The following Wednesday was the party at Alan's house. Zoe, Miles, and Avery all carpooled to Alan's house together. When they got there, they were greeted by Alan at the front door. "Hello, friends," said Alan. "We're gonna be in the backyard for the party."

"Okay," said Miles. "This should be fun."

Alan and the other breast cancer awareness club members really did it up with the party. Alan's father was operating the barbeque and grilling burgers and hot dogs for everybody. Brittany was overseeing the tables with chips, cupcakes, cookies, grapes, and cups of water and lemonade. Pink streamers were adorning the backyard fences, and a large picture of Alan's late mother Delany Chase was propped up on display at the center of it all. About a dozen other kids were there too, eating food and playing volleyball on Alan's back lawn.

"Welcome," Mrs. Fury said when she saw Zoe, Miles, and Avery come into the backyard. "Thank you so much for coming."

"It's our pleasure," said Zoe. She looked about the other kids at the party and said "Looks like everyone else is here, too."

"Except Michael and Skylar," said Mrs. Fury.

"What?"

"They're going out this afternoon," Mrs. Fury explained.

"Oh, that's right," said Zoe. "Skylar finally got Michael to agree to start dating her!"

Mrs. Fury raised her eyebrows.

"Oh-I heard about it at school," Zoe lied.

"As has almost everybody else," said Alan. "But at least Skylar's having fun with her new boyfriend."

"Why don't you dig in?" Mrs. Fury offered. "We've got lots of food here."

"Sure," said Zoe. She, Miles, and Avery all got plates of burgers, chips, and cupcakes.

As they were getting their fill, Brittany waved to Zoe. "Hi!" she said.

"Hey Brittany," said Zoe. "Sorry I couldn't hang out with you this week."

"That's okay," Brittany replied. "I'm free tomorrow."

"Great!" said Zoe. "Me too!"

Zoe, Miles, and Avery all ate their food and took some time to play volleyball with the other kids. But after half an hour, Mrs. Fury called everyone to attention. "Okay, everyone," she said. "Alan and I have some announcements to make."

Everyone gathered around the picture of Delany Chase where Alan and Mrs. Fury were standing. "As the counselor for the breast cancer awareness club, I have been thrilled to see you all come together and help spread awareness about breast cancer," said Mrs. Fury. "Each of you have gone to great lengths to sell our merchandise and promote our club on social media. But most of all, we would like to acknowledge Zoe Fletcher."

All eyes turned to Zoe, who took the chance to step forward. "Like Alan said at our meeting a week and a half ago, Zoe has sold the most items out of all of you. Thanks to the sales she generated, we were able to meet our $50,000 goal sooner than we expected. So thank you, Zoe! Thank you for your wonderful contributions!"

Zoe smiled. "Just doing my job," she said. But what she thought was My job for Mr. Al.

"I'll bet my mom would've been proud of you," said Alan. "I know I am."

"But, even with all your contributions, the people who deserve our honor the most are Alan and Skylar," said Mrs. Fury. "They were the ones at the head of this all. They organized the club, and they oversaw the actions of the rest of the club members. Therefore, I will be presenting the president's award to Alan." She pulled out a bronze plaque with Alan Chase's name engraved on it and handed it to Alan.

"Thank you, Mrs. Fury," said Alan. "But what about Skylar?"

"Yes, Skylar wasn't able to make it today," said Mrs. Fury. "But we'll have someone take her award to her house after the party's over."

"And, on that note, thank you everyone," said Alan. "I don't know how long it'll take to build the memorial in the park, but when it's finished, we'll hold an opening party for it. Until then...thanks again, for everything."

***

After Alan's and Mrs. Fury's speech, everyone kept partying for a little bit longer. Miles started another round of volleyball with Isaac while Zoe went to get herself a hot dog. But while she was getting a hot dog from the table, she saw Michael Collins coming up. "Michael?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd come join the party," Michael answered.

"But I thought you went off with Skylar?" said Brittany.

"Oh yeah, about that," Michael replied, "I ended up dumping her."

"You WHAT?"

"I didn't even want to be dating her anyway," said Michael. "I only went on that first date with her on Saturday because she pressured me into it. And when I did go...I just didn't feel it. So today I just told her we were gonna call it off, then left her."

Zoe and Brittany stared at Michael incredulously. "You son of a bitch," said Brittany. "You agreed to be Skylar's boyfriend, and then you dumped her?"

"Again, I didn't even want Skylar anyway," said Michael.

"What's going on here?" Alan asked. "Michael? I thought you were-"

"He abandoned Skylar to come here," said Zoe.

Michael smiled awkwardly. "Sorry if I'm a little late," he said. He grabbed a cookie and popped it into his mouth.

Alan's face contorted in fury. "You get the hell out of here," he said.

"But I-"

"Just go!"

"Fine," Michael grumbled. He turned and left the food table and headed for the gate.

"What's he thinking?" Zoe asked. "Why did he-"

She broke off when she saw Michael freeze in his tracks. He doubled over with pain as if he was having period cramps (something Zoe now knew firsthand would feel like). To the astonishment of everyone watching, Michael's body started to change. His hair grew out, his body fat melted away, and he shrank in height. A pair of C-cup boobs swelled into existence on his chest, and his ass inflated like a pair of balloons. Last but not least, the lump in Michael's crotch flattened itself out.

"What the blazes is this?" Mrs. Fury asked.

"No way!" said one of the girls. "It's Ralph-slash-Ruby all over again!"

"I-what the fuck-" Michael stuttered in a higher-pitched voice. He-or now she-was feeling her new feminine body and her newly feminized clothing.

"Did you just turn into a girl?" Alan asked.

"But that's impossible!" said Brittany. "How could you have transformed like that?"

Miles looked at Zoe. He didn't say anything, but from the look on his face, Zoe knew what he was thinking: Skylar did it.

"Okay, calm down," said Mrs. Fury. "Michael-or I guess Michelle-please remain calm."

"But I just turned into a girl somehow!" Michelle wailed. She was so overwhelmed with shock and embarrassment, she was starting to cry. "I don't know what to do, or what to-"

"We'll get in touch with your parents," said Mrs. Fury. "Sorry, everyone, but I think the party's over."

In that moment, Zoe knew she had to act. Despite her doubts, this whole witch situation had gotten much too serious. Zoe didn't know how Skylar could've cursed Michael if she wasn't even there with him. Could she have put some kind of delayed-action spell on him when he gave her the breakup talk for maximum embarrassment when he went bragging to everybody about what he did? The motivations were certainly there. If Brittany had agreed to start going out with Zoe, only to kick her to the curb, Zoe would be pretty mad, too. But would this incident make or break Mr. Al's theory that Skylar was the witch at Interstellar High? There was only one way to find out.

"Wait, Alan!" said Zoe.

"Yeah?"

"Can I take Skylar her award?"

"Of course." Alan handed Zoe the bronze plaque that was supposed to be for Skylar.

"Thank you," said Zoe.

As Zoe was leaving, Miles stopped her. "Wait a minute," he said. "You're not actually gonna-"

"Yes, I'm delivering Skylar her award," said Zoe. "And I'm gonna ask a few questions, too."

To be continued...