Announcementcontent warning: dysphoria"I told you both I'm ok," I mumbled. "I'm back to normal, crisis averted and all that stuff."

  Harper shook his head, "Dude you don't sound ok."

  Ellie agreed, "He's right Bke. You sound uptight."

  I drained the st of my soda then set the empty can down on the coffee table before sighing once again, "Of course I'm uptight. That was totally freaky, right? Like I got changed into a cute girl, then it looked like I was going to be stuck that way forever? That freaked me out. Not to mention, the whole thing kind of proved magic is real, right? Like all three of us saw what happened to me. Now we all know magic is a real actual thing! Who knows what other stuff we think's make-believe is really real?"

  "And ontop of all that this stupid ring still won't come off," I added as I held up my left hand.

  The metal band was still there, stuck around my left pinky finger. At least it was still that dark polished bck. I could maybe pass it off to people as normal, like maybe I decided to wear a ring for some reason. If it had turned back to its original bubblegum pink that would have been way too much.

  My friends exchanged another look as they frowned at each other. Then Harper responded, "You're right dude. That was pretty freaky. I can only imagine how much it must have sucked, suddenly being small and cute and soft. Especially at first, with the pink hair and make-up? Not to mention that skimpy outfit showing off all those curves and stuff?"

  He shook his head, "If that happened to me I'd have lost it for sure."

  "Yeah. It was pretty messed up," I mumbled as I tried not to think about all that stuff he described, or how it felt. Or how I felt now that it was gone.

  I really tried to sound convincing as I added, "I'm gd it's over though, and I'm back to normal again."

  Ellie watched me for another second or two before she shook her head, "I'll be honest Bke, you don't sound gd. You sound kind of depressed to me. And I gotta say, you looked happier while you were a girl."

  "She's right," Harper agreed. "I know the whole thing's really freaky, and it definitely would have messed me up. But apart from the shock, you honestly seemed like you were ok with it? Or at least some of it. And you were definitely smiling a couple times."

  My cheeks were burning as I slumped back on the sofa and crossed my arms in front of my ft shapeless chest, as if I was trying to pull my hoodie around me a little more. Like I was trying to hide or something, maybe. Not that I could really hide, not with my two friends sitting right there staring at me.

  That cold heavy weight was still in my gut too, if anything it felt even worse than before. And all I really wanted to do was forget the whole thing happened. I didn't want to remember what it felt like or how I looked, I didn't want to think about why being a cute girl made me smile.

  I finally just shook my head and mumbled again, "Please just drop it ok? I'm not a girl. And if I ended up looking like one it'd just cause a huge mess of problems for me. Like with my mom, my sister, work, school, everything."

  The two of them continued staring at me for another few seconds, before Ellie finally apologized. "Ok Bke. Sorry, we didn't mean to upset you or anything."

  "Yeah," Harper nodded. "I'm sorry dude. We're worried about you though, ok? So if you change your mind and want to talk about this stuff, we're both here for you."

  I nodded quietly but didn't say anything else, and fortunately they both finally let the whole thing go. Or at least, they stopped asking me about my feelings and if I was ok and all that stuff. There were still some other reted topics that they couldn't quite give up on yet.

  "So that was weird how the ring seemed to have three different phases, right?" Ellie asked. "Like first you've got the magical girl transformation, with the pink outfit and everything. Then instead of going back to normal, it seemed like there was an intermediate stage where you kept part of the transformation but lost the magical girl outfit? Then finally it seemed to wear off completely, and you went back to your original body."

  "I'll bet if there's any magical girl powers they'll only be active when you're in that first form," Harper said.

  "Yeah that's what I was thinking," the ravenette tomboy agreed. Then she added, "I'm curious though about that second part of the transformation? Is there some significance to it? And what triggered the final transformation back to normal?"

  She continued, "From what I can remember, twisting the ring then doing the sky-punch thing triggered the magical girl transformation. And untwisting the ring undid the magical part but left you a girl. You didn't mess with the ring again though, not that I noticed. So what made you turn back to normal?"

  "Could be the transformation wore off?" the athletic blond suggested. "Too bad we didn't record any of that with our phones. Then we could check the video, maybe catch other clues we didn't notice at the time?"

  Ellie agreed, "Good idea! Bke, next time you do the magical girl thing you need to record it. Or let us know, so we can video the whole thing."

  By that point there was a frown on my face. I insisted, "There won't be a next time! You two are going on like you think I should keep messing with this ring. Do you seriously think that's a good idea? You think I should turn myself into a cute pink-haired girl again then start experimenting?"

  Ellie grimaced, "I mean, I would? I know I said I wouldn't be caught dead in anything so girly, but c'mon! Magic? Super powers? I think I'd be curious enough to try it out."

  "Although I'd probably do it by myself," she added. "Like at night in my bedroom, or somewhere private so I didn't have to worry about other people seeing me."

  "Riiiight," Harper nodded with a sly grin. "Good point."

  I was still frowning as I looked back and forth between the two of them.

  "I'm not going to turn myself into a girl again," I stated. I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince them or me as I continued, "Not now, and especially not alone in private. We have no idea what it is, how it works, where it came from, or why someone sent it here. We don't even know if it's safe."

  Both my friends looked like they had more to say on that subject, but fortunately the front door opened and my little sister came in. Better still she had one of her friends with her, and neither Ellie or Harper would talk about the magic ring or what it did to me while Amelia and Alice were around.

  "Hey sis, Alice," I greeted her as she and her friend went past towards the kitchen.

  She hey'ed back as her and Alice helped themselves to soda. Then she let me know, "Alice is staying for dinner tonight. Are your friends staying too? Do you all want to get pizza?"

  Amelia was sixteen, in grade ten, and she was way more popur and social than I ever was. She was also a lot more attractive, she got all mom's good looks while I was just kind of boring and pin. Then again, as a magical girl I was way cuter. For that matter even as a non-magical girl I was pretty enough to compete against Amelia. With a little make-up and some attention to my hair, maybe some cute clothes...

  I felt my cheeks heat up as I forced those thoughts away. Instead I looked to Ellie and Harper and asked, "What do you two think? Pizza works for me if you're both up for it?"

  Not that we had a lot of options, our vilge was tiny, just a bit bigger than the crossroads where two main county roads met. We only had three restaurants, and only the pizza pce would deliver. And then only Friday and Saturday nights, if you were lucky.

  There was more selection if you had a car and didn't mind going out. There was a Chinese pce a few kilometres north of us in Markdale, and a pce opened up about that far to the south in Dundalk that specialized in wings and ribs and stuff like that. Either of those options would mean asking Harper to drive us though, and I hated to take advantage of him like that.

  "Sounds good," Ellie nodded.

  Harper agreed, "Yeah that works."

  We didn't go for anything fancy, just a party-size pepperoni pizza. Everyone chipped in, then while we waited for it to arrive my sister and her friend headed upstairs to go hang out in Amelia's bedroom.

  I was a little worried that my friends would take the opportunity to start talking about magical transformations and rings and stuff again, but fortunately nobody wanted to risk being overheard.

  Instead the three of us just rexed on the sofa and watched TV, we talked about how we did on our exams and our weekend pns and normal stuff like that. When the pizza arrived Amelia and Alice came downstairs and grabbed some slices, then they hung out in the kitchen while Ellie and Harper and I stayed in the living-room.

  And through it all I did my best to ignore that sleek polished bck gold ring on my left pinky finger. I tried not to think about any of the stuff my friends said, about experimenting with it it. I especially tried not to think about turning myself into a girl again. And I absolutely positively did not think about how I felt when I saw myself in the mirror. Either with the cute long pink hair and bright green eyes, or with my normal light brown hair and hazel eyes. And you can bet I didn't waste even a second thinking about what it felt like to have boobs, or smooth shapely legs and curvy hips, or what I saw between my legs when I flipped up my pleated pink skirt.

  In fact I was so busy not thinking about any of that stuff I barely noticed what the three of us were talking about as we ate. And I didn't even realize Ellie had some magical girl anime thing streaming on the TV the whole evening. It wasn't until people started talking about heading out that I finally clued-in to what was going on.

  "Yeah I should get going as well," Harper said. "Gotta be at work at like nine tomorrow morning. Ellie, Alice, you two want a lift?"

  My best friend nodded, "Sure."

  Alice was a little surprised, considering she and Harper weren't friends and barely knew each other. That's the kind of guy he was though, looking out for people like that.

  "Are you sure?" she asked. "I can probably get my mom to come pick me up."

  "Yeah it's fine," Harper insisted. "If you're worried about me I can drop you off first, so Ellie will be there the whole time."

  "Ok then, thanks!" Alice smiled.

  I looked to Ellie and Harper and asked, "Anything special I should bring for tomorrow?"

  "Nah," the tall jock shook his head. "I figure we can grab whatever we need at Crawford's when I pick you up after work."

  Ellie agreed, so the three of us all bid each other a good night. Meanwhile Amelia and Alice were doing the same thing, and finally my friends and my sister's friend all piled into Harper's beat-up old pick-up truck. They all waved, then pulled out and headed off.

  I closed the front door, then told Amelia "I'm going to get ready for bed now. I have work first thing in the morning too."

  "Whatever," she shrugged as she headed into the living-room to take over the TV.

  Over the next fifteen or twenty minutes I did my best not to think of that ring or any of the other stuff, but as I got ready for bed I found it almost impossible. Especially when I got undressed. I never really liked my body, but I could usually ignore it. Not this time.

  Tonight I was painfully aware of my ft skinny chest, the dark wiry hairs on my arms and legs, and the patchy whiskers around my mouth and on my chin that I had to shave off every morning. Normally all I wore to bed was my boxers, but I found myself pulling on a loose t-shirt as well.

  I quickly slipped under the covers, figuring if I didn't have to see my body I wouldn't have to think about it. That usually worked, it's why I always wore stuff like long dark pants and my big hoodie.

  Except it wasn't working tonight. And as I y there alone in the dark I found myself thinking about the ring, and the magic, and the transformation. I also thought about setting up my phone with the camera app to record it like Ellie and Harper said, but quickly decided against that idea. I told myself it was safer not having that kind of evidence ying around on my phone. Plus if I did that it'd mean having to see my real body, both live and in the recording.

  So I stayed where I was, ying in bed with the bnkets overtop of me. But under the covers my right hand edged closer to my left, until I could feel the hard metal ring around my little finger. I didn't see it glow pink when I twisted it, but it suddenly felt warm again, and a little tingly.

  I shut my eyes and slowly closed my left hand into a fist, as I felt all those butterflies from before suddenly show up in my tummy again. And even with my eyes shut I still saw the pink fsh when I punched my left fist upwards towards the ceiling.

  PurpleCatGirl