Don’t Drink The Gene Juice

"Just... stay in here for a bit," Jenna told Cathy. "Maybe we can find an opportunity to sneak you out. Or maybe you can hide in here, and I can say that you're taking a nap because we stayed up late. Then you can wait it out until you change back."

Cathy nodded, but her head was down. She looked very dejected.

Jenna closed the door behind her, and calmed herself. She was going to protect her friend, and her secret.

Jenna came down the stairs to see them wheeling their baggage into the family room.

"You're back early," Jenna said.

"Yeah," Dad said, a bit saddened. "Lily's team didn't place as high as we thought they would."

"Yeah," Lily fumed, "how on Earth was I supposed to know that they kept changing istabul's name?"

"Istanbul," Jenna corrected.

"Shut it," Lily said.

"Why don't you go have a sandwhich dear," Mom said. "She's just a bit upset. Her team apparently wasn't told that the questions would be assigned at random. She'd trained for all the science questions and they assigned her a lot of history ones."

Lily growled, angrily slapping pieces of a ham sandwhich down on top of each other. "This is a war crime."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Mom said. "You and Skylar have a good time?"

"Yeah," Jenna said. "But... we did kind of stay up late."

"How late?"

"Unimportant," Jenna dodged the question. "Cath - "

She pretended to cough to cover her slip.

"Skylar is taking a nap right now," Jenna said.

"I thought you two were going to sleep in the living room," Mom said.

"Skylar's been having back problems, and I let him sleep in my bed. I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor. Is that alright?"

Mom sighed. "Jenna... I know... I know that Skylar is a good friend of yours. But..."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "It's not like I wasn't bi before Mom. Is it really different because I'm a girl now?"

"Well...," Mom looked away from Jenna, thinking. "Yes. Because you've been dating Tommy now, and to my knowledge, your friends are straight."

Well, technically right. Straight for which gender though?

"Are you gonna be like this if I go to a sleepover with some girls? I'm just as attracted to them. Am I going to have to sleep in some empty room any time I stay at a friend's house?"

"Jenna," Mom said sternly, "I don't like this talk from you."

Jenna noticed Lily slink off to another room, getting away from the tension.

Jenna stood silently.

"I'm going to ask it flat out," Mom said. "Did you have sex with Skylar?"

"No," Jenna said with an agry, wrinkled brow.

"Are you telling the truth?" Mom asked.

Jenna paused for a moment, almost saying "no." Mom liked to switch it up between "are you telling the truth" and "are you lying" to throw her and Lily off balance.

"Yes," Jenna said.

"You better Jenna," Mom said. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I felt the need to accuse you. And I'm sorry that this is complicated for you, but I really don't feel comfortable with you sleeping in the same room with him alone. A party with friends is different. There's multiple people."

"You don't trust Skylar," Jenna stated.

"I'm just trying to emphasize the seriousness of this to you Jenna," Mom said. "This isn't something to go messing around with. I've been doing some reading, and girls that changed like you are apparently incredibly fertile. You need to be very responsible about this."

"At least make sure he uses a condom," Dad said.

"Travis!" Mom turned to him.

"What?" he shrugged. "She's a mature young lady. Honestly, if she really wants to..."

"No," Mom said, "she needs to set some boundaries."

"Oh c'mon," Dad said, obviously trying to act laid-back. "Better we talk about this now and she learns to be responsible with it rather than going off to school and leaving us in the dark."

"Travis, she has a few years before she really needs to be thinking about that."

"She's not a minor anymore," Dad said, "she's legally an adult. I think -"

"I don't care about having sex right now da**it!" Jenna exclaimed. "Leave me alone."

"Don't you swear young lady," Mom chastised, "and I'm more worried about boys. Skylar already pressured you and Wyatt into drinking that foul stuff. Who's to say -"

Mom paused. They Jenna and Dad turned around, and saw a figure standing at the top of the stairs, a bit obscured by shadow, since the lights were off.

Mom held her palm to her face. "Skylar... I... I don't know how much your heard..."

She hesitated. The figure came down the stairs into the light, and turned to them. Sunlight from the skylight above revealed their features.

It was a girl with blonde hair tied into braids, wearing a pink pair of pajamas.

"You're not Skylar," Mom said with a deep sense of confusion in her tone.

"No. I'm Cathy."

Cathy said it with firmness and conviction. Unafraid.

Jenna saw Mom's eyes widen as she realized what was going on. Jenna noticed Lily peeking  her head into the hallway. She hadn't left to get away from the tense conversation. She'd left to spy on it.

"That's right," Cathy said. "I'm a girl. I chose to look like this. Jenna did not pressure me at all."

Mom seemed completely flabbergasted. She never had liked some of the coarse, rough edges of Skylar's behavior. This must have seemed impossible to her.

Cathy slowly walked down the stairs and into the living room. "I don't care what you have to say to me. but I'm sick of being afraid of this. Send me back to my house if you want, but don't punish Jenna. She's done nothing wrong. She's been nothing but kind to me, and is my best friend."

They stood silently for a moment. Cathy breathed deep and heavy, with tightened fists. She looked ready to face a torrent of anger.

"That can't be Skylar," Lily walked closer, looking Cathy up and down. "He'd never wear clothes this pretty."

"Not for someone as annoying as you," Cathy said.

"It IS him! Or her, I guess," Lily said in amazement. "Is this permanent?"

"No," Cathy said. "I... this was a temporary change. It will wear off in a few hours."

"Too bad," Lily said. "You don't look nearly as ugly as you did before."

Cathy smiled a bit at what was a compliment for Lily.

"Now you're not Skylar anymore," Lily said. "Skylar doesn't smile."

Cathy looked like she was about to make some remark, but held it back. "You're right Lily. Skylar doesn't smile that much. But Cathy does."

"I am very surprised," Mom said. "That's all I can say."

"But not angry," Dad said. "Not one bit."

"No," Mom hopped onto Dad's bandwagon. "No, we aren't mad. I'm... I'm really sorry that I accused you."

"It's okay," Cathy said. Some of the vigor in her had lessened. She'd been prepared for a fight and it hadn't come.

Mom looked as if she wanted to say some derisive words about gene juice, but the morality of it got a bit complicated when it helped someone achieve their gender identity.

"So why do this now?" Dad asked.

"I wanted to be alone with Jenna," Cathy said. "And she helped me a lot. I'm feeling a lot more confident about being a girl."

"So why didn't you just take some perma-juice?" Lily asked.

"I'm not ready to come out to everyone," Cathy said. "Eventually I want to, but it will be a while. I was going to hide in Jenna's bedroom but..."

She took a deep breath. "I don't want to hide. I want to be myself."

Mom had relaxed some, and now smiled. "Well I'm glad that you trust us. You're always welcome to be yourself here... Cathy."

Lily's eyes lit up. "Does this mean I have another high school girl I can hang out with?"

Cathy laughed. "Sure Lily."

Lily hugged her. "I like you so much better than Skylar. I don't know what cellar you locked him in, but I hope he doesn't come back."

Cathy giggled. "Don't worry Lily. I don't plan on being that person ever again."