Don’t Drink The Gene Juice

"So how did she take it?" Jenna asked Cathy, who sadly, looked like a boy again.

They were sitting on a bench in the park, after riding their bikes along a trail that ran around it.

People played games on the lawn in front of them. Several people had dogs with them. One dog slept not too far off next to some trees.

Cathy didn't say anything.

"C'mon Cathy," Jenna chuckled, "you promised this time."

Jenna had been encouraging Cathy to come out to her sister for several weeks, and she had kept falling through. She'd always given some kind of excuse, many of them frustratingly sensible. Jenna wanted her to be happy, but Cathy was just unwilling to talk about it.

On the other hand, Cathy had taken a few steps. She had been acting a lot differently, a lot less like she was trying to act manly. In addition to that, after slyly asking her parents under the guise of just wanting to try it out, she had taken some over the counter pills to increase her hair growth.

Now she had hair going down to her shoulders, and she talked a lot about how euphoric it made her feel. She slowly was acclimating her parents to it, styling it in a progressively more and more feminine way.

"Well," Cathy finally answered Jenna, "I did talk to her..."

"About being a girl?"

Cathy scrunched up her face. "No. I wimped out."

Jenna sighed, but seeing Cathy's crestfallen expression, placed a reassuring hand on her back.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Jenna said. "The whole reason I've been encouraging you to do this is so that you feel more comfortable. If you don't feel comfortable yet doing this, then that's alright. Do what you feel ready to do."

"Augh," Cathy groaned, "I hate hearing people say 'do whatever you think is best.' I hate them forcing the choice onto me. I wish that they'd just make me choose."

"Even if they chose to force you to be a boy?"

Cathy gave a frustrated smile. "You make this very difficult Jenna."

"It's a difficult situation for you. But sometimes in life you have to take a leap of faith. What's the worst case scenario?"

"My parents are so mad I want to be a girl that they stuff me in crate and ship me to Antarctica."

Jenna snorted a laugh. "The most realistic worst case scenario."

Cathy sat for a moment, wringing her hands. Her expression became more serious.

"My parents wouldn't hate me," she said. "I don't think they could ever hate me. I don't think they'd ever kick me out of the house. But they would feel frustrated, and annoyed. They'd be mad about how much I would have to change."

Cathy sighed. "But... but I think about how much they love me. And how much they care about others. When I was little, my aunt was injured in a work accident, and had to be in the hospital for like, a month. She was a single parent at the time, and has a son with special needs.

"But she and my Dad were willing to take care of him, and did so without complaint. My aunt told me once about all this, and how grateful she was for them taking care of my cousin, as well as financial help they gave her.

"So I don't feel like they'll get angry or hate me. But the annoying, guilty thing is that the negative things they'll say and do will be out of a desire to help me. They'll think that they're doing good, and they'll mean well, but in the end it will make me feel miserable. Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong, without an outside perspective. Augh."

"Then explain that to them," Jenna said. "Be adamant and strong. I know you can do it. Start with your sister."

"Okay," Cathy said. "But my sister at least told me she liked my hair, remarking that it looked 'pretty.'"

"She's right," Jenna said.

Cathy smiled. "I... I feel like I'll be able to tell my parents at some point. But how do you think Wy will react?"

"I honestly can't say for sure," Jenna said. "Wyatt is our friend. He seems like he's been more cheerful as you've teased him less though. I think that he likes that you don't think he's weird."

"In a way," Cathy said, "I feel similar to Wy. He feels so self-conscious about being a furry. I don't want him to be made fun of."

"I think that Wyatt won't be mean," Jenna said. "But you're not exactly worrying about if he'll accept you, are you?"

"He'll accept me," Cathy said.

"You want to know if he will date you."

"Yep," Cathy said with little emotion.

"You'll have to see," Jenna said. "But you need to find out. If you just leave your feelings unsaid, then you might miss out on being with him. If you do talk to him about it, then he might say no, but at least you'll know for sure, and you won't have to worry anymore."

"That would be the reasonable course of action," Cathy sighed. "I'm just not very good at doing that."

"You can't do this just by dropping hints and attempting to flirt with him," Jenna said.

"I know."

"Be honest with him. Tell him how you truly feel."

Cathy suprisingly let out a loud few laughs. "No, no, I don't think I'm going to do that."

Some people passed on the bike trail next to them, and they appeared somewhat startled by Cathy's laugh. The dog that sat in the grass not too far from them was also woken up by it, and then barked a bit at the passing cyclists.

"Why not?" Jenna asked after the dog calmed down.

"Jenna," Cathy looked into Jenna's eyes, "I've been crushin' on Wy since like, day one. Don't you remember that... that one time?"

"What one time?"

"You know...," Cathy said. "When we were in elementary school... and we were pretending we were playing astronaut, and I wanted to reenact the scene of a movie I'd seen recently..."

"Oh," Jenna said. "Dang. i can't believe I forgot something like you kissing Wy."

"Everyone thought we were just little kids being little kids," Cathy said. "But it intensified an unhealthy crush that lasts to this day."

"I wouldn't call it unhealthy," Jenna said.

Cathy shrugged. "I dunno. Unhealthy for a kid at that age then."

"So you're in love with him then?"

Cathy cringed. "You aren't supposed to say things like that so casually. You're supposed to save it for a dramatic moment."

She leaned back against the bench, exhaling. "But yeah. Whatever. I guess I do. And the moment he realizes that, the silent romance I've been building up for years will suddenly explode."

"Rather pessimistic," Jenna said.

"Even if I'd been a girl biologically all along," Cathy said, "and I dropped on him all of my feelings, then he'd probably still be really surprised and a little unnerved. The only reason I haven't technically been stalking him is because we're all friends, so I get to be around him and at his house without being creepy."

"Well," Jenna said, "just take it slow. See what he thinks. Then you can confess this to him down the line."

"If things ever go that well," Cathy sighed.

Jenna took a moment for them to pause, and just sit and hear the spring time sounds around them. The air smelled beautiful from all the woods around the park, and it was a nice sunny day.

"Jenna?"

"Yeah Cathy?"

"Didn't... didn't there used to be a dog lying over there?"

"Yeah I guess," Jenna shrugged.

"Did you notice that it... didn't have an owner? Or a collar, or anything?"

"I guess I probably should get one of those."

The two of them shot their gaze to the side as a familiar face came out of from the trees. All Wyatt had on was a t-shirt and some shorts, with no shoes or socks.

It was Wyatt, but he was a lot different looking. A slight growth of fur covered his body. His ears were distinctly dog ears sticking out of the hair on his head, he had a black snout, and sticking out the back of his pants was a long fluffy tail.

Jenna wasn't sure what shocked her more. That their friend appeared to have been eavesdropping on them or that he was now basically a real furry.

"W... Wyatt...," Cathy uttered in a daze.

He gave a happy bark, and wagged his tail.