longer had her powers, Dr. Malone and his people would remember that she had had them since they had experienced the results of those powers. "Quiet down you two!" The agent Dr. Malone had been in deep conversation with had turned his attention back to us. Before he could say anything else though, more armed men came in through the front door. They were hustling more of our neighbors through the door - Frank and Olivia Kelly came first followed by little Charlene in the arms of her nanny. They all looked terrified. None of them - except little Charlene of course - had any inkling of Dannie's powers. Yet Dr. Malone and his men had to make sure all potential loose ends were tied up. They would be eliminated, too, just in case. With a sinking feeling, I realized my own parents would probably be rounded up as soon as they got home. "Is that all of them?" Dr. Malone asked. Our neighbors' guards nodded. "These are the only ones the instruments indicated have been changed," one of them explained. "Except for the nanny there. She refused to turn the little girl over to us." Charlene's nanny was a Hispanic woman who clutched at little Charlene as if she could somehow protect her from the armed men. Charlene actually looked relieved, as if she were being rescued from Dannie's punishment somehow. She just had no idea that the fate Dr. Malone planned for her was far worse than what Dannie had done to her. The Kellys just stood there looking confused, having no idea what had been done to them. "This is quite a useful device," Dr. Malone explained taking an instrument from the guard's hand. It looked to be about the size of a Walkman with a wide infrared scanner at one end. He moved the device over me. "Dannie's powers give off a residual energy that takes months to dissipate entirely. That's how we found her, you know. Teams of men have combed every city in the region trying to find some trace of her energy using these devices. We developed them just before Dannie ran away. Did you know that house where the Shaws live is just teeming with the energy? That was a bad mistake, Dannie." He finished his scan of me. "So she changed you as well. What were you before, my dear? Just another girl? Or did

she change you from a boy to a girl?" He looked at me with a wicked leer. "Yes, that's it. You were a boy, weren't you? I can see it in the way you're blushing." A guard came up to Dr. Malone. "The vans are here, sir." "Good. Put Dannie in my car and the rest of them in the van." "Where are you taking us?" I demanded as the guards began to round up everyone. "That's not your concern," Dr. Malone said, obviously no longer interested in me. "You're going to kill us, aren't you?" He was ready to deny it, but the startled look of being discovered was already on his face. "You don't need us, do you?" I pressed as a guard grabbed my arms, holding me so tight I knew the skin was already bruising. "You have the guard Dannie changed earlier, so you don't need to study us. We're all just in the way." "Get them out of here!" Dr. Malone growled. "Dannie," I pleaded, pulling away as much as I could to face her. "It's now or never!" I can only guess at what went on inside Dannie's head during those crucial moments. She had always told me that she couldn't change herself, and I think she had actually come to believe that. The truth was probably subtler, though. I think she always knew that if she really wanted to, she could change herself, but the results might be dangerous. After all, she had altered reality many times from the small careful lab experiments during her captivity to the more profound changes she had made during her escape and her time in our neighborhood. There was a chance that what she did to herself could unravel all of that, resulting in... what? But on the other hand, she knew she had no option. I could see that much in her eyes when they changed from a look of fear to one of determination. There was really no choice and she knew it. She had been fitted with a moral compass by Sarah and Bill and, to be immodest, me. She knew that to save her powers and avoid risk to herself, she would have to sacrifice all of those people she had come to care about. In addition, she would be a tool of Dr. Malone, an individual she had come to hate even more than she feared him. I could see her brow furrow, her eyes becoming deeper and darker than I had ever seen before. The two guards who had been pulling her toward the door stopped, as if suspecting that something was about to happen almost the way animals in the wild sense an approaching storm.

Storm. That was a good name for what happened next. The world around us seemed to ripple as it expanded and contracted slowly. Startled expressions replaced the confident glares of our captors. Dr. Malone somehow overcame the inertia that had affected us all, moving slowly toward Dannie as if he were encased in everhardening Lucite. "Nooooooo!" he screamed, but his voice was fading away like an ebbing sea. The next thing that happened occurred so quickly that my mind could barely register that it had actually happened at all. One moment, the room was filled with Dr. Malone and his agents. The next moment, they were gone, pulled away somewhere in less than the blink of an eye. Only a sudden popping of my ears as air rushed in where they had been before gave any physical evidence that they had been there at all. "Dannie!" It was Sarah screaming her name who brought me back to reality - or whatever reality now existed. I didn't have a chance to think about the fact that whatever had happened, all of us were still the same people we had been moments before. Whatever Dannie had done seemed to make no difference in our identities. I had half expected the sudden loss of her powers to change us back into the people we had been before. Oddly, that didn't seem to be a particularly desirable outcome when I thought about it. Had I really become that used to being Darla? Instead, my thoughts were focused on Dannie. She lay in the middle of the floor, so pale that at first I was afraid she was dead. Strangely, I felt a sense of real loss. Oh, of course my new feminine instincts, honed by weeks of experience, had heightened my sensibilities. Like most girls my new age, I was heartsick at the prospect of injury or death. No, the loss came from the fact that Dannie really had become my best friend without my even realizing it. There she was, the cause of everything that had happened to me. She had taken my girl, my sex, my majority, and my very identity and yet she had become my friend. She had paid the price before today that I had demanded in return for friendship. Now, she had paid that price many times over by risking her own life to save all of ours. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Sarah felt for a pulse. "She's alive!" she told us happily. And she was. It took a few minutes, but Dannie finally managed to sit up. "Did it work?" she asked weakly. "It worked!" I replied, quickly telling her everything that had happened as I hugged her. While Sarah and I were working with Dannie, Bill and the Shaws were handling the Kellys and Charlene and her nanny. The Kellys were given some cock and bull story about a government sting operation that had singled out the wrong people. Once the agents had learned they were in the wrong house, they had departed quickly using top secret stealth mode equipment. I don't think the Kellys believed a word of

it but I doubt if they would have believed the truth either. After all, the very manly Frank Kelly would scarcely have believed he had once been gay, and certainly his lovely wife Olivia would never believe that she was once been a man and his gay lover. But they seemed to accept the explanation and departed. I think they just wanted to get out of there and write the whole incident off as a bad dream. Charlene and her nanny were another problem, though. Charlene had been obviously exited, thinking in her tiny mind that she might now have allies. However, her ability to comprehend what had happened had been severely limited by her childish vocabulary and her inability to communicate with adults on anything but a simple level. We were most concerned that the nanny would tell what had happened as an excuse for why Charlene was so animated. Five crisp one hundred dollar bills from Bill's safe solved that problem, though, and as Charlene screamed juvenile cries of frustration, the nanny dutifully carried the baby girl back to her house, the five hundred dollars nesting securely in her pocket. "How do you feel?" I asked Dannie, who had now managed to make it to the couch. "I'm not sure," she admitted slowly. "I... I feel as if I lost a part of me." "It will pass," Sarah told her with a hug. "You'll be fine." And she was fine. A day at home resting and Dannie was ready to face life once again. She was tentative at first, as if others would notice her loss. I think she felt vulnerable as well. After all, before the raid, she had had reason to believe that there was no situation she couldn't handle with her powers. Perhaps she was right. But as the summer continued and the normal social life of a sixteen year old girl went into full swing, she seemed to have regained her confidence. She even began dating a nice boy who was a friend of Mike Ralston's. Since Mike and I had a semi-steady thing going that summer, it meant a lot of double dates and a lot of laughs. I suppose Dannie wasn't the only one to change during that summer. Whatever male attributes had mentally followed me into my new life were fading quickly. Dressing as a girl had become second nature, and I could no longer even walk through a mall without finding myself drawn to something in a store window and wondering how it would look on me. Socalled "chick flicks" suddenly appealed to me more than the typical summer action-packed movies I had always enjoyed when male. I seemed to be far less tech oriented, leading me to realize that when the fall term came that year, I'd probably be taking more biological science courses than the physical science courses that I had enjoyed before. I was already thinking of a career in medicine or some other biological field rather than trying to be a dot com millionaire.

And last but not least, okay, I was now unabashedly attracted to boys. Mike was certainly fun to be with but I knew he wasn't "the one." In spite of that, I knew "the one" wasn't far away in my life. When I found him, I'd give myself to him without a single thought about having once been male. Well, maybe there'd be a single thought, but it wouldn't be enough to stop me. But in spite of all the changes in both Dannie and me, there was still one problem which kept all of us from settling in and enjoying life. It had to do with Dannie's last powerful change. Sure, it had made her a normal girl. That meant that somewhere in the past, everyone believed she had been examined by Dr. Malone and his staff and been found hopelessly mundane. As a result, the flow of memories leading to our present time had changed for uncounted individuals. To be directly affected by Dannie's powers was to be made aware of them - unless like the Kellys, changes happened while sleeping. Dannie's parents, the Shaws, Charlene and I all remembered our previous lives. The nanny and the Kellys didn't, but they remembered armed men barging in on them and then simply disappearing without warning. So what about Dr. Malone and his men? They obviously didn't just disappear into thin air. The change in perceived reality meant they were someplace else, probably scattered among new assignments since Dr. Malone's project probably no longer existed. Their lives were changed radically, but what did they remember of the changes? And if they remembered, could they convince others that Dannie's powers had been real? If so, we might still expect trouble. Only this time, Dannie would lack the power to change reality to protect us again. Sarah and Bill found part of the answer in their own safe deposit box. "Bill and I are Dannie's actual parents now," Sarah explained to Dannie and me one late summer afternoon. "Dannie fit the profile for a secret government study but failed all the tests. They let her go and paid us for our trouble." "So in this reality, Dannie wasn't raised in a lab and isn't the genetic daughter of Dr. Malone," I surmised. "Exactly," Sarah agreed. "So what happened to the project?" Dannie asked. "Did they try again?" It was a sobering question. What if they had continued their research, creating another child like Dannie - only this time one they could keep under control? The world simply wasn't ready for such powers, and I doubted if it ever would be. The dark cloud of Dr. Malone's research still loomed over all of us. "I don't know," Sarah replied. "Since you were rejected in this reality, we were all out of the loop. If they

continued with it, we'd never know." "I've never really understood why we weren't changed back when Dannie lost her powers," I said. Frankly, I was just as happy we hadn't been. I had had enough trouble adjusting to being Darla. Being changed back into Darren - an event which I would have been overjoyed about a few short weeks before - would have probably sent me over the edge. Okay, so that's only part of it. I had changed from a guy who had sort of screwed up his career possibilities and let a couple of years slip by me into a cute high school girl with unlimited possibilities. Once I had gotten used to the idea of being a girl, I had come to realize that it was almost like being given a second chance to excel at the game of life. Top grades, a cute boyfriend, popularity I had never imagined would have been hard to give up. I hadn't even flinched the week before when I had been told by an excited Gloria that her sister Tanya and Ian were engaged. "I've wondered about that, too," Sarah admitted. "It's possible that there was some sort of residual effect from Dannie's abilities that kept everything close to Dannie in place." "I don't understand," I said, and saw Dannie nodding in agreement with me. "If that were the case, why did Dr. Malone and all his men disappear?" She shrugged. "Well, it's just a guess, but I think what Dannie was actually able to do in her changes was tap into some structure of reality that was somehow intelligent in a way we could never understand. When she made her changes, reality would try to accommodate her by changing physicality as little as possible to come up with the desired result." "So changing me didn't involve changing the past," Dannie offered, "but just the perceptions of the past?" Sarah nodded and smiled. "Exactly. If time itself were changed, we would have all changed back. But since only the present reality and not the actual past changed, the transformations you initiated remained in place." Dannie looked thoughtful. "So what would have happened to the guard I changed back at the lab?" "He's probably growing up as a little girl. They probably had some trustworthy family raise her. Only they won't remember how they got their little girl unless they directly experienced Dannie's powers." That did seem to be the key. If someone had directly experienced Dannie's powers while awake, he or she would still remember what Dannie had done, but while others might be affected by them, like my parents who now had a daughter instead of a son, everything would seem perfectly normal. Unfortunately, that also meant that Dr. Malone and his

staff would remember, even though they were now part of a changed reality. It also meant we were definitely still at risk from them. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. But eventually we decided we must be safe. Whatever reality had done must have taken care of the loose ends for us. The more time went by without detection, the safer we felt. By October, although none of us said it out loud, we began to feel that we were completely safe. We were wrong. Dannie and I were getting ready to go to a high school football game late on a warm fall afternoon. We were giggling and trying on various outfits as we tried to look as sexy as possible for our dates after the game. I was still dating Mike Ralston, and it was starting to get to be a more serious relationship. Maybe he would be the one after all. Dannie was still dating Mike's best friend and teammate, Jack Livingston, so we were both looking forward to a fun evening. Then we heard a car door slam outside Dannie's open window. We both looked down expectantly, hoping that one or both of the boys had decided to come see us before the game, but neither Mike's Nissan nor Jack's Ford was at the curb. Instead, a dark blue full-sized Ford was parked there, and the man who was coming up Dannie's walk wore a rumpled dark suit that was the nondescript uniform of civil servants throughout the world. My heart sank. There was only one reason I could think of for this to be happening. Someone in Washington had found out about Dannie. Granted, it was only one man, but Dannie no longer had the powers to escape. If the government suspected that she had really possessed the powers she once had, they'd keep her under wraps for the rest of her life even if the powers were completely gone. "What to we do?" I asked Dannie. "There's not much we can do," Dannie replied sadly. "Let's go see what he wants." By the time we got downstairs, Sarah was entertaining the man in the living room. Bill was in San Diego for the day so Sarah had to fend for herself. At least we were relieved to see that the man didn't appear to be any immediate threat. He had actually been sitting in a comfortable chair talking with Sarah, and as we entered the room, he rose politely and even smiled a disarming smile. "And which if these lovely young ladies is Dannie?" he asked in an engaging manner. Sarah rose and put protective hands on Dannie's shoulders. "This is my daughter, Dannie." She emphasized the word "daughter" so as to leave no doubt in the man's mind that she would protect her. "And this is her friend, Darla

Post." He actually looked at me with more fascination than he had Dannie. "Amazing," he breathed. "Were you really a man?" The question stunned me. "I...I..." My voice trailed off. I was too shocked to respond but not so shocked that I couldn't figure out what had happened. This man was definitely some sort of government agent. Dannie's act of desperation in surrendering her powers hadn't worked. Once again, the government was on to us. He must have seemed the consternation in our expressions, for he chuckled to himself and motioned us all to sit down. There's no need to be concerned," he assured us. "Just make yourselves comfortable and I'll explain what's happened." The man introduced himself as Jeremy Babcock and stated simply that he was "with the government." He didn't offer to show us an ID or identify the agency he was with. I suppose his agency wouldn't have meant anything to us anyway since it was probably a small super-secret group whose existence could not be confirmed by reviewing a list of publicly funded agencies. "And now, I have a story to tell you," he said, leaning back into his chair and loosening his tie as if to demonstrate that this would take some time. It did too nearly an hour by the time he had been diverted by questions - mostly from Sarah The gist of his story was that, as we had feared, memories of the past rather than the actual past had been changed. So the agents who had made the raid on Dannie's house suddenly and inexplicably found themselves elsewhere - on other assignments living altered lives. Since they had been exposed to Dannie's powers, they remembered what had happened to them, as did the infamous Dr. Malone. Unfortunately for them, no one else remembered their mission. Higher-ups remembered instead a failed experiment when over a decade earlier, an experiment had been made and a little girl had been tested - but not created - using advanced DNA techniques. In spite the assurances of a young and rising Daniel Malone, the little girl tested perfectly normal with none of the paranormal talents the experimenters had been seeking. With the failure of the project, the girl was returned to her natural parents, a successful young couple with good connections - a Bill and Sarah Winters. The project was terminated with the murky secret funds that had sustained it being spread to other more promising projects. Dr. Daniel Malone's rising star had crashed back to earth and the young scientist was reassigned to less challenging duties under the supervision of more successful scientists. Never again would he be trusted on an expensive black project - that was the price of failure. In the months after Dannie had disposed of the raiding party, some of its members had managed to convince someone

in the government that their claims of what had really happened were at least worth investigating. "That's where our people were called in," Babcock explained. Sarah asked the question we were all wondering about. "But you said we had nothing to worry about. It seems as if you believe that the story Dr. Malone told is true. And yet you're saying you're not here to arrest us - to take us back to the lab?" Babcock smiled. "That's exactly what I'm saying, Mrs. Winters. I suppose I'd better explain. You see, what everyone except Dr. Malone and some of his associates remember is that the project to breed humans with psychic powers failed completely. The lab Dr. Malone used was reassigned for other projects, although no one seems to remember what those projects were. Then a few months ago, the entire complex which had been deserted for years burned to the ground. That was just a few days after a forest ranger found a little girl up there." Dannie blushed a little at the memory of the changed guard. "Was the... little girl okay?" she asked hesitantly. "Oh yes," Babcock confirmed. "She was just fine. It was as if she had experienced some sort of a breakdown. She wouldn't talk or even walk. Of course that was months ago. She's doing fine now. My wife and I adopted her when no one claimed her. You see my wife and I can't have children of our own..." His voice trailed off. When he spoke of the little girl, there was the pride of a father - and the concern of one as well. "You're afraid that your... daughter is somehow involved in all of this, aren't you?" I ventured. He nodded grimly. "Exactly. When I was interviewing one of Malone's men, the story of a guard changed into a little girl came out. Our daughter is that guard, isn't she, Dannie?" "I suppose so," Dannie allowed. "I was afraid he was going to... you know, do something to me. I don't think he was, though. I've learned a lot since then, and I think he was just flirting with me. I hope he - she - is okay." "She'll be fine," Babcock replied, "but only if we keep the wraps on this. If the success of Dr. Malone's project was ever uncovered, I'm afraid they'd want to take our little girl away from us. I think the trauma of the change and everything that followed severely eroded her male adult personality. If this whole project is resurrected... well, I think you understand why I'm concerned - why I volunteered to conduct this investigation. I wanted to make sure any credibility this project might have would be buried forever." "You can do that?" I asked hopefully.

"It won't be easy," Babcock admitted, "but I think so. The whole story is just so outlandish that I think I can convince my bosses that this whole thing was just a mass hallucination, caused by an experiment that got out of hand. We have... substances in our arsenal that could trigger such a hallucination. I think I can convince them that creating such hallucinogens was the last mission of that lab before it burned down. It will sound more reasonable than what really happened, won't it?" We all shook hands with Mr. Babcock - if that his name. Sarah even gave him a grateful hug. him and his wife well with their daughter and It was strange, but our very lives were saved had never seen before and with any luck would again, and we couldn't even be certain of his was actually We all wished saw him off. by a man we never see name.

"That's a relief," Dannie sighed when she and I had adjourned to a couple of chairs poolside to wait for our dates to show up. "Do you think he'll be able to convince his bosses?" I asked. "I think so," she replied. Then she got a devilish look on her face. "Just in case, though, I'd better get you prepared. "Prepared for what?" "Close your eyes," she ordered, "and hold out your hands." I decided to play along and followed her instructions. "Think about how great it would be to have a nice, frosty Diet Coke - in fact one for each of us." I could almost feel the frosty cans just beyond my reach. "Now grab them!" She said it so forcefully, I actually clutched at... two frosty cans of Diet Coke... "Darla, are you going to hog both cans?" I was frozen, arms extended, until Dannie grabbed one of the cans in my trembling hand and opened it giggling. "You still have your powers!" I shouted. "No I don't - you do!" I looked at the can, which I was gripping so tightly I was surprised it didn't burst open like a can of Popeye's spinach. "Me?" Dannie hugged me, laughing. "I was afraid surrendering my powers wouldn't be enough to get the government off our

backs. It almost wasn't. If it hadn't been for Mr. Babcock, it wouldn't have been. I realized they would be focused on me and not you. I transferred the powers to you just in case something went wrong." "But... but... I don't want your powers." The thought of being able to change things as Dannie had done was actually horrifying to me. They were powers no human should have. "You don't have to do anything - except learn to use them if something goes wrong. If our new friend, Mr. Babcock, can't convince his superiors, they may be back." "All right," I conceded. "I understand what you mean. But I don't want to use the powers unless I have to." "Agreed, best friend." And I never would use them, I told myself. Never. Never ever. Well, almost never... The End