Although Lucas lives in Spiral, he is a normal and is relieved that he doesn't have to worry about going through a twist like many of his classmates. However, the impossible soon happens. This story takes place in the Twisted Universe.

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The entire garage shook from the sound coming from my drum set as well as from the guitar my best friend Ricky was playing beside me. Calling it music might have been a little generous, at least as far as my playing went, but we were getting a lot better.

Ricky and I came out to practice in the garage several times a week, doing so for at least a few hours every weekend and after school when possible. My best friend was actually pretty good since he’d been playing guitar for years, though I’d only begun playing the drums about four months ago. Still, all the practice was paying off because I was definitely improving.

At the moment, Ricky and I had an audience, my former girlfriend Christine. The two of us had been dating until about two months ago when she went through her twist. Christine used to be a bit goth with purple dyed hair and a couple piercings, but now she looked like an innocent little girl. Even though she was sixteen years old, she only looked like she was seven or eight. She had blonde hair that she usually kept in pig tails and she nearly always wore cute little dresses, like the pink one she was wearing right now.

Christine’s memories and knowledge were fully intact, but her behavior had definitely changed. I had no idea how much of Christine’s personality had really changed during her twist and how much of her behavior was due to compulsions. What I did know was that she dressed like a cute little girl, always carried around a doll or stuffed animal, and she liked playing all sorts of kids games like jump rope or tea party, things she never would have bothered with before. And when talking to her, sometimes she talk about boys and almost seem like her old self, while other times she’d actually talk just like a little girl. I suspected that some of the latter was her just playing the role, but I didn’t know for sure.

When Christine first went through her twist, I kind of freaked out a little. The idea of dating someone who looked like she now did felt completely and totally wrong so I’d dumped her on the spot. I felt guilty about doing that to her when she was going through something so difficult, but she’d understood and didn’t hold it against me. Somehow, the two of us even managed to remain friends.

Once we finished playing, Ricky stood there, posing like a rock star. I had to admit, he looked the role a bit more than I did. I was 5 foot 10 and had a stocky build but he was 6 foot 1 and lean, with long dark hair and an almost perpetual grin. Ricky even had a tattoo of a snake on his arm, though it was done with that special ink that only shows up under black lights. He actually walked around his house with short sleeves on and his parents still had no idea he had a tattoo.

“So, what do you think?” Ricky asked Christine.

Christine held out the stuffed rabbit she was hauling around today and announced, “Mr. Pookie likes it.”

“Weren’t you calling him Bun Bun yesterday?” I asked. She responded by sticking her tongue out at me.

“You were really good,” Christine told Ricky. Then she looked at me and said, “Lucas... You’re getting better but you still need to work on keeping your rhythm… I mean, your timing was starting to drift a bit…”

“Yeah,” I agreed, not getting offended because she knew what she was talking about and was just telling the truth. After all, Christine used to play the drums and was the one who’d gotten me into it, though she hadn’t played since her twist.

“We need to find a couple more guys and start our own band,” Ricky told me, not for the first time.

Christine winced at that and I knew why. Back before her twist, she’d been the one who first suggested that we start our own band. I knew that turning into a kid meant that she had to give up on that dream as well as many others, especially since the doctors said she’d probably never get any older. Her twist would probably keep her looking that same age for the rest of her life.

I shuddered, feeling very thankful that I didn’t have to ever worry about going through a twist the way a lot of my friends and classmates did. I lived in Spiral where a lot of people in town were Twisted, but neither of my parents was. And since both of my parents were normal, there was no chance that I’d have to go through that kind of ordeal. The very idea of having your mind and body twisted into some new form, possibly turning you into another person completely, was a very frightening one. I had no idea how so many of my classmates could live with something like that looming over their heads.

While I was lost in thought, Christine was looking around the garage. She picked up a machete that was hanging on the wall to look at.

“Careful with that,” I cautioned her.

Christine gave me a look of annoyance and snapped, “I’m not a baby…”

“Sorry,” I apologized with a wince.

Even though I knew Christine’s real age, it was so easy to forget and treat her like the kid she appeared. It was insulting and I knew it frustrated her a lot of the time so I tried not to do it, but occasionally it slipped out.

“You have no idea how lucky you two are for being normal,” Christine said with a sigh, putting the machete back. “Sometimes, being Twisted really stinks.”

“I’d imagine,” Ricky agreed, having two normal parents the same way I did. “But it’s got to be totally wicked having super powers…”

“It kind of is,” Christine admitted with a grin.

Christine set Bun Bun…or Pookie…or whatever she was calling her stuffed rabbit onto the floor. It stood up as though it was really alive and began to slowly walk in a circle. Once it came back to Christine, she picked it back up and smirked.

“Too bad I can only make one of them move at a time,” she announced, giving a pout. Then she gave an almost evil grin as she added, “Imagine what I could do with a plush army.”

“I’m almost afraid to,” I responded with a chuckle.

It was then that the garage door opened and my mom stepped in, exclaiming, “Lucas, dinner will be ready in just a couple minutes.”

“Okay, mom,” I responded.

I couldn’t help but noticing that Ricky was watching her while trying not to. Though neither of us had mentioned it, I knew that he had a bit of a crush on my mom. She was still pretty attractive for her age and some guys might even call her a MILF. Of course, I certainly didn’t think of her in those terms

“Hey Mrs. Kane,” Ricky greeted my mom.

Then I saw the beautiful blonde woman who came into the garage behind my mom. “Hey Aunt Kelsie,” I greeted her with a grin.

“Hey kiddo,” she responded with a grin of her own. “I heard you guys playing. Pretty good.”

Aunt Kelsie wasn’t really my aunt, at least not in the blood relationship kind of way. She was my mom’s best friend and had been ever since they were kids together. I’d grown up with her always being around as part of the family so never thought of her as anything but.

“You want to jam with us?” I asked Aunt Kelsie with a look of mock innocence.

Aunt Kelsie laughed. “Sorry, but the only instrument I’ve ever played was the flute back in high school.”

“If its dinner time, I guess we should be going,” Ricky told me.

“My mommy doesn’t want me being late for dinner either,” Christine said. She waved to me and said, “Bye bye Lucas. I’ll see you in school tomorrow…”

“Later,” Ricky told me, putting his guitar into its case and then slinging the whole thing over his shoulder.

Once my friends were gone, I went inside and cleaned up for dinner. I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Aunt Kelsie would be eating with us, not when she did so at least a couple times a week.

“So, how was work?” I asked mom, who worked as a manager at the bank. I wasn’t really that interested but it was a tradition to at least ask about this stuff at the dinner table.

“It was work,” she answered, giving the traditional response. The only time the response varied was when something unusual or interesting happened, usually because of some Twisted customer. “How was school?”

“It was school,” I responded the same as I did every day.

“Doesn’t anyone care about my day?” Aunt Kelsie joked, then paused to say, “Please pass the pepper…”

I reached for the pepper shaker but it suddenly slid across the table to Aunt Kelsie on its own. She watched me with a grin, loving to show off her trick. Having low level telekinesis wasn’t really all that impressive since the heaviest thing she could lift was a soda can, but she certainly liked to make use of it whenever she could.

“Now then,” Aunt Kelsie said, giving me an amused look while my mom chuckled. “Why don’t you tell us how your day really went…and when you’re going to ask out that girl you like. What was her name…Nina?”

I just groaned at that, knowing that I wouldn’t get out of this until I’d at least given her something. But then again, this too was a dinner tradition.

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I leaned back in my chair, listening as my Algebra teacher Mrs. Krieve lectured on about finding a missing variable. She was a middle-aged black woman who was completely bald, though no one was certain whether her lack of hair was due to her twist or if she just shaved it.

“Man, this is so boring,” Ricky whispered from the seat beside me. He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner while I just chuckled.

“It’s not so bad,” I responded, only to earn a snort in response.

Ricky hated math with a passion, or at least he claimed he did. Since he always got B’s in class, I suspected that he paid attention a little more than he’d ever admit. I on the other hand rather liked math. Unlike history or literature where the answers were often a matter of opinion or perspective, in math there was no question about it.

“That’s it for today,” Mrs. Krieve announced as the class came to an end. “I expect you all to have the quiz at the end of section seven completed when you come in tomorrow.”

I nodded at that, making a note on my computer tablet so I wouldn’t forget it later. Though I wasn’t at all fond of the idea of homework, much less the reality, I knew that getting it done and out of the way was less troublesome than having to explain why I didn’t do it.

Ricky and I left the classroom and he was already talking about our next practice session. “I’ve got this great song I want to practice… It’s got a wicked beat and an awesome guitar riff...”

I nodded at that and was about to respond when someone yelled out, “Get out of my way you damn punks…” I looked over to see an old man coming down the hallway, moving slowly as he used his cane to keep his balance. “Damn kids nowadays…”

I couldn’t help but feeling a surge of pity for Gus Lennon, who was much younger than he actually looked. His twist was almost the exact opposite of Christine’s, turning him into an old man. It might have been funny if it wasn’t so tragic. And what was just as bad as looking like he was his own grandpa…or even great grandpa, was the fact that he’d gotten the whole personality twist as well. For all intents and purposes, he’d gone from being a normal teenager to being a grumpy old man who constantly complained about everything.

“I am so glad I’m not twisted,” I told Ricky with a shudder.

“Hey,” someone demanded from behind me. “Do you have a problem with Twisted?”

I turned to see Roger Maxwell standing behind me, scowling at me with a hostile look. It was actually kind of painful to look at him since he had bright green hair and was wearing a neon orange shirt and electric pink pants. Roger’s twist included a compulsion to dress in ridiculously bright and garish colors, no matter the fact that it hurt everyone else’s eyes.

“No, not at all,” I quickly assured him, biting back the response that some of my best friends were twisted since I knew that wouldn’t sound right. “I’m just glad that I don’t have to go through it… I mean, I don’t know how you guys deal with it all…”

Roger glared at me for a moment, as though trying to decide if he should push it or not. Then he relaxed a little and admitted, “Sometimes it’s not easy…”

A minute later, Ricky and I were in the locker rooms, getting changed for PE. I wasn’t at all happy as I put on my shorts since we were going to be in the swimming pool.

“Why couldn’t we have stuck with basketball?” I asked Ricky with a scowl.

I wasn’t very good at basketball, but I still enjoyed playing it. For the last two weeks, our PE teacher Coach Rydell had been having us play basketball nearly every day. Unfortunately, this week the sport changed to swimming and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about being in the water.

“What’s the matter?” Ricky responded with a broad grin. “You don’t want to see Coach Rydell in her swim suit?”

“Not particularly,” I answered with an exaggerated shudder. Coach Rydell wasn’t exactly a looker, but she certainly liked sports of every type. It was part of her twist.

After a few minutes, Ricky and I went out to the pool and joined the rest of our class. Coach Rydell was already there in her one piece swimsuit. She was a little large, with a build that was almost masculine, and with a face that might have been a little cute when she was younger. As it was, her nose had obviously been broken at some point and hadn’t healed quite straight.

“Before anyone gets into the pool,” Coach Rydell announced, “Let me remind you of the safety rules again. First, no running in here… If I catch you running in here, you’ll be running laps for the entire period tomorrow.”

For a brief moment, I actually considered doing that just so I could avoid class tomorrow. However, the idea of running laps around the track all period was even worse than the idea of swimming.

I looked at the pool a little nervously, especially at the deep end. It would be so easy to drown there, especially when I didn’t even know how to swim. Since I seemed to be the only one in my class who didn’t know how to swim, it was pretty embarrassing.

“It’s just water,” Ricky teased me, knowing that I couldn’t swim. He didn’t mean any harm by this and was just doing his duty as my best friend to lighten the mood a little. “If you want, we can get you some of those cute little water wings.”

“Bite me,” I responded, giving him a glare. “If I remember right, you’re not exactly fond of squirrels.”

“Hey,” Ricky protested. “Those things are damn creepy… I mean, they pretend to be cute and harmless but it’s all an act…” He shook his head and snorted. “Man, I’m telling you they’re really just rats with fluffy tails…”

“Sure they are,” I said with a smirk.

Once Coach Rydell was finished with her safety speech, everyone was allowed to go into the pool. She came to me and said, “Lucas, I want you to get into the deep end and practice. You can’t learn to swim if you don’t leave the shallow end.”

I reluctantly went into the water and made my way to the drop of that marked the separation between the shallow end where I could stand on the bottom and still keep my head above water, and the deep end where I feared I might drown. I braced myself with a reminder that Coach Rydell would be watching in case I got in trouble, and that we even had another lifeguard present.

“Don’t be such a pansy,” I told myself as I pushed out into the deeper end.

I began to doggy paddle like I’d been shown, feeling like an idiot because some of my classmates were swimming right past and laughing at me. This wasn’t real swimming but at least I was staying afloat.

In spite of the fact that I was doing all right, my mind played tricks on me and I couldn’t help but thinking about the distance between my feet and the bottom of the pool. I’d once seen an old movie about a shark that went around eating swimmers and now my imagination began to torment me with images of sharks circling beneath me. And even though I knew it was stilly, I couldn’t help but feeling at least a little stirring of fear at the idea.

“I can do this,” I told myself quietly. “This isn’t really that hard…” And of course, everyone else was able to swim just fine.

With that, I tried to relax and calm down. Instead of a shark, maybe there was something else I could imagine swimming around me, something more pleasant. I smiled faintly as I imagined the new creature, one that I’d definitely prefer be in the water with.

Suddenly, I felt a strange tingling rush through my entire body at once as well as a powerful sense of pressure. I flailed frantically and immediately began going under. And as I tried to scream, water rushed down my throat and I felt like I was exploding, though only for a moment as darkness claimed me.

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When I came to again, it was with a surge of terror and confusion as I remembered having some kind of seizure and drowning. People were grabbing me which made me start to struggle to get away, until I realized that they were pulling me out of the pool.

“Lucas,” Ricky cried out, making me realize that he was one of the people holding onto me. Coach Rydell was another one.

I felt dizzy, confused, and very VERY weird. I was now on the concrete floor beside the pool so slowly sat up, only to realize that everyone in the class was surrounding me and staring at me. Then I noticed that there was something heavy on my chest.

“What happened?” I asked weakly, staring down and then gasping in confusion.

For a moment, all I could do was stare down at the two mounds of flesh that pushed out from my chest. A single glance was enough to leave absolutely no doubt that they were boobs…like what a girl has. And as if that wasn’t enough of a shock, I noticed my legs a few seconds later, or at least what had been my legs.

My shorts were gone, leaving me completely naked, though that barely even soaked into my mind. Instead, I gasped at the sight of my stomach, which was thin and feminine, but from my waist down I had a tail. My legs were entirely gone and in their place was some sort of fish tail with aquamarine colored scales.

“You’ve just gone through your twist,” Coach Rydell told me, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“But I can’t be,” I protested, still feeling completely stunned and confused. “I’m, not Twisted…”

“Lucas,” Ricky blurted out, staring at me with a look of shock. “You’re a fucking mermaid…”

“But I can’t be Twisted,” I argued, staring down at myself in complete and utter shock. Those were definitely boobs and a tail, but there was absolutely no way they could possibly be there. “It’s impossible…”

I remained where I was, trying to absorb what was really going on but my mind just couldn’t grasp it. After all, both my parents were normal so there was absolutely no way I could possibly be Twisted. This just wasn’t possible. It wasn’t.

Coach Rydell draped several towels over me to cover me up and then began yelling at the rest of the class, “If any one of you goes back into the water before I return, I’ll have you running laps for the next week.”

“I’ve never seen someone actually go through their twist before,” one of my classmates exclaimed, though I wasn’t paying attention who it was.

“But Lucas always said he wasn’t Twisted,” another said, sounding confused.

“But I’m not Twisted,” I repeated, trying to move my legs only to have my tail swish instead. It didn’t feel like prosthetics but like it actually was part of my body. “I can’t be…”

“Let’s get you to the nurse’s office,” Coach Rydell told me as she bent over and picked me up in her arms.

At any other time, I would have been completely and utterly mortified to have Coach Rydell pick me up like this, but at the moment I was so overwhelmed that I barely even noticed it. I felt as though I was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“The rest of you stay here,” Coach Rydell said, looking at Ricky who was starting to come along.

Coach Rydell took me to the nurse’s office and explained what had happened. I was sitting up on the bed, trying to get my balance but it wasn’t easy. With this tail instead of my legs, all I could do was flop around a little. Still, I finally got into a position where I was sitting up with my tail hanging over the edge like my legs would normally have done.

“The school records say that Lucas Kane has two normal parents,” the nurse told Coach Rydell after looking at the computer.

“All I know is what I saw,” Coach Rydell told her. “I saw Lucas change with my own eyes.”

“I can’t be Twisted,” I repeated yet again, feeling as though I was stuck on a glitching audio file and could only repeat the same thing over and over again.

The nurse looked me over and said, “Well, unless you were born a mermaid…you’re Twisted.”

I was about to repeat that I couldn’t possibly be Twisted again when I bit my lip, finally realizing how ridiculous that sounded considering how I now looked. I stared at my hands, which were no longer my hands. They were girl hands with longer nails that looked like they had some kind of pearlescent polish on them.

I had no idea how long I remained where I was, trying hard to ignore all the strange sensations from my body. I was tempted to pull the towels aside so I could get a better look yet terrified of doing so at the same time. It felt as though the entire world had suddenly turned upside down without warning.

Eventually, I heard my mom’s voice from the next room over. “You called me about Lucas… What’s wrong with him? What happened?”

“It seems that Lucas has gone through his twist,” the nurse explained.

My mom came into the room with the nurse saying, “But that’s just not possible…” Then she froze and stared at me with a confused look.

“Mom,” I said awkwardly, cringing as I did so.

Her eyes went wide and she cautiously asked, “Lucas? Is that you?”

I nodded at that before quietly responding, “I think so…”

“One of the teachers actually saw him…her change,” the nurse explained.

Mom just stood there, staring at me with a look of stunned disbelief as though she wasn’t sure to really believe it was me or not. Then she hesitantly reached out and touched my cheek the way she did whenever I was sick.

“What happened to me?” I demanded, gesturing down at myself as I started to cry.

“Everything is going to be just fine,” mom assured me, giving me a hug. “We’ll go home and try to figure this out…”

“But I can’t walk,” I blurted out, gesturing to my tail and crying harder as it hit me that I’d probably never be able to walk or run again.

“We have a wheelchair you can borrow,” the nurse said, giving me a sympathetic look. Then she looked to mom and told her, “It isn’t uncommon for people to go through their twists here at school so we try to be prepared for whatever they might need.”

A few minutes later, I was in the wheelchair but it wasn’t a very comfortable. My new tail was a little longer than normal legs would be and didn’t quite fit. Eventually I was able to position my body so that my tail wasn’t dragging on the floor.

Fortunately, this was in the middle of class period so there were very few people in the hallway to stare at me as we passed. Still, those who did definitely stared, not that I could really blame them too much since I would have stared too.

Neither my mom or I said much on the way home. I was just trying to absorb this, to accept that it was actually real…that I actually had gone through a twist and had turned into a mermaid. It felt like some kind of freaky dream, but I knew that I wasn’t so lucky.

Once we got home, mom put me to bed as though I merely had a cold. With my long tail, I couldn’t fit under the covers and had to lay stretched out on top of my bed instead, with my fins hanging over the edge. Since I wasn’t tired and had no intention of even trying to go to sleep, I pulled myself back and used my headboard to support me while I sat up in bed.

“Now let’s get a good look at you,” mom said, removing the towels that had been serving to cover me up. She let out a faint gasp as she stared at me, then after ten seconds, she said, “You’re very beautiful.”

“What do I look like?” I asked, feeling both curious and afraid.

Mom hesitated a moment before telling me to wait a minute. Then she left my room, coming back with the oval mirror from her bedroom wall. It was about two feet tall and a foot and a half across.

“Please try not to freak out,” she told me before holding the mirror out so I could see my reflection.

I already knew that I’d turned into a mermaid but seeing myself from the mirror gave me a much better idea of how I looked overall. From the waist up, I looked like a human girl, though a beautiful one at that. I had a great figure with a slender waist and perfect looking boobs. Or at least, they’d be perfect if they were on a girl rather than me. They were kind of big as well as round and perfectly shaped.

“Oh God,” I whispered, hesitantly touching my boobs and then yanking my hands away. I couldn’t very well touch them with my mom staring at me.

My face was definitely that of a beautiful girl and I had aquamarine colored hair, about the same color as my scales, which went down to my mid-back. Even my eyes had changed, turning to a bright and clear aquamarine color that almost looked like gemstones or something. They were very striking.

“That isn’t me,” I argued, looking away from the mirror. “That can’t be me…”

“I’m afraid it is,” mom told me, setting the mirror against my bedroom wall.

“Oh God,” I cried out, looking down at myself and demanding, “What am I going to tell dad?”

“Have you talked to him recently?” mom asked me gently.

I hesitated a moment and then shook my head. The last time I’d heard from my dad was when he’d sent me a card for my sixteenth birthday a couple months ago. And to be honest, I was pretty certain that it was his new wife Mary who’d actually sent the card. For a stepmom, she was pretty nice. It had actually been over a year since I’d seen my dad in person.

“You know what dad thinks about the Twisted,” I said awkwardly, still not able believe that I was actually Twisted.

Dad had first moved to Spiral for his job, and it was here that he had met my mom. Unfortunately, dad was uncomfortable around the Twisted and didn’t like all the weirdness that the Twisted caused around town. After he and mom had divorced when I was just a kid, he’d immediately moved halfway across the country and I’d barely seen him since.

“You don’t need to worry about what he thinks,” mom told me firmly. “You just need to focus on learning how to deal with this.”

“But how is this even possible?” I demanded, gesturing down at myself and wincing. “How can I be Twisted?”

Mom hesitated a moment and then let out a sigh. She bent over and ran her hand over my cheek and said, “I know that this isn’t very good timing, but you need to know…”

“Know what?” I demanded, not liking the serious look on her face. It was the same expression she had on her face right before giving me the lecture on the birds and bees.

“Frank and I were having problems with our marriage well before you came along,” she told me quietly. “We were always arguing and fighting…and we were both thinking about a divorce.” She paused for a long moment, taking a deep breath and then continuing, “During this time…I had an affair with someone else.”

“What?” I gasped, staring at my mom in disbelief and realizing exactly where she was going with this.

“When I got pregnant with you,” mom told me with a self-conscious smile, “I told myself that you were Frank’s… I’d convinced myself that there was no other possibility.” Then she paused again, looking me in the eyes as she quietly said, “I’m sorry…”

Suddenly, my being Twisted now made more sense. If someone had two parents who were normal, then there was absolutely no way they could be Twisted. But if one of them had been Twisted…

“So…dad isn’t my dad,” I whispered, only to have mom nod agreement.

“It seems not,” she agreed sadly.

I was too stunned to speak and remained frozen as I tried to absorb yet another shock. Today had been filled with shocks and my entire world had been twisted up into a pretzel. I had absolutely no idea of what to think about all this.

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“Here you go honey,” mom said, handing me a glass of ice water.

“Thanks,” I responded before taking a long drink.

I’d been home from school for a few hours and had moved from my bed to the living room recliner. It was a little more comfortable and I didn’t feel quite as claustrophobic and trapped.

While I was drinking my water, mom put a damp towel over my tail. Shortly after getting home, I’d begun feeling dry and itchy, which led to the realization that I needed to keep my transformed body from drying out.

I looked down at myself and let out a snort of disgust. I was wearing one of my old T-shirts, which covered up my boobs but still showed my nipples poking through. However, my lower body was a bit more of a problem since there was no way I could wear pants. I no longer seemed to have any private parts that needed covering, but I certainly wasn’t about to put that in the good thing column.

When the doorbell rang, mom went to go answer it. I heard a little girl’s voice asking, “Can Lucas come out and play?” But in spite of the childish voice and those words, the tone was serious.

Christine came in a moment later and I immediately wanted to run away so she couldn’t see me. Unfortunately, that was out of the question and I couldn’t cover myself up.

“Lucas?” Christine blurted out in surprise as she saw me.

“Don’t look at me,” I exclaimed, cringing away.

“Holy poop,” Christine gasped, coming closer and staring at me. “It’s all over school…but how? I mean, you’re not supposed to be Twisted.”

I winced at that and then glanced to my mom who was leaving the living room to give us some privacy. “I just found out that my dad isn’t really my dad,” I admitted with a grimace.

“Oh shoot,” she said, giving me a sympathetic look. “That’s got to stink.” Then she gave me a weak smile and added, “Well, I guess I should say welcome to the club then.”

“I just can’t believe I’m Twisted,” I told her, staring down at myself. “I mean, I always thought I didn’t have to worry about this…”

Christine nodded at that. “I always thought you were kind of lucky that way. But when you’re not expecting it like that…” She shook her head. Then she grinned at me and said, “You know, if I hadn’t gone through my twist, I’d have to break up with you now…”

“Yeah,” I admitted with a forced smile. “I know.”

Christine set down the stuffed teddy bear that she was carrying with her today and then moved the towel to get a better look at my tail. She let out a whistle and then put the towel back.

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Christine told me. “But you’re really pretty.”

I snorted at that. “But I can’t walk…”

“And I can’t ever get married or have kids,” she told me with a serious look. “Whining about it won’t change anything.” Then she paused for a moment before quietly admitting, “I cried a lot after my twist…and after you broke up with me. I mean, I don’t blame you or anything. Only a real sicko would want to keep dating someone who looks like I do.”

Without saying another word, Christine put her arms around me and gave me a hug. I hugged her back, actually feeling a little better. I might have turned into a girl and a freaky mermaid, but she’d reminded me that I certainly wasn’t the only person who had it rough because of their twist.

Just then, the doorbell began ringing again. “I’ll get it,” mom called out from the kitchen as she came back into the living room and made her way to the door.

“Yo, Lucas,” Ricky called out as he came into the living room. He stopped to stare at me for a moment, but he wasn’t nearly as surprised as Christine had been. After all, he’d already seen me like this. “Are you okay?”

“I…I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m still pretty shocked over all this…”

“I’d imagine,” Ricky responded, giving me a curious look. “You totally freaked me out when you changed like that.

“I freaked you out?” I asked with a snort. “How do you think I feel?”

Christine merely nodded her head at that. “At least I knew I’d go through my twist one day.”

“But man, that was totally wicked to watch,” Ricky assured me. “I mean, the pool was glowing and the water was all bubbling… And then BAM…the water exploded and suddenly there was a mermaid in the water…”

Ricky continued talking about how everyone in PE reacted when I went through my twist, about how all the students rushed out of the pool and then how he and Coach Rydell had pulled me out of the water. According to him, my twist was all that everyone talked about for the rest of the day.

Ricky was still talking about what everyone at school was saying when Aunt Kelsie arrived. She didn’t bother ringing the doorbell and just came right in the way she usually did. Since she had a worried look on her face, it was obvious that she’d heard something.

“Sarah,” Aunt Kelsie greeted my mom. “Your text message said that there was some kind of emergency with Lucas. Is he all right?”

“That depends on your meaning of all right,” mom answered with a shake of her head.

Aunt Kelsie looked to where I was still sitting with Christine and Ricky beside me. She’d knew both of them but gave me a curious look, obviously having no idea who I was.

“You must be one of Lucas’ friends,” she said, turning to mom with a curious look, probably wondering where I was.

“Actually,” mom told her with a wince. “That’s Lucas.”

I gulped and waved at her nervously. “Um…hi Aunt Kelsie…” She just stared at me with a look of confusion and surprise.

“Lucas went through his twist today,” mom explained, still looking as though she didn’t quite believe it herself.

“But how?” Aunt Kelsie asked, “That’s not…” Then she paused, her eyes going wide. “Oh…”

Mom nodded and told her, “Needless to say, this is a bit of a surprise.”

Aunt Kelsie came over and my friends moved back to give her room. She bent down beside me, taking my hand in hers and looking me in the eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she told me sympathetically. “Going through your twist is never easy, and it looks like you went through a doozie…”

“You can say that again,” I muttered.

“It looks like you went through a doozie,” Christine commented with an innocent look. When I glared at her, she stuck her tongue out at me.

“This is…drastic,” Aunt Kelsie said carefully. “I can see that you’re going to have some interesting challenges to deal with.”

“I can’t walk anymore,” I blurted out in frustration, taking the towel of my tail and then swishing my tail in demonstration.

“What were you doing when you went through your twist?” she asked me gently.

Ricky answered for me, blurting out, “He was learning to swim in the school pool…”

“I don’t think swimming will be much of a problem now,” Aunt Kelsie commented wryly.

“I was starting to imagine that there were sharks in the water with me,” I admitted, feeling embarrassed by that. However, that was nowhere near as embarrassing as how I now looked. “So I tried tricking my imagination and pretended that I was swimming with mermaids in the water instead…”

“And that’s when you went through your twist,” Aunt Kelsie finished for me with a nod of understanding. Then she gave me a forced smile and said, “I guess you should be thankful that you didn’t turn into a shark.”

Christine grinned at that and pointed out, “Then you would have had to live at the aquarium.”

Mom let out a sigh and then told Aunt Kelsie, “Considering his…her new body, there are some adjustments we’re going to have to make. He…she doesn’t really fit in her bed anymore and she needs to stay damp…”

“Maybe he can sleep in one of those kids wading pools,” Ricky suggested.

I couldn’t tell if Ricky was joking or not, but mom mused, “That might not be a bad idea… I mean, we could keep her bedding just a little wet and not have worry about ruining the bed or anything.”

I just rolled my eyes and demanded, “Why not just make me sleep in the bath tub?”

“Because you’re a little too big for that,” Aunt Kelsie answered with a faint smirk.

“Lucas just needs a water bed,” Christine said with a faint smirk of her own, though she gave me a sympathetic look.

“I wonder,” Aunt Kelsie mused, giving me a curious look. “I wonder if you can breathe under water.”

“She doesn’t have any gills,” mom pointed out, suddenly looking uncertain.

“She was face down in the water for over a minute before we got her,” Ricky admitted, looking guilty. “She didn’t seem to have any problems after we got her out of the pool.”

“That might be your trick,” Aunt Kelsie said thoughtfully. “They’ll have to take a look at that when you go to the clinic to get checked out.”

“I’ve already made an appointment for tomorrow,” mom added, giving me a curious look.

Aunt Kelsie stared at me for a few seconds, then asked, “Have you notice any personality changes or compulsions yet?” She looked to mom, silently asking her as well since she’d been with me since coming to pick me up from school.

I thought about it for a moment and then shook my head. “Not unless getting thirsty is a compulsion.”

Mom shook her head as well. “Not yet.”

“The clinic can help with that too,” Aunt Kelsie said.

After this, everyone actually sat down in the living room and we continued to talk. Aunt Kelsie and Christine told me a lot about what I could expect for being Twisted and gave me advice on how to adjust. Mom actually took notes on a lot of what they said while Ricky kept sneaking looks at me but otherwise seemed bored.

When it came time for my friends to leave, Ricky gave me an odd look. “Man, this is so weird… I mean, you actually turned into a mermaid…” He shook his head at that and told me, “If you need anything, give me a call…”

“I’m really sorry this happened to you,” Christine said, giving me a big hung and then handing me her teddy bear. “Maybe Theodor can make you feel better.”

“Um…thank you,” I said, startled when the bear actually started hugging me as well.

Christine had a faint smirk on her face as she used her trick to animate the stuffed animal. “I’ll see you tomorrow…” And with that, she actually skipped on her way out the door.

“Your little friend is quite a character,” Aunt Kelsie told me with a chuckle.

Once Christine and Ricky were both gone, mom let out a sigh. “After dinner, we’re going to need to make some plans. We have to figure out your bedding situation, get you some new clothes, and find what other adjustments we’ll need to make.”

“Some of that will be a little easier once you have a better understanding of your twist,” Aunt Kelsie told me, putting a hand on mine. “Don’t worry kiddo. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Maybe,” I responded doubtfully. Then I looked to mom and nervously asked, “But what am I going to tell dad?”

--------------------

I sat on the edge of my bath tub, soaking my tail in the half filled tub. I was actually washing my hair and cleaning up, but I saw no reason not to soak my tail as well since it felt nice.

As I did this, I ran my hands over my boobs, which were smooth and soft. My nipples were sensitive and I suddenly suspected that they’d be fun to play with. I let out a sigh as I remembered playing with Christine’s just the once, a week before her twist. That was certainly never going to happen again.

“Damn,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “I can’t believe I’m really a girl…” Of course, I was more than just a girl. I was a Twisted girl. I was a mermaid.

My entire body felt strange and alien to me, even more so since I no longer had legs but a fish tail instead. Admittedly, it was a beautiful tail that was unlike anything I’d ever seen on a real fish, but I much rather would have had my legs back.

Last night, I hadn’t slept very well. Mom had put my mattress on the floor then covered it with a tarp and wet sheets. That had kept me from drying out while I slept, but it had been a bit uncomfortable. Of course, these mounds sticking out of my chest didn’t help any either.

“And it’s not like going to the bathroom is a thrill either,” I reminded myself with a sigh.

One of the things I’d discovered last night before bed was that I did indeed still have private parts, though they were covered up with scales that would move out of the way when I needed access. In front, I had a moist slit that scared the hell out of me, and I even seemed to have a sort of asshole too.

Once I was done, I dried myself off with a towel, wondering if this was counter-productive. But then again, it seemed that I could go a couple hours before I began getting itchy and needed to get wet again. I wondered if skin moisturizer would help with that.

“I’ve got you something to wear,” mom called out before opening the bathroom door and walking in on me. I gasped and tried covering up with a towel but she smirked, “It isn’t anything I haven’t seen before.”

“So you’ve seen a lot of these, have you?” I asked, running a hand down my tail.

Mom just smiled and held up a dress, announcing, “This should fit you…”

“A dress?” I blurted out.

“Pants won’t work anymore and this will cover you up,” mom told me before setting the dress down and leaving the bathroom.

As much as I hated to admit it, mom was right. But she was also missing an important point as well. Since I no longer had any visible private parts, there no longer seemed any real point in covering up my lower half. And of course, you never saw mermaids wearing anything from the waist down in the movies and cartoons.

“Yeah right,” I muttered as I grabbed the dress. “Like I’m going to go around without anything covering me.”

I slipped the dress over my head, but while I was trying to position it over my lower half, I slipped off the toilet where I’d been sitting and fell face first onto the floor. I grimaced and muttered several profanities, cursing whatever God had decided play this nasty joke on me.

Suddenly, I felt a strange tingling sensation along my entire tail. It felt as though my flesh was beginning to twitch and move beneath my skin. I shifted position and stared at my tail, surprised to see that my fins were missing and that my scales were fading away.

“What the…?” I started, realizing that my tail was splitting in two.

As I watched, my tail continued to change until it was no longer a tail but a pair of legs. They were a perfectly shaped pair of legs that would have looked great on any girl. I reached out and ran my hands over them, finding them soft, smooth, and very real.

After just staring at my legs for a few seconds, I slowly got to my feet, feeling giddy with excitement as I did so. I never thought that I’d be so happy to do something as normal as standing, or as feminine as adjusting a dress.

I left the bathroom and called out, “Hey mom, look…” I gestured down at my legs.

Mom stared at me in surprise, “Your tail is gone…”

“Maybe it’s wearing off,” I exclaimed in delight. “I’m starting to change back to normal…”

“I don’t think being Twisted works that way,” mom said.

“Then how do you explain these?” I asked, gesturing at my legs again.

Mom was silent for a moment before suggesting, “Maybe it’s your trick.”

I stared at her, wanting to deny that and insist that my twist was somehow reversing itself. Unfortunately, I knew that she was probably right, especially since my legs had come back when I was frustrated by my tail.

I thought about getting my tail back and felt the tingling beginning in my legs again. I gasped at that and quickly willed them not to change and the tingling went away.

“I think you’re right,” I reluctantly admitted. Then I hopefully pointed out, “At least I can wear pants again…”

Mom chuckled at that. “We’ll go shopping this afternoon. For now, we just need you to get ready for your appointment at the clinic. Now sit down so I can brush your hair. Trust me, you don’t want that beautiful long hair to get all knotted up…”

With that, mom had me sit down while she ran a brush through my hair, making me feel like a little kid. The entire time she did this, she told me how important it was to take proper care of my hair and she gave me all sorts of advice and instructions on how to do so. It sounded like a lot more trouble than it was worth.

“My mother always used to brush my hair like this when I was a little girl,” mom admitted as she finished up. “I’ve always wished I had a daughter to do it with…”

“Glad I could help grant your wish,” I responded wryly.

Mom just gave me a gentle hug and whispered, “I never would have wished for this to happen to you.” Then she stood back and gave me what she probably thought was a reassuring smile. “But since it has, we have to deal with it and adjust. Now go finish getting ready. We have an appointment.”

After this, I finished getting dressed, actually feeling excited when I put on a pair of shoes. Sure, I had to put on a pair of mom’s shoes since mine didn’t fit anymore, but when I woke up this morning, I’d been certain that I’d never be able to wear shoes again.

Nearly an hour later, we arrived at the Spiral Clinic, a medical center that specialized in dealing with the Twisted. Nearly everyone in Spiral who went through their twist came here for an examination and for help figuring out all the quirks of their twist. Obviously, it was a place that I’d never expected to come.

“I’m Doctor Franklin,” a middle-aged woman with glowing green eyes introduced herself. “I’ll be performing your physical examination. Since you’ve never been here before, I don’t have any before records to make a comparison to, but we’ll make due.”

I went into an examination room with Dr. Franklin while mom was left behind. The doctor started by checking my heart rate, blood pressure, and the usual things. Then she began asking me about my physical changes.

“A mermaid,” she said, looking interested after I told her about that. “Please change and let me see…”

I focused on regaining my tail and felt the tingling along my legs. A moment later, I was going through the reverse of the change I’d undergone in the bathroom. MY legs began fusing together and growing scales. In half a minute, my tail was back in all its glory. But strangely, it felt kind of nice, like my legs almost preferred being in tail form.

“Very interesting,” Dr. Franklin commented, looking my tail over.

After this, she examined my tail and then ran me through a strange scanning machine before having me change my tail back to legs and then repeated the process. She made a few odd noises as she did this while I just tried to be patient and do what she asked.

“Now for your gynecology exam,” Dr. Franklin told me, giving me a reassuring smile and adding, “I just need to check out your new parts.”

Dr. Franklin had me climb into an examination table that looked like some sort of tanning bed and then lowered the top. She waited a minute and then lifted the top before having me change back to my tail so she could scan me again.

“I’ve had patients complain about that being claustrophobic,” she told me with an amused look. “But trust me, it isn’t nearly as invasive or uncomfortable as the old style of gynecology exams.”

Once Dr. Franklin was finished examining me, I put my clothes back on and watches as she brought up a holographic image that looked exactly like me. She pushed some buttons and a second hologram appeared beside the first, though the first one was me with legs and the second looked like me in my mermaid form.

“Your results are interesting,” Dr. Franklin told me, giving me a curious look. “You are healthy, though there are a few anomalies in your body due to the nature of your twist.”

“What do you mean?” I asked nervously.

“Your skeletal structure appears to be made of cartilage rather than the usual bone,” she explained, pointing to the holograms which changed so that they both showed only my skeleton. “This may be an adaptation to make you more maneuverable under water, or it may be in order to make the changes in your lower body easier on your system. As you can see here, your skeleton changes quite drastically when you shift between your legs and tail.”

“Damn,” I exclaimed, staring at the holographic picture of my mermaid skeleton. When I changed, every bone from my pelvis down appeared to change into something quite different. “And it doesn’t even hurt.”

“In spite of having an aquatic appearance,” Dr. Franklin continued, “your upper body is still mostly human, even when in mermaid form. I see no sign of gills or even of the aquatic adaptations that dolphins and whales possess.”

I snorted at that. “So I look like a mermaid, but I can only swim by holding my breath as long as a normal person.”

I shook my head at that, wondering why I was even upset by that when I had absolutely no intention of ever going into the deep end of a swimming pool again. After what had happened the last time…

“You do have a few aquatic adaptations,” Dr. Franklin assured me. “Such as an extra membrane to protect your eyes.”

Dr. Franklin went back to her computer and pushed a few more buttons. The holograms both changed so that I could see my internal organs in them now, though the sight was actually kind of disgusting. It reminded me of biology class last year when we’d had to dissect frogs.

“Physically,” she said carefully, “you are completely female now and capable of becoming pregnant. I expect that you will begin your period within the next month.”

“Ugh,” I responded with a grimace, definitely not liking that particular bit of news. Unfortunately, I’d been expecting it so it wasn’t a surprise.

Dr. Franklin gave me a sympathetic look and told me, “You aren’t the first Twisted that we’ve had come through here who went through a gender change, nor I suspect will you be the last. I can’t imagine how difficult that particular type of twist will be to adjust to, but just remember, you aren’t the only one to go through this. Most of those I’ve talked to adjust quite well given a little time.”

Once I was finished with Dr. Franklin, I was sent down the hall to the next doctor, one who would check out my mental health and try to figure out what personality changes or compulsions I might have. So far, I hadn’t noticed any, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

Dr. Pierce was a black woman in her late thirties who didn’t show any obvious signs of being Twisted like Dr. Franklin had. She gave me a curious look and said, “We usually have our younger patients fill out a questionnaire at least once a year so we have something to compare the new results to. Unfortunately, the fact that you haven’t done this might make it a little more difficult to narrow down any changes.”

She started off by talking to me for several minutes and asking me if I’d noticed any compulsions or personality changes, then she set me in front of a computer to take the test. It asked me all sorts of questions, one after another and I was beginning to think that it would never end. Fortunately, after a couple hundred questions it was finally over.

When the questions were done, Dr. Pierce began talking to me again, asking a lot more questions about what I thought and felt with some of them actually getting personal. She was nice and friendly about it though so I didn’t feel like I was being interrogated, but more like I was just having a chat with a friend of the family.

“Your reactions are all pretty normal,” Dr. Pierce finally told me, looking over a computer tablet which contained my test results. “I don’t see any indications of any compulsions or extreme personality traits.”

“That’s good,” I said, then joked, “At least now I know I didn’t suddenly turn into a serial killer.”

“You aren’t showing any obvious changes or extreme personality traits,” Dr. Pierce answered with a faint smile, “but that doesn’t mean you didn’t go through some mental changes. Not having previous results to compare these too means that the results aren’t quite as effective. But overall, I think that if you did get any mental changes, they would be subtle ones.”

I nodded at that, feeling relieved since I know how awkward some of Christine’s personality changes and compulsions were. Looking like a little kid was bad enough, but acting the way she did made sure that almost no one took her seriously.

“Since you don’t seem to be a danger to yourself or others,” Dr. Pierce told me with a smile. “I’m clearing you to go back to school as soon as you’re ready.”

The next specialist was Dr. Rothschild, an odd little man who was barely 5 feet tall. He was Asian, with white hair and eyebrows, but with pointed ears that helped give him an almost otherworldly appearance.

“I’m going to help you understand your trick a little better,” Dr. Rothschild told me with an amused smile. “Now, what kind of trick do you have to show me?”

“Well,” I told him nervously, “I can change my legs into a tail.”

“Are you sure you’re changing your legs into a tail?” Dr. Rothschild asked me curiously. “From what Dr. Franklin said in her notes, having a tail is your default form and it looks like your trick is to turn your tail into legs.”

“What’s the difference?” I asked. “I mean, as long as I can walk again…”

“Ah, the distinction can be quite important,” Dr. Rothschild pointed out. We’re going to do some tests to find out more about that… And there are a few other things that I’d like to check for as well.”

Dr. Rothschild had me take off my shoes and anything that might get in the way during my leg to tail transformation. Fortunately, since I was wearing a dress, I could actually keep it on without a problem. Dr. Rothschild put some suction cup type sensors on my legs and then had me climb onto an examination table similar to the one Dr. Franklin had used to scan me.

“The first scan is done,” Dr. Rothschild told me with a smile. “Now change your legs please so we can see the results.”

I gave the mental command and my legs transformed into a tail again, giving me a faint feeling of relief. Then when he asked me to change my tail back into legs, it took a bit more effort to do so. In fact, every time I changed my legs into a tail, it was much easier than changing from tail to legs.

After having me change my legs back and forth several more times, Dr. Rothschild chuckled. “Interesting so far, but there is something else I want to test out.”

Dr. Rothschild took me downstairs and surprised me by leading me to a swimming pool. It was a lot like the pool at school but smaller and with almost no shallow end to speak of.

I stared at the pool and gulped. “I don’t think this is a good idea…” I looked at Dr. Rothschild and explained my nervousness. “The last time I was in a pool, I went through my twist.”

“Then you’d best hop back on the horse,” Dr. Rothschild told me. “You’ll need to get in the water for the next test.”

I glared at him for a moment and then began removing my dress. I didn’t have a swimsuit and was extremely embarrassed to be completely naked in front of Dr. Rothschild, so I jumped into the water as soon as I was undressed.

As soon as I hit the water, my legs began to tingle and change, before I even willed them to do so. I gasped as I went under the water, feeling a moment of panic…but only for the briefest of seconds.

Every time I’ve ever gone underwater, I instinctively closed my eyes and couldn’t bring myself to actually open them. But for some reason, this time that instinct seemed to have vanished because I kept my eyes open and was amazed to actually see under the water without any problems at all. I was so startled by this that it took me several seconds to realize that I was breathing too.

I was a little stunned by the fact that I was breathing underwater, but Ricky had said that I’d been face down in the pool for a minute before they pulled me out. I took a deep breath, feeling as though I was breathing air rather than water, then I swished my tail experimentally.

In the past, I’d always been a bit afraid of the water, largely because I couldn’t swim. Then again, maybe I’d never learned to swim because I had that fear of the water. However, all of that fear was now gone. Instead, I felt strangely comfortable. I felt almost like this was my home.

I swam to the other side of the pool and then turned around, moving through the water with a speed and ease that amazed me. After making several laps of then pool, I was grinning with excitement. I suddenly knew that this was what my new body had been made for. This was where a mermaid belonged…in the water.

When I finally surfaced several minutes later, I leaned up against the edge of the pool and looked to Dr. Rothschild, who was watching me with a broad grin. “This is great,” I blurted out, laughing as I did so.

“It seems I was right about you being able to breath underwater,” Dr. Rothschild told me with a chuckle.

“And then some,” I agreed, diving back under and making another lap around the pool.

“Since you’re enjoying yourself so much,” Dr. Rothschild told me, “I’ll give you another five minutes.”

I took full advantage of the extra time to swim around the pool, enjoying the graceful ease in which I slipped through the water. There was a thrill to this, an excitement much like when I played music with Ricky. I was actually disappointed when I had to climb out of the water.

When it was time to get out of the pool, I dried off as much as possible and then put my dress and shoes back on. Dr. Rothschild stood with his back to me to give me privacy while I was doing this, and then we started back to the room where he first examined me.

On the way, I saw Dr. Pierce in the hallway. “Guess what,” I blurted out excitedly. “I just found out that I really REALLY like being in the water.”

She laughed at that and responded, “I shouldn’t be surprised considering the rest of your twist.”

Dr. Rothschild and I continued back to his examination room. Once there, he looked at his computer tablet and told me a few jokes while he typed away. After a few minute, he seemed to be finished.

“Have you ever heard of the Darrington Field?” Dr. Rothschild asked me pleasantly.

“I think so,” I answered, remembering the term mentioned in science class. I knew that it had something to do with the Twisted but couldn’t remember exactly what.

“It’s the quantum energy field that every Twisted is linked to,” Dr. Rothschild explained. “It is connecting to that field for the first time that triggers our twists. This energy field operates on alternative physics and is responsible for most tricks that the Twisted are able to perform.”

“I think I remember that from school,” I admitted, wishing that I’d paid more attention in that class. But since I’d never thought I’d be Twisted, I didn’t think it was very important to know how all that stuff worked.

“Over eighty percent of all Twisted have a trick of some sort,” Dr. Rothschild explained. “A special ability that is beyond the normal. Approximately twenty-six percent of all Twisted have more than one trick. It looks like you are one of those.”

“My legs and being able to breath underwater,” I said, remembering what Dr. Franklin had said about my not having gills or any biological way of breathing underwater.

“Correct,” Dr. Rothschild answered me with a chuckle. “It seems that you tap into the Darrington Field for the energy needed to transform your tail into legs. But from my tests, I believe that you’ll only be able to keep your legs for a few hours before they revert to their default form.”

“And this Darrington Field lets me breath water too?” I asked.

“Actually,” Dr. Rothschild mused. “I think you use the field to convert water into breathable air, but it has the same effect.” He chuckled at that. “It’s actually quite convenient, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you had either biological modifications or another trick to allow further adaptation to an aquatic environment.”

Dr. Rothschild and I continued talking for a little longer about my tricks and how they worked. Then he recommended several books to read about the Darrington Field and how to deal with various tricks. I nodded politely but doubted that I’d actually read them.

I found mom in the waiting room where I’d left her several hours ago. She looked at me with an expression that seemed to be equal parts relief and worry.

“How did it go?” mom asked me eagerly.

“Not bad,” I answered with an awkward shrug.

“Let’s go get something to eat,” mom told me with a gentle smile. “You can tell me everything over lunch.”

--------------------

I was extremely self-conscious as I walked through the mall with my mom. Not only was I a girl but I was also wearing a dress. Wearing the dress to the clinic was one thing, but being out with all these strangers was something else entirely.

“Relax honey,” mom told me with a reassuring smile. “I know you’ve never liked shopping, but you need the new clothes.”

“I know,” I admitted. “I just don’t like everyone staring at me.”

Even though I had my legs instead of a tail, I was getting a lot of stares as we walked through the mall. Admittedly, they were looks of appreciation rather than of hostility, but that didn’t necessarily make me feel any better.

“You’re a beautiful young lady now,” mom told me with look of amusement. “You’re just going to have to get used to this.”

“As if getting used to a tail isn’t hard enough,” I commented with a snort.

We’d already gone shopping for shoes since the shoe store was the closest one to the entrance. I thought we’d just grab what we needed and go, but mom had insisted on making me try out a bunch of different pairs. When we finally left, it was with a pair of flat shoes, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of shoes with a low heel that mom said would be good practice for me.

“Now we need to get you some bras and panties,” mom told me, grabbing my arm and nearly dragging me to the next store.

Walking into a lingerie store, a bastion of femininity, was much like going into the girl’s locker room at school. It was a place that I had ben indoctrinated to avoid, that going inside would mark me as some kind of freak or pervert. Unfortunately, anyone would now think that I fit perfectly into either.

I felt self-conscious as we moved between the racks of bras and panties, half afraid that someone would start pointing at me and calling me a pervert. Fortunately, no one did anything of the sort, though one of the sales ladies did start walking over.

“Can I help you find anything?” the sales woman asked politely.

“My daughter just went through her twist,” mom explained. “We don’t know her measurements yet…”

“I’ll be happy to help with that,” the sales woman replied cheerfully. “I’m Jessica.”

I hesitated, suddenly realizing for the first time that I no longer looked remotely like a Lucas. Unless I wanted to be the subject of ridicule, or at least of everyone asking why I looked like a girl but had a boy’s name, I was going to have to get a new name.

“Is something wrong?” mom asked me with a look of concern.

“Other than the obvious?” I responded wryly. Then I let out a sigh and admitted, “I just realized that I need a new name.”

“I was going to talk to you about that when we got home,” mom admitted, looking a little embarrassed.

“I take it that your twist was a pretty drastic one,” Jessica commented, giving me a knowing look. “No problem. Let’s get you measured up…”

Jessica took me to a small private room where she could measure me. She said that she only needed me to remove my top, but since I was wearing a dress, it meant that I had to strip down naked in front of her. It seemed that this was really my day for getting naked in front of strangers.

Jessica had me stand with my arms out while she measured my boobs, making me very uncomfortable the entire time. Still, I did my best to stand still and let her do what she needed to.

“I take it that this is your first time being measured,” Jessica commented as she finished up. At my nod, she smiled, “Then I assume that before your twist, you were either flat-chested or a boy. From your earlier talk about your name, I’m guessing the latter.”

“Um…yeah,” I admitted, suddenly feeling even more self-conscious than I did for being naked.

“I have a cousin who did that,” Jessica told me pleasantly. “I mean, she used to be a guy before her twist. I’m not Twisted, but I can sympathize.”

“It was yesterday,” I told her quietly. “I just went through my twist yesterday.”

“You seem to be handling it all right as far as I can tell,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll get used to it in no time.”

“Easier said than done,” I pointed out.

Jessica nodded at that. “We’ve got your measurements now so let’s see about getting you a new wardrobe. I don’t know if your mom has told you this, but having the right bra is very important.”

I put my dress back on, looking forward to buying some pants to wear instead. Then I let out a sigh, remembering that before I could get to that, I still had to get bras and panties.

“You know,” Jessica commented as we went out to rejoin my mom. “You’ve got a really nice and melodic voice. Are you a singer?”

I was startled by that and then burst out laughing. “I’ve been told my singing makes dogs howl. No, I play drums.”

“Well, you certainly have the voice for singing,” Jessica pointed out, giving me a doubtful look which only reminded me that my voice had changed during my twist along with everything else.

Since we now had my measurements, mom and Jessica went through bras picking out ones that they thought would work for me. Once they had a small stack, mom pulled me into a changing room to try a few of them on.

“But we already know what size I need,” I complained to mom. “Why do we need to try them on?”

Mom gave me an amused look that seemed to suggest I was missing something obvious. Then she shook her head and explained, “Every manufacturer does their sizes a little different.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I complained.

“You won’t get any argument from me,” she agreed. “But that’s the way it is. Now stop complaining and I’ll show you how to put these on.”

Once we were done, we left the store with four bras, spending more money than I would have imagined for those torture traps. And as embarrassing as it was, I was actually wearing one of them out. My new boobs were nice and firm, but after walking around with them I could see the need for a little extra support, to reduce the bouncing if nothing else.

Next, I went to the bathroom, not only to relieve myself but to splash a little water on my legs as well. I didn’t have scales at the moment but they were still beginning to feel just a little itchy. When I was done with that, mom and I were off to the next store.

I dreaded the fact that we still had a lot of shopping to do, but mom went a little faster in the next couple shops than I’d feared, though still not as fast as I would have liked. Still, before long I was out of the dress and wearing pants and a shirt again, which made me feel a bit more like my old self.

“I think we’re done for today,” mom finally told me, much to my relief. “Tomorrow we’ll get you a purse, some feminine hygiene things that you’ll need, and I’ll get you into a hair salon.”

I groaned at that. “Why do I need a purse and hair salon?” I didn’t like the idea of having to use pads and tampons, but I could understand the reasons, especially after Dr. Franklin had pointed out that my biology was definitely all female now.

“Every woman needs a purse,” mom explained patiently. Then she paused and stared at me for a moment, seeing that this wasn’t the way to go. “Think of it like carrying a small back pack that lets you bring everything you need with you. Makeup, wallet, hair brush, tampons…”

“That’s what pockets are for,” I argued, though I knew I certainly couldn’t carry all that in my pockets.

“You’ll find other things you need to bring with you too,” she pointed out. “With your twist, you’ll probably need to carry some water bottles.”

“Maybe,” I agreed reluctantly. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of using a purse, but I was already wearing a bra so that shouldn’t be any more embarrassing than that.

“And as for your hair,” mom said, giving me a smile and then running her fingers through my hair. “You have beautiful silky hair and you need to take care of it. Getting it trimmed up at a salon will help with that.” Then she shook her head and added, “You should have brushed it after your swim. You’ll definitely need to start carrying a brush with you.”

Mom and I carried my new clothes to the car and we talked about our plans for tomorrow. Or more specifically, she told me what we were going to do while I grumbled about it and made her explain why.

By the time we got home, my legs were really starting to itch again. I definitely needed to soak them in water for a bit and maybe even down a couple glasses of water. As I climbed out of the car, my legs suddenly began to tingle on their own.

“Oh no,” I blurted out as my legs suddenly began to change, though I hadn’t willed them to do so. In a moment, they could no longer support me and I collapsed to the ground in the middle of the driveway, crying out, “Shit…”

“Lucas,” mom called out in worry, rushing to my side.

My transforming legs pinched badly against the pants that weren’t designed to contain a mermaid tail. Then there was a strange building of pressure and suddenly my pants disintegrated where they were getting in the way. I let out a sigh of relief as I was no longer pinched by my pants, which was exactly what my reformed tail needed.

“Those were brand new pants,” mom blurted out in horror while I just sat there feeling mortified.

“Damn,” I groaned, remembering what Dr. Rothschild said about only being able to keep my legs for a few hours at most. Obviously, this was what happened when my time ran out.

Mom stared at my tail for several long seconds and then let out a loud sigh. “I think we should have bought a few more dresses.”

--------------------

It was Saturday afternoon and I’d just gotten back home from the hair salon. My hair had been washed, brushed, cut a couple inches, and styled a bit. I would have preferred to have it cut a bit more, maybe to shoulder length, but mom had refused to let me cut my hair that much.

“You have beautiful silky hair,” mom had told me. “Most women would kill for hair like that so why don’t you keep it for awhile and see if you get used to it.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t argue with her,” I grumbled.

Admittedly, my hair did look pretty nice, or at least it would have on some girl…some other girl. It was difficult to think of myself as a girl but I knew that I’d have to start doing that unless I wanted to go insane.

“I guess I’ll have to get used to using one of these too,” I muttered, looking at the new purse that mom had bought me. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do with something like this, but mom insisted that before long I’d wonder how I’d gotten along without one.

“I never leave home without one,” aunt Kelsie said, coming in without my having noticed her. She patted her own purse and smiled. “But to be honest, I think that having a purse will be the least of the things you’ll have to adjust to.”

“I think you’re right,” I admitted, looking down at my boobs and thinking about my tail.

Last night, I’d tried going to sleep in my normal bed, only to wake up a short time later with my legs turning back into a tail. It seems that as soon as I’m asleep, my trick automatically wears off and my legs revert. That meant that I had to go back to sleeping on a tarp with damp sheets like I had the night before.

“This is all pretty weird,” I admitted, feeling like I was going to start crying. Everything had just been happening so fast that I didn’t know what to think of it all.

“It’s okay,” aunt Kelsie told me, giving me a hug. “I know you might not think so now, but you’ll get used to this and eventually it will all seem normal.”

Aunt Kelsie looked like she was about to say something more when the doorbell began to ring. I went to answer it and found Christine standing there, staring up at me with a look of surprise.

“You’ve got legs,” she blurted out.

“Yeah,” I grinned. “It’s my trick… I can make my tail turn into legs for a couple hours…”

Christine gave me a hug and said, “Goody for you. I was afraid you’d never be able to walk again…”

“Me too,” I admitted. Then I gave her a grin and looked to Aunt Kelsie, “Which reminds me, I need to go soak my tail for a bit. I’ve had my legs out for too long and if I wait much longer I’ll change back automatically.”

I went to the bathroom and took off my pants and panties. After turning on the water in the bath tub, I sat on the edge and allowed my legs to change back into my tail. I let out a sigh, still finding it hard to believe that I actually felt a little more comfortable with a tail than I did with legs.

The bathroom door opened and Christine came in. She stood there and watched while I splashed legs on my tail.

“That must be pretty weird,” she finally commented.

I nodded at that. “Probably no weirder than turning into a kid again.”

“You’re probably right,” She responded with a chuckle.

While I was soaking my tail, I told Christine about my trip to the Spiral Clinic yesterday and everything that I’d learned. She nodded along, making comments about her own visit after her twist.

“And now I can’t wait until the next time I get to go swimming,” I told her with a chuckle. “Pretty funny for someone who couldn’t even swim a couple days ago.”

After soaking my tail for about fifteen minutes, I changed back to my legs. Christine watched the process in fascination but didn’t say a word until after I’d dried myself off and got dressed again.

“That’s pretty neat to watch,” she finally said.

“Maybe,” I agreed. “But I have to go through that every few hours. It actually makes wearing pants a pain in the ass.” I let out a sigh and shook my head. “I think I’ll probably be wearing dresses and skirts a lot…just so I don’t have to get completely undressed when I change.”

“Dresses are fun to twirl in,” Christine said, spinning around and twirling her own dress to demonstrate.

When we went back into the living room, I found mom and Aunt Kelsie talking, though they stopped when we came in. They shared a look with each other that let me know that they’d been talking about me.

Christine and I went out to the garage where we could have some privacy of our own, but before we went inside, Ricky pulled into the driveway in the cheap car his parents had bought him for his birthday. He climbed out of the car and without saying a word, held up his guitar. I just grinned in response.

A minute later, we were inside the garage and Ricky was beginning to strum his guitar. Christine took what had become her usual seat in front of where we practiced so that she could play the part of audience. Even her stuffed rabbit was getting in the act, sitting in the seat beside her and clapping with its stuffed paws.

“Thank you, thank you very much,” Ricky said, taking a bow.

Christine giggled, then said, “You need to actually play before you take a bow…” Then she looked to her stuffed rabbit and scolded it, “Enough clapping. You don’t want to encourage him.”

I grinned at that and sat down at my drum set, only to realize that I had a small problem, or more precisely, two larger ones. My boobs were getting in the way a bit as I tried to drum, preventing me from making my usual movements.

“Damn,” I complained as I tried playing anyway, though they continued getting in the way.

Ricky watched me with a smirk though Christine had a look of sympathy. Of course, I’d seen her giving me envious looks earlier, especially while staring at my chest. But she knew quite well what it was like having a twist that took away her ability to play.

“I’m gonna have to figure out how to work around these things,” I muttered in disgust.

“What a horrible problem to have,” Christine commented wryly.

“And wicked funny,” Ricky added with a broad grin.

“Ha, fucking ha,” I responded, giving Ricky a half-hearted glare. “Let’s see how you play with a pair of these in the way…” I cupped my boobs which only got him laughing harder.

“I wish I still had boobies,” Christine said with a pout.

I stared at my former girlfriend for a moment, feeling sorry for her yet again, though trying not to show it. I didn’t think that I’d be happy to have people pitying me because of my situation and didn’t think that she’d like it either.

We went back to practicing but my new assets continued to be liabilities. By the time we were done, I was able to work around them a little, but not nearly enough. It was going to take a lot of practice before I was back where I was before my twist.

“Too bad,” Ricky told me, playing a little more on his guitar.

He began playing an old tune that we’d practiced quite a bit, one from back when my mom was my age. Christine giggled and began singing along with it, which was funny since her little girl voice didn’t quite match the heavy metal lyrics.

“Come on,” Christine called me. “Sing with me…”

I rolled my eyes and began to sing along, expecting her and Ricky to call a stop to it immediately. However, they both gave me looks of surprise and continued, so I continued as well.

When the song came to an end, Christine blurted out, “Holy poop… You sound awesome.”

“You’ve got a wicked voice,” Ricky agreed, giving an appreciative nod. “Are you sure singing isn’t one of your tricks?”

I blushed at that, surprised by the praise since they usually insulted my singing. In fact, I clearly remember Christine once telling me that I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket so I should probably learn to play an instrument instead. That was when she’d begun teaching me to play the drums.

“You really sounded great, Lucas,” Ricky said, then paused to give me an odd look. “You know, it’s weird calling you by a guy’s name…”

“I know,” I responded with a roll of my eyes. “I’ve been talking with my mom about that but I haven’t found a new one I like.”

“How about Lucy,” Christine suggested. “I mean, it starts like your old name and should be easy to answer to…”

“Mom suggested the same thing,” I pointed out with a sigh. “But Lucy just makes me think of Lucy Penterghast…”

Christine and Ricky both nodded at that, getting the idea immediately. Lucy Penterghast was a girl we’d gone to middle-school with, one who had a bad reputation as a know-it-all and tattle-tale. None of the other kids liked her, and she didn’t even have the excuse of being Twisted.

“Maybe Lucille,” Christine suggested, though the look on her face said that she wasn’t impressed by that one any more than I was.

“No thanks,” I responded with a snort.

“How about Ariel?” Ricky asked with a grin.

I shook my head at that. “No thanks. I don’t want people asking me how Sebastion is doing.”

Christine mused, “How about Marina?”

“How about no,” I responded.

Christine stuck her tongue out at me and said, “I tried…”

Ricky and Christine continued suggesting names, but the names only got worse and worse as they began competing to see who could come up with the most obnoxious name. Once the names Bertha, Marge, and Helvetica came up, I decided that the name game was over.

“I’ve got to get inside and soak my tail again,” I told my friends, feeling a little uncomfortable. My legs were starting to feel a little itchy and dry, making me think that I should probably change into a dress while I was inside. That would make it easier to keep my legs moisturized.

“I’ll see ya later then,” Ricky told as he began walking out of the garage with his guitar. “And get some more practice with the drums if you can… I mean, that was kind of lame today…”

“But you sing really good,” Christine offered, collecting her stuffed rabbit and following after Ricky.

“Thanks,” I said, still not sure if they were being honest or just messing with me. Admittedly, my singing had sounded good to my own ears.

Christine paused before going and then gave me a thoughtful look. “How about Lorilei? I think it suits you and we could call you Lori for short.”

“Lorilei,” I tested the name, thinking that it was a bit more feminine than I liked but I didn’t hate it. “Lori…” Then I told Christine, “I’ll think about that one.”

Christine gave me a quick hug and announced, “I’ll see you later.” Then she held up her stuffed rabbit and added, “Rabbie says bye bye too…”

“I thought you were calling him Pookie,” I commented, only to have Christine stick her tongue out me before leaving.

Once my friends were gone, I muttered, “Hi, I’m Lori…” The name really wasn’t bad. I was still thinking about that as a possible name when I went back into the house

When I stepped into the living room, I found Aunt Kelsie sitting there with a serious look on my face. My mom wasn’t in the living room with her at the moment.

“What’s up?” I asked, seeing from her expression that something was wrong.

“Well kiddo, there’s something we need to talk about,” Aunt Kelsie said carefully. “I told Sarah…your mom that I wanted to be the one to do this.”

“Oh God,” I groaned. “This is the birds and the bees talk again, isn’t it?”

Aunt Kelsie chuckled faintly at that before answering, “Not quite.”

“That’s good,” I said in relief. “The equipment may be new, but I still have the basic idea.”

Aunt Kelsie stared at me for several long seconds before carefully saying, “I never told you about my twist.”

I was a little surprised by the abrupt change of top, but I realized that she was right. I knew about her trick of being able to move small things with her mind, but she’d never talked about the rest of her twist. Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything obvious.

“No,” I said carefully. “You never talk about it.”

“Well,” she started, then paused with a shake of her head. “It will probably be easier just to show you.”

With that, Aunt Kelsie stood up and began undoing her pants. I was stunned by her doing this, and even more stunned a moment later when she dropped her pants and revealed a large penis, a bit bigger than mine had been.

“What the…?” I blurted out while she pulled her pants back up, turning bright red as well. “You’re a she-male…”

“I think the term futa is a little more accurate for my situation,” she answered with a forced smile, obviously embarrassed. “I was a normal girl growing up, until my twist. Then I suddenly had this and started liking girls.” She paused at that, then admitted, “I might actually have liked girls before this and never realized it… I imagine fantasizing about being with a girl before my twist might have caused me to get this, but to be honest, It’s been so long that I don’t even remember which came first.”

“So you’re a bit like me,” I said in amazement.

“A little,” she agreed with a faint smile. “But only part of my body changed, not the entire thing.”

“But why didn’t you say anything the other day?” I asked gesturing at myself. “When I was freaking out?”

Aunt Kelsie scowled, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. “I wanted to, but I was afraid to at the same time. You see, there’s something you need to know…”

“Besides you having guy parts?” I asked, feeling a little confused.

“Sarah told you she had an affair while still married to Frank,” Aunt Kelsie said quietly. At my nod, she blurted out, “That was me. I was the one your mom was having an affair with.”

“WHAT?” I blurted out in surprise.

“Lucas,” she said awkwardly. “I am your father.”

All I could do was stare at Aunt Kelsie in stunned disbelief. “You’re joking...”

“She’s not,” mom said, coming into the room and looking embarrassed. “She’s your biological father.”

My entire brain froze at that as I was unable to process this for at least ten seconds. Once I had, I took several deep breaths, feeling completely shocked and confused.

“When your father,” mom started, then paused to look at Aunt Kelsie. “When Frank and I were having difficulties with our marriage, Kelsie and I went out drinking one night and things…happened. I’d known about her twist since it happened, but I’d never been interested in her in that way. After that, we tried a few more times over the next couple weeks.”

“I had a crush on Sarah since high school,” Aunt Kelsie admitted, giving mom an appreciative look. “Ever since my twist. But I’d always accepted that she was straight and we’d just be friends and nothing more. I hadn’t expected what happened, but I certainly enjoyed it.”

I winced at that, not wanting to hear about my mom’s sex life. It was just weird, especially since I knew her best friend, my Aunt Kelsie had been a part of it. It was hard to imagine.

“When I got pregnant,” mom continued, “I’d never seriously thought it could be Kelsie’s. I know she has certain man parts, but I’d always thought of her as a woman and…” She shook her head at that. “Frank was so excited at the idea of being a dad. It saved our marriage…but only for a few more years.”

Aunt Kelsie gave me an odd look and a smile, making me feel even more confused. She might be my biological father, but she’d been Aunt Kelsie to me for my entire life and I didn’t think I could think of her as anything else. The idea of calling her ‘dad’ just seemed ridiculous.

“I always suspected you might be mine,” Aunt Kelsie admitted quietly. “You resemble…used to resemble my father a little.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded, feeling hurt and betrayed as well as everything else.

“Because I didn’t know for sure,” she admitted quietly. “And you already had a dad…a normal dad. I didn’t know for sure until you went through your twist, something you could have only inherited from me.”

“Is everything about me a lie?” I demanded with tears starting to run down my cheeks.

I glared at mom and Aunt Kelsie, hurt that they’d lied to me about something like this for my entire life. Did my dad know? Did he suspect that he wasn’t my real dad? Was that why he’d always been so distant to me?

With that, I turned and ran to my room where I threw myself on the bed and began sobbing. My entire life was a lie. My entire sense of self-identity had all been based on my being normal, on something that wasn’t even true. It suddenly struck me that after everything that had happened to me and everything that I’d learned, I no longer even knew who I was anymore.

--------------------

It was Sunday afternoon and I’d just arrived at Morgan Beach with mom and Aunt Kelsie. I was still upset with both of them but they were trying to make it up to me by taking me swimming. I knew that they were trying to buy my forgiveness, but I didn’t really care. We were at the beach.

I could almost feel the water calling me, beckoning me to come home. It took nearly every ounce of restraint I possessed to keep from just running straight into the water, in spite of the fact that I hadn’t changed into my swim suit yet.

“Someone sure is eager,” Aunt Kelsie said in obvious amusement.

Mom smirked and said, “For someone who went out of his way to avoid the water a few days ago, you certainly are excited.”

“It’s the only place I can have my tail and not feel like I’m handicapped,” I pointed out. Of course, it was more than that. A lot more.

I went to the changing room and put on my new bikini. It was an aquamarine color that matched my hair and scales quite well. I felt a little self-conscious wearing it, especially since I knew it really looked good on me, but then I reminded myself that I’ve already been completely naked in front of a lot of other people and this wasn’t nearly as bad as that.

“You look very beautiful,” mom told me with a proud smile.

“Um…thanks,” I responded with a bright blush.

“All the boys on the beach are going to be drooling over you,” Aunt Kelsie said with a grin, then added, “And some of the girls.” That only made me blush even more.

When we left the changing room, I walked towards the water, fully aware of all the looks I was getting. There were definitely some looks of obvious interest from guys as well as a few jealous glares from women. I couldn’t resist giggling at how silly that seemed to me.

“Look at that hair,” one woman said in obvious distaste. “I bet she’s Twisted…”

I grimaced at that comment, suddenly realizing that I was now a target for all those people who disliked the Twisted. But what was even worse than that was remembering that my dad wasn’t very fond of people who were Twisted. Between that and finding out that I wasn’t really his, I could only imagine that he’d actually hate me now.

Tears began going down my cheeks as I thought of how dad would look at me from now on…if he’d ever even look at me again. He’d already been so distant that it had hurt, but now…

“But he’s not my real dad,” I tried reminding myself, hoping that this would make it better…that it would make me care less about what he thought. However, it didn’t and I only cried more.

“Are you okay?” mom asked me, coming to my side with a look of concern. “If you’re not comfortable being with all these people, we can leave…”

“No,” I said quietly. I took a deep breath and blurted out, “I need to go swimming…”

I ran into the water and immediately felt my legs beginning to change. I dove forward and underwater as I shed my legs and let my tail reform, dissolving my bikini bottom in the process. That would make it a little awkward when it was time to get out of the water, but that was a problem for later.

I took a deep breath, marveling yet again that I was underwater and was actually breathing just as easily as if I was in the air. Then with a smile, I swam forward, going deeper and away from the swimmers so that I had a little more room for myself.

Once I was away from everyone else, I began to swim around lazily, though I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings. Instead, I was lost in my own thoughts and the emotional clutter that filled my head.

Ever since I went through my twist, absolutely everything had changed. Everything that I’d taken for granted had been yanked away. I had no idea of who or what I was anymore.

I was supposed to be a normal, but without warning I suddenly became Twisted instead. I’d always felt sorry for my Twisted classmates, especially for those who hadn’t gone through theirs yet and didn’t know when it would come or in what form. I’d always been thankful that I didn’t have to worry about that. But now I did. Now, instead of being normal as I’d always thought, I was Twisted.

I was supposed to be a guy, but now I was a girl and had no idea of what to do about this. Sure, I could wear dresses and play the part, but I didn’t really know anything about being a girl. I might have the right parts now, but I still felt like an imposter.

Just last week, I’d been nervous about getting too close to deep water. I hadn’t known how to swim and hadn’t really been very enthusiastic about learning. But now, swimming seemed to be second nature to me and I couldn’t get enough of being in the water.

Of course, the cause for all these things was the simple fact that my dad was no longer my dad. Instead, my aunt was my dad. Just thinking about that was enough to give me a headache.

I was lost in my thoughts for awhile, not sure if I was still crying or not. It was hard to tell when I was underwater. Then I began to notice my surroundings.

Several fish were swimming nearby and I found myself watching them in fascination. I dove down a little and saw a crab crawling along the ocean floor. All my fears and worries about my shattered sense of self-identity were pushed aside under these new distractions.

I chased after one fish for a minute, then decided to see what I could really do. I had a lot of wide open space, which meant that I could cut loose in ways that I never could in a pool. I began swimming as fast as I could, slipping through the water with an ease and grace that I almost felt as though I was flying.

There were other fish around me, ones that swam away from me since they had no idea whether or not I was a threat. I even saw a shark, though it seemed fairly small and harmless.

Swimming around like this was very relaxing, almost cathartic. It let me put everything out of my mind and focus entirely on what I was doing.

“Just keep swimming,” I half sang to myself as I swished my tail back and forth, “Just keep swimming.”

Then with a burst of excitement, I swam to the surface as fast as I could, bursting out of the water and doing a flip before going back under. It was just like the trained dolphin I’d seen the one time mom and Aunt Kelsie had taken me to Sea World.

However, that just brought my thoughts back to my situation and suddenly made me realize something else. When I thought about growing up, dad had almost never been there. He’d divorced mom and moved away when I was very young, and afterwards, he’d never made much effort to stay in contact or actually be a dad.

But Aunt Kelsie had been there. Aunt Kelsie had almost always been there while I was growing up, whether it was to put a bandage on a scraped knee, help me with homework, or take me to Sea World. Nearly every good memory I had while growing up included Aunt Kelsie, just as much as they had my mom.

It was with a strange flash of understanding that I realized Aunt Kelsie had been more of a dad to me while I was growing up than my dad had ever been. Now I knew why.

Being underwater like this made me feel oddly comfortable and in control. From here, I was able to look at my life with a slightly different perspective and realized that all my problems weren’t really that bad. I still had two loving parents, even if one of them wasn’t who I thought it had been. And sure, I’d lost my gender, but when I looked around me and saw what I’d gained in exchange, it suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad trade.

After this, I began to slowly swim back towards the beach, realizing that I’d been out here for awhile and had completely lost track of time. Mom and Aunt Kelsie might be getting worried about me by now.

When I was almost back to where I’d gone into the water at, I noticed someone flailing in the water above me. I looked up and saw that it was a woman, though she wasn’t doing a very good job swimming. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t swimming…she was drowning and starting to go down.

I immediately swam for her, grabbing her and taking her to the surface where she sputtered and gasped. She continued gasping for breath while I swam with her towards the shore, getting her close enough that she could stagger out of the water and to where she collapsed to her knees in the sand.

“Are you okay?” I called out, dragging myself partly out of the water.

Now, I could see that the woman I’d rescued wasn’t a woman but more of a girl who looked a couple years younger than me. I guessed that she was about thirteen or so.

“You saved me,” the girl exclaimed, staring at me with a look of surprise. I lifted my tail out of the water so she could get a better look of it and she gasped, “You’re a mermaid.”

“Melissa,” a woman yelled out, running to the nearly drowned girl. I guessed she was the girl’s mom. Then once she saw her daughter was all right, she stared at me with a gasp of surprise.

“She saved me,” the girl, Melissa blurted out excitedly. “I got saved by a mermaid…”

“She’s probably just Twisted,” her mom said, turning to give me a wary smile. “Thank you so much…”

Other people on the beach were starting to come by and see as well, making me very self-conscious. There were some cheers over my saving the girl, though a couple hostile looks as well.

“That Twisted freak probably tried drowning the girl,” one man said.

However, another man glared at him and said, “If you say one more word against that girl, I will personally knock all your teeth out…”

Then I saw mom and Aunt Kelsie rushing towards me from the crowd. Mom held out a large towel and I got the idea. I finished pulling myself out of the water and Aunt Kelsie helped raise me up enough to wrap the towel around my waist. Once it was in place like a skirt, I was able to will my legs to return.

“You saved that girl’s life,” mom sad, giving me a hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

“For what it’s worth,” Aunt Kelsie told me proudly. “I am too.”

I slowly got to my feet, feeling just a little wobbly as I had to readjust to having legs. Then I threw my arms around Aunt Kelsie in a hug and announced, “I love you…”

Aunt Kelsie seemed a little surprised at that but happy as well. She hugged me back repeating, “I love you too…”

“But I’m still not going to call you dad,” I told her quietly as I pulled away, giving her a teasing grin.

She chuckled at that and admitted, “It would probably be pretty weird if you did.”

“You drew a lot of attention with your bit of heroism,” mom said, gesturing around the beach and pointing out the fact that a lot of people were starting at me. “Unfortunately, not all of it is good. We should probably leave, just to be on the safe side.”

“Probably a good idea,” I reluctantly admitted, though I rather would have stayed and gone back into the water.

“I just have to say it again,” mom told me as we began to leave. “I am so proud of you Lucas.”

“Not Lucas,” I responded quietly but firmly. “Not anymore.” I looked mom in the eyes and then did the same with Aunt Kelsie. “I want to be Lorilei now,” I said self-consciously, deciding that since I was a girl now, I needed to start using a girl name. “You can call me Lori.”

Mom and Aunt Kelsie shared a knowing look and a smile before mom said, “Lorilei is a very nice name.”

“Come on Lori,” Aunt Kelsie said, gently putting an arm over my shoulder. “I think that after your heroism and getting a new name, we need to celebrate. We’re going out to dinner tonight.” Then she gave me a mischivious smile and a wink before adding, “Seafood of course.”

I could only giggle at that before responding, “Of course.”

--------------------

It was Monday morning and I could hardly believe that I was going back to school for the first time since my twist while wearing a full length dress. Of course, it was only because I’d need to change into my tail later, but I was still a little self-conscious about it.

In most schools, a girl with long aquamarine hair would probably get stared at, though this was in Spiral where there were a lot of Twisted who stood out more than that. I did get some stares, but those were more because I was a very attractive girl than because of my odd hair color.

I carried my purse over my shoulder, feeling a little self-conscious about that as well. It contained my wallet, hair brush, tampons in case my period started, a bottle of water to keep me hydrated, and another bottle of water with a spray cap so that I could mist my tail later on. As much as I hated to admit it, mom was right about my finding the purse useful.

“And if Aunt Kelsie gets her way,” I muttered, “I’ll be carrying makeup as well.” I shook my head, remembering last night where she’d said she was going to start teaching me how to use the stuff. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to escape her lessons for very long.

After bracing myself, I walked into my first period classroom, getting curious looks from the students who were already there. A few of them started whispering to each other and I was pretty sure that they knew who I was, or at least who I had been.

I turned my attention to my teacher who was sitting behind her desk. Everyone in school called her Ms. Calico, even the other teachers. She was a pretty woman in her late twenties with cat eyes and shoulder length hair that contained the white, orange, and black color patterns of a calico cat.

“Um…my mom said she called the school about me yesterday,” I told Ms. Calico.

Ms. Calico didn’t look surprised to see me, though she did look me over with a curious expression. Then she smiled faintly and responded, “Of course. I was told that you have a new name picked out as well.”

I nodded self-consciously at that and quietly responded, “Yeah.”

She showed me where she had my new name already written down on a piece of paper, and when I nodded that she had it right, she gave me a gentle smile and told me, “Go take your seat then.”

When class started a minute later, Ms. Calico stood up and gestured to me. “As most of you already seem to have guessed,” she announced, “our apparent newcomer is not a new student. This is Lorilei Kane…formerly known as Lucas Kane. She has recently underwent her twist and could use your patience and understanding.”

One of the boys on the other side of the room blurted out, “But I thought Lucas was a norm?” He was staring at me curiously as was everyone else in the room.

“Would you like to speak to the class, Lorilei?” Ms. Calico asked me.

I nodded and stood up, feeling embarrassed by all the attention. “Please call me Lori now,” I said, trying to keep my voice loud enough for everyone to hear. I took a deep breath and continued, “I always thought I was normal too since both my parents were normal. But it turns out that the person I always thought was my dad isn’t really…and that my biological dad is Twisted.”
I didn’t really want to share such personal information with my classmates, but knew that I was too well known as being a norm for people to easily accept my sudden twist. People would have kept asking me about that sudden change so I had to give them at least a bit of an explanation.

“Ouch,” the boy who’d spoken up commented, giving me a sympathetic look. “What a way to find out…”

I nodded at that and sat back down again while Ms. Calico began teaching class as though nothing had changed. Of course, this wasn’t the first time someone in class had come back after their twist so it wasn’t really that unusual after all.

After first period ended, I started for my second period class, only to run into Christine on the way. She had a backpack on her back and carried a stuffed penguin in her arms, which was normal for her at school.

“You wanna hug Mister Beaky?” Christine asked, holding out her stuffed bird.

“No thanks,” I responded with a faint smile.

“Did you pick a new name yet?” Christine asked me curiously, reminding me that I hadn’t talked to her since before finding out that Aunt Kelsie was my dad.

“Call me Lori,” I told her, only to get a grin in response.

“I’m good at naming things,” Christine announced proudly.

I gave a skeptical look to her stuffed animal and responded, “I’m just glad you didn’t try naming me Miss Fishy or something.” Then I shook my head before adding, “But you did suggest Lulu which is nearly as bad.”

Christine stuck her tongue out at me, then told her stuffed animal, “Don’t worry… Miss Fishy didn’t mean anything by that.” I just groaned, regretting giving her that nickname.

When Christine and I reached our second period, we saw that Ricky had already beat us there and had taken his seat. He waved to us as we came in, though I paused to talk to the teacher Mrs. Krieve the same way I had with Ms. Calico.

I was reintroduced to the class much the way I had been last period, though this time it was Roger Maxwell who blurted out, “But I thought you were a norm…”

I tried to avoid looking at Roger, who was wearing a neon green shirt and bright purple pants. “I thought I was too,” I answered with a sigh. “It turns out I was wrong.”

“How can you be wrong about that?” one girl asked in disdain. “I mean, if both your parents are norms, you’re a norm.”

“Unless both your parents are norms,” I responded with a grimace. “Then you find out that one of them isn’t really your parent.”

Christine jumped up onto her chair and glared at the girl who was about to speak again, then snapped, “It isn’t any of your business. Lori has enough trouble without everyone wanting to know about her private life.”

“Good one,” Ricky agreed, giving Christine a thumbs up.

After Christine’s little speech, everyone seemed to get the idea and stopped asking me questions about my parentage, though it was obvious they were still curious. I could hear a few of my classmates whispering to each other about my twist. Even Christine’s speech couldn’t stop school gossip.

About halfway through class, my legs began feeling a little itchy and uncomfortable. I carefully removed my shoes and then let my tail reform. There was a strange sense of relief as my tail came back, but it was one that I was becoming familiar with. Then I pulled my dress back and used my spray bottle to mist my tail.

“What the…?” the girl next to me gasped when she saw my tail.

I flipped my tail a little while simultaneously holding a finger to my lips to shush her. However, several of the other students around me seemed to have noticed my tail as well. I just pretended that everything was normal and watched the front of the room where Mrs. Krieve demonstrated how to solve an equation.

Before class had finished, I reformed my legs, so once the bell was done all I had to do was put my shoes back on. It was a shame that I hadn’t been able to hold my legs for just a little longer since the next period was the one I’d been looking forward to all morning.

I went to the girl’s locker room and hesitated a moment before going inside. I told myself that it was no different than using the girl’s changing room at the beach yesterday, though I couldn’t help but silently pointing out that all the girls in this one knew that I’d been a boy just a week before.

Most of the girls in the locker room gave me odd looks, though none of them outright challenged me, much to my relief. Still, to make them and myself more comfortable with the situation, I went to the back of the locker room where there wasn’t anyone else.

I got undressed and put on my bikini top, an aquamarine color that mom had bought for me because it matched my hair and scales. I didn’t bother putting on the bottom part of the bikini, having learned yesterday that it was a waste of time. As with my pants, the very act of changing my legs into a tail destroys anything I’m wearing that obstructs the process. The only things I can wear that are safe from that kind of damage are skirts and dresses, which is the very reason why I wore a dress to school.

“This should do it,” I said, holding out the aquamarine wraparound skirt that mom had made for me last night. It wrapped around my waist and went all the way to my knees, snapping shut on the side to stay sealed. I let out a sigh and muttered, “At least it’s more practical.”

As I left the locker room, one of the girls sneered at me and asked, “Weren’t you a fish the last time I saw you?”

“Weren’t you a bitch the last time I saw you?” I responded. “Oh yeah, you still are.” That got several of the other girls to start laughing.

I went to the pool where the rest of the PE class was gathered, getting stares from almost everyone there. After all, these people had all seen me undergoing my twist, and they’d all seen me naked afterwards.

“I thought you were a mermaid,” one boy blurted out.

Coach Rydell saw me and came over, looking at my legs with an expression of surprise, apparently having expected me to still have my tail. Then she asked, “Are you doing alright…Lorilei? I was told that was your new name.”

I nodded at that. “Lori is fine.” Then I smiled self-consciously. “I’m still adjusting.”

She gestured to my skirt and told me, “I’m sorry but that isn’t acceptable swimwear for the pool. I know you’re probably very self-conscious after your change…”

“It isn’t that,” I quickly corrected her, though that was true as well. “It’s…because of my situation.”

At her curious look, I dove into the deep part of the swimming pool, letting my tail come out again. I did a single circle of the pool, entirely underwater, then removed my skirt and came back up, setting it on the side of the pool before pulling myself up so I was sitting on the side as well.

“I can’t wear normal swimsuits,” I explained, gesturing to my tail.

Coach Rydell gave me a thoughtful look before nodding. “Very well. We can make an exception because of your twist.”

“Looking wicked,” Ricky called out as he came over and crouched down beside me. Then in a conspiratorial voice, he quietly told me, “I think Carolyn is totally jealous of you.”

Coach Rydell gave me an amused look and commented, “After what happened last week, I wouldn’t have expected you to jump right into the deep end…”

“Part of my twist,” I told her with a shrug. “I can’t get enough of being in the water now.”

“I’m not surprised,” she said, giving me a knowing look and reminding me of her own twist induced love of all things athletic. “Not with the rest of your twist.”

After this and a few safety warnings from Coach Rydell, everyone got into the water and I immediately began circling the pool and swimming laps. All of my classmates seemed thrilled by the idea of actually swimming with a mermaid, while Coach Rydell seemed amused by the fact that the worst swimmer in the class had suddenly become the best.

I was fully aware of the irony that the class I’d dreaded the most had suddenly become my favorite class. When it was time to get out of the water, I was pretty disappointed since I would have been happy remaining there for the rest of the day. I reluctantly pulled myself out of the water, snapped my skirt back around myself, then recovered my legs so I could go into the locker room and get changed again.

When lunch finally came, I sat at my usual table with Christine and Ricky. Both of them were curious about how things were going for me on my first day back.

“It hasn’t been too bad,” I admitted, “though Becky Miller kept making comments that I smell fishy all last period.”

Christine sniffed at me and then shook her head. “Don’t worry Miss Fishy…you don’t really smell fishy at all.”

“Please don’t call me that,” I responded with a groan. “If Becky hears you calling me that, she’ll probably start using it too…”

“Sorry, Lori,” Christine said, giving me her best innocent look, which was actually quite good.

“So,” Ricky said, glancing around as if to make sure no one was listening in. “Did you find out who your real dad is yet?”

I hesitated for a moment before admitting, “Yeah, but it’s kind of weird…”

“Go on,” Christine urged with a broad grin. “Who’s your daddy?”

“Well, you know my Aunt Kelsie,” I said carefully, getting nods from both my friends. I was turning bright red from embarrassment as I quietly continued, “Well, it turns out her twist gave her some boy parts…”

Christine and Ricky both stared at me with wide eyed looks of disbelief. “But she’s your aunt,” Ricky finally said, looking shocked.

“Not biologically,” I quickly explained. “She was my mom’s best friend.”

“Best friend with benefits, apparently,” Christine added.
I nodded at that, not able to meet my friends eyes for a moment. After that big revelation, mom and Aunt Kelsie had admitted that they’d shared physical intimacy many times over the years, but they still thought of themselves as best friends rather than lovers. Apparently, in spite of all that, mom still claimed that she was into guys and not women.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” I begged them. “It’s really…awkward.”

“My lips are sealed,” Ricky promised.

“Mine too,” Christine added, making an exaggerated motion with her hands as though she was actually zipping her lips.

We talked for a couple more minutes about my odd parentage, then Ricky said, “You know, we’ve got that talent show in less than two weeks… I still say we should form a band.”

“We can’t be a band with just two people,” I reminded him, as I’d done many times before my twist. Then I admitted, “And certainly not until I get more practice on the drums.”

“Good point,” Christine agreed. “You were sounding good, but the other day you sounded kinda like doo doo.”

Suddenly, I heard a girl demand, “Hey, are you that mermaid bitch?”

I turned around and was startled to see Liz Dawson standing behind me. Liz was about 5 foot 5 with shoulder length red hair that had a black stripe dyed down the middle like a skunk, and she had a full sleeve of tattoos going down one of her arms. Besides the tattoos, she also had a stud through one nostril, one above her eyebrow, and a half dozen rings through each of her ears.

I’d never really met Liz before since she was a grade ahead of me, but I had heard of her reputation for being vicious to anyone who got in her way. No one seemed to know if that was due to her twist or was just a part of her normal personality. What I did know was that she and Christine used to be friends of a sort before Christine went through her own twist. As far as I knew, they hadn’t talked to each other since.

“Hey Liz,” Christine greeted her, giving her a wary look.

“I asked you a question,” Liz demanded of me.

For a moment, all I could do was stare at her, feeling a little nervous, even afraid, and wondering what I’d done to piss her off. Then I took a deep breath and responded, “Yeah, I’m a mermaid…” I looked down at my legs and added, “When I have my tail.”

Liz just stared at me for several seconds before saying, “Then you’re the one who saved my sister from drowning yesterday…”

I was startled by that and blurted out, “She was your sister?”

“Wait,” Christine exclaimed, staring at me in surprise and then at Liz. “Lori saved your sister?”

Liz nodded, beginning to smile as well. “Fucking yeah… Mom said she swam out too far and started getting caught in the current until some fucking mermaid showed up and saved her.”

“You didn’t mention that you were a hero,” Ricky chided me.

“Thanks for saving Melissa’s ass,” Liz told me, looking quite sincere as she did so. “I owe you big time. If anyone fucks with you, just let me know and I’ll take care of it…”

“Um…thanks,” I responded, startled by this sudden turnaround.

Then Christine abruptly asked, “Liz, you still play guitar, don’t you?”

Liz gave Christine a curious look before responding, “Yeah… Why?”

“Lori and Ricky need someone to play bass for the talent show,” Christine said with a faint smirk.

There was a long pause while Liz looked at Ricky and me, then she finally answered, “I can jam with you guys a bit to see if we can actually play together...but no promises.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ricky agreed, looking quite pleased, almost as though he was the one who’d just signed up a bass player for our garage band.

After Liz left, with a promise to meet after school tomorrow for a jam session, Christine smirked and said, “Now you can try for the talent show.”

“Just great,” I groaned, wanting to smack my head against the cafeteria table. “And right when my playing is still off too.”

“We still have two weeks to practice before the talent show,” Ricky pointed out with a grin. “This is gonna be totally wicked.”

“We can worry about that later,” Christine said, setting her stuffed penguin onto the table in front of her. “Now spill the beans… Mister Beaky wants to hear all about how you saved Liz’s sister.”

--------------------

I was in a very good mood as I left the girl’s locker room and started for my next class. Since PE had just gotten over, I’d just finished spending a lot of time swimming around the pool and impressing all the other students.

“If Twisted were allowed to compete,” Coach Rydell had told me, “I’d get you a tryout for the Olympic swim team.”

One of the things that I liked so much about going swimming was that it let me relax and put everything in my life into perspective. All of my problems seemed smaller and easier to deal with while I was underwater. Sure, the school swimming pool wasn’t nearly as good for that as the ocean, but it still helped immensely.

I smiled as I walked, running a hand through my still wet hair. I’d already dried my hair and brushed while I was changing, but there was only so much you could do. Fortunately, my hair didn’t seem to need much brushing as it dried off a little faster than normal and never seemed to tangle. That was probably yet another subtle aspect of my twist, like how my eyes had an extra membrane to protect them when I was underwater.

Then I felt the pressure building my bladder and muttered in annoyance. I’d just left the girl’s locker room a minute ago and there had been plenty of bathroom stalls there that I could have used. Unfortunately, I hadn’t felt the call of Mother Nature until I’d already left.

With a sigh over the brief worry that this delay might make me late for my next class, I went to the nearest bathroom. There were a couple other girls already present, one of whom was Nina Parker, a pretty girl I shared a couple classes with and whom I’d had a crush on for awhile.

“What are you doing in here?” Nina demanded, giving me a hostile look.

“What?” I asked in surprise.

Another girl looked confused and asked Nina, “What’s wrong?”

“You’re not a real girl,” Nina blurted out at me. “You don’t belong in here with the real girls, you pervert.”

I winced at that, feeling even more hurt than I would have otherwise since this came from a girl that I’d liked. “I certainly can’t use the boys room anymore,” I snapped at her in response, imagining how awkward things would be if I tried.

“Wait,” the other girl present said, giving me a suspicious look. “You’re a guy?”

“Not anymore,” I answered, trying to keep my voice steady. This was both insulting and humiliating, being challenged like this when all I was trying to do was go to the bathroom. “The doctor says I’m all girl now…”

Nina glared at me, seeming to become even more hostile because I hadn’t just run away in shame and humiliation, though I certainly wanted to. “Get out of here you freak,” Nina demanded.

Suddenly, the toilet flushed from one of the stalls and then a girl came out of the stall. She had black hair and a dark look on her face that made me want to step back.

To my surprise, the girl glared at Nina and demanded, “Do you have a problem with Twisted?”
“What?” Nina stammered. “No…”

“Then you must have a problem with people who go through a sex change during their twist,” the black haired girl snarled, making Nina step back. “You must have a problem with me.”

“No,” Nina stammered, looking to the other girl she’d been warning about me, but the other girl had already fled the bathroom. Nina turned and nearly ran out behind her, leaving me alone in the bathroom with the black haired girl.

The other girl looked me over, smirking faintly as she did so. Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it right there in front of me.

“I’m Simone,” she said, blowing out a stream of smoke and giving me an appreciative looking over the same way a lot of guys had been doing since my change.

“Lorilei,” I answered nervously. “Lori.”

Simone nodded faintly. “You’re the one I heard about…who changed in the school pool.”

I nodded at that. “Um…yeah. That was me.”

“Being a girl isn’t half bad,” she told me with an amused look. “I like this a hell of a lot more than I ever did being a guy.”

“You changed too?” I blurted out, even though she’d already said as much to Nina.

Simone nodded and responded, “It takes a little getting used to, but you’ll adjust.” Then she paused before adding, “We aren’t the only ones in school from the sex change club. I’m not exactly the comforting sort so I suggest you find one of the others to talk to.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling a little confused.

“It was nice meeting you,” Simone said as she left the bathroom. “Maybe we’ll talk again.”

Once Simone was gone, I shook my head and muttered, “Now I need another swim.”

When lunch came an hour later, I joined my friends at our usual seat. I poked at the fish sticks that we’d been given by the apathetic lunch lady and sighed, thinking about all the fresh fish I’d seen off Morgan Beach. Maybe I should start bringing in my own lunch.

“So,” Christine said, giving me a curious look. “I heard you had a run in with Simone.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, feeling embarrassed by that. “She said she used to be a guy too…”

“Yeah,” Christine agreed, reaching over and snatching an apple wedge from my tray. “She used to be a wimpy guy named Simon before she went through her twist and turned into a total meanie.”

“She nearly tore some guys balls off because he pissed her off,” Ricky told me, wincing as he said that.

Christine gave me an odd look before asking, “What happened?”

“Nina was giving me a hard time for using the girls bathroom,” I admitted, still shaken by the realization that he girl I’d liked had actually tried bullying me.

Ricky stared at me for a moment before saying, “I thought you were going to ask Nina out?”

“I was planning on it,” I told him quietly. I winced slightly before adding, “Before my twist.”

We were all silent for half a minute before Christine asked, “Do you even still like girls?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, though I already knew the answer. Boys still did nothing for me at all, while staring at attractive girls got my nipples to harden and my groin to get wet. However, I’d been too distracted with everything else going on to really think about this too much.

“Yeah,” I nodded, blushing brightly. “That hasn’t changed.”

“Then we need to find you a girlfriend,” Christine said, nearly making me choke.

“You weren’t so interested in helping me find a new girlfriend when I was still a guy,” I pointed out. Then I added, “Besides, it would be kind of weird having my ex-girlfriend hooking me up…”

“You were kind of ugly as a guy,” Christine teased, even sticking her tongue out at me. “But now, any lesbian would love going out with someone as pretty as you.”

“Can I watch you and your new girlfriend kiss?” Ricky asked with a smirk, which only got a glare from me and a giggle from Christine.

I shook my head and let out a sigh. “I don’t think I should date anyone right now.” I scowled as I thought about having some kind of romance and I just couldn’t imagine it. Not right now. “I mean, I should probably get used to being me before I can be with anyone else.”

“That’s probably smart,” Christine said, looking a little sad as she was probably remembering that she’d never be able to have that kind of relationship with anyone else. “You aren’t who you used to be and need to learn more about who you are now.”

“Exactly,” I agreed, though I still felt depressed by the idea.

“See,” Christine said brightly, “You aren’t such a poopy head after all.”

Ricky gave me an odd look before admitting, “I’m actually kinda glad you don’t like guys now.”

I was a little startled by his statement and asked, “Why?”

“Because you’re totally hot,” Ricky said, blushing brightly as he did so. “And I could totally dig dating someone who looks like you. But you’re my best bud and that would just be too freaking weird.”

“You’ve got that right,” I agreed, shuddering at the very thought.

Ricky grinned at that. “If you liked guys, then I’d probably start hitting on you and thinking of how to get you into me…which would probably ruin everything. But since you don’t like guys, I know I don’t have a shot and that makes it easier to keep things cool.”

“That makes sense,” Christine told me with a grin. “In a Ricky sort of way.” Then she stuck her tongue out at him and said, “But I still think you’re a poopy head.”

I looked at my two best friends and grinned, thankful that I still had them. Christine had lost a great deal during her twist, including her boyfriend and several close friends, which made me aware of just how lucky I was. I still wished things could have been different, but I was grateful that they were both still in my life.

--------------------

School was over for the day and I was sitting in my garage at home with my tail stretched out in a shallow wading pool, the kind little kids played in. I let out a sigh of relief as I poured a pitcher of water over my tail, definitely needing this after having been on my legs for most of the day. But as soothing as this was, I still would have preferred to go for a swim if I’d been able.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing that,” Ricky commented as he stood back, plucking at his guitar and watching me.

“How do you think I feel?” I asked him with a wry smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be done soon and we can practice.”

“I think your tail looks very pretty,” Christine announced, holding up the porcelain doll that she’d shown up with. “And so does Meredith.”

“Hey, how are you guys doing?” Aunt Kelsie called out as she stepped into the garage. She paused to stare at me for a moment, smiling with amusement as she did so.

“All right,” I told her. “We were just going to start practicing in a few minutes…”

I watched Aunt Kelsie, thinking about how odd it was to think of her as my aunt when I now knew that she was much more than that. Of course, it would have been even stranger calling her dad. She was looking at Christine and Ricky, who were both giving her odd looks.

“You told them, didn’t you,” she commented to me.

I hesitated a moment before nodding. “Yeah…”

Aunt Kelsie let out a sigh, took another look at my friends, and then asked, “Please don’t spread this around.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Christine said with a look of mock innocence.

“Then please keep it that way,” Aunt Kelsie told her gently. Then she turned to me and said, “Your new bed is nearly finished and should be full for you tonight.”

“Great,” I exclaimed with a grin, slapping my tail in the water.

“New bed?” Ricky asked, looking at my tail. “I guess you need one that’s a bit bigger now…”

“Actually,” I responded a little smugly. “It’s a water bed.”

Aunt Kelsie laughed at that. “That’s one way of putting it. We’re putting a small fold out pool into the basement for her to sleep in.”

“About three feet deep and ten feet wide,” I said happily. “I can stretch out and really stay wet while sleeping.”

“We just need to fill the pool and finish converting the rest of the basement into a bedroom,” Aunt Kelsie added. “I’ve got the water going right now. Thankfully, the material they make these pools out of nowadays almost never leaks or tears.”

I just grinned, actually looking forward to going to bed tonight. Sleeping on a tarp covered mattress with damp sheets might keep me from drying out, but it wasn’t the most comfortable. Being able to actually sleep underwater was going to be great.

A moment later, I heard a voice yelling from outside the garage, “Hey, is anyone here?”

“In here,” Christine called out.

Liz stepped into the garage with a guitar case slung over her shoulder, and right behind her was a familiar looking thirteen year old girl. It was the same girl I’d saved from drowning a couple days ago.

“Melissa wanted to see the mermaid who rescued her,” Liz said with a look of annoyance, though there seemed to be some amusement there as well.

Liz stared at my tail for a moment while Melissa gasped and made much more of a show about doing so. “That is so cool,” the girl exclaimed. “I wish I had a tail like that…”

“Then we could put you in an aquarium,” Liz teased her with a smirk.

“It’s a bit to get used to,” I warned her, pulling my tail out of the pool and then I began to dry it off with a towel. I lowered the skirt I was wearing and then willed my legs to reform, earning a gasp of awe from Melissa as I did so. Once my legs were back, I slipped my feet into my sandals.

“I’m Melissa,” the girl blurted out.

“Lori,” I responded with a grin.

“I’ll get back to what I was doing,” Aunt Kelsie told me before giving me an amused look and adding, “Have fun kiddo,” as she left.

“So, your trick is that you turn into a fucking mermaid,” Liz said, giving me a curious look.

“Actually, I’m normally a mermaid,” I corrected her. “My trick is that I can turn my tail back into legs for a couple hours at a time.”

Melissa’s eyes went wide at that. “Cool.”

I grinned at that, amused by her enthusiasm for my twist. “Yeah, but it isn’t easy getting to sleep at night. I can’t use a normal bed anymore or I’ll dry out.”

“You can sit over here,” Christine told Melissa, gesturing to the chair next to her own where mom or Aunt Kelsie sometimes sat to watch us practice.

I went to the drums and suddenly felt self-conscious. “I only went through my twist last week,” I apologized to Liz. “I’m still not fully used to my new body yet and its messing with my playing.”

“She is getting better again,” Christine added, giving me an encouraging look.

“Enough with the fucking excuses,” Liz said, though not in a mean tone. “Let’s hear you play…”

I began playing on my drums, thankful that I’d practiced a bit on my own over the last couple days. My breasts weren’t getting in my way nearly as much as they had been before but I still wasn’t quite back to my old level. I figured another week or so of practice would take care of that.

Liz obviously wasn’t impressed by my playing and I could see that she probably wouldn’t want to work with us for the school talent show. Then Ricky began playing and she suddenly perked up, giving him a faint smile before pulling out her bass guitar and joining him. I let them play for a few minutes before joining in, trying to keep up more than anything else.

After we’d played like this for a good half hour, we paused and Melissa immediately began clapping. “You’re really good,” she told her sister, then gave me a guilty look that suggested she wanted to compliment my playing but couldn’t do so honestly.

“If we’re gonna play in the fucking talent show,” Liz mused thoughtfully. “Then we’re gonna need a singer…”

Ricky and I looked at each other and he gave me a broad grin. Though Liz hadn’t officially agreed to play with us yet, her comment certainly suggested that she intended to.

“You should hear Lori sing,” Ricky told Liz. “She has a wicked voice…”

“I’m not that good,” I protested, only to get a snort from Christine.

“Maybe not before your twist,” Christine said pointed out with a smirk. “But you sound great now.” Liz gave me a skeptical look but then Ricky began playing. “Sing,” Christine called out to me. “Sing darn it.”

I hesitated, but after a little more encouragement from Christine, I began to sing along to what Ricky was playing. I was just glad that it was one of the songs I knew all the lyrics to because it would have been embarrassing to not even know the words. Liz listened for a moment, then she grinned and began playing along with Ricky.

“That was great,” Melissa exclaimed, clapping excitedly when I was done. “You sound incredible…”

“Almost hypnotic,” Ricky agreed.

“I think we found our singer,” Liz said, giving me a look of approval. “That was fucking awesome.”

I was startled by the response and wasn’t exactly happy about suddenly being volunteered to sing. I scowled and asked, “Then who is going to play the drums…?”

With that, I suddenly heard the crash of a drum cymbal and snapped around to see Christine was sitting behind my drums. The drumsticks looked far too large for her small hands and her feet couldn’t even reach the pedal for the bass drum. However, she had a fierce look of determination on her face as she began to play.

“Yo Christine,” Ricky exclaimed with a grin.

I just stared at Christine in surprise, since as far as I knew, this was the first time she’d even touched a pair of drums since her twist. She looked a little nervous, almost even afraid as she played, and she didn’t sound that great. It was obvious that she was having the same problem I was since she wasn’t used to playing in her new body. But unlike me, she quickly began getting the hang of it again.

Ricky and Liz shared a grin then they began to play. It was strange to watch what appeared to be a little girl wailing on the drums and actually sounding good, but she was definitely getting into it.

Since I didn’t want to be left out, I shrugged and began to sing along. It was actually pretty fun to sing along as they played and I thought we sounded good together. I was even beginning to feel proud of my particular contribution to our music.

Once we finished the song, I looked at Christine and saw her sitting there with an expression of absolute glee. I was pretty sure that I’d never seen her that happy about something, but then I realized that I knew exactly what she felt.

When I’d undergone my twist and lost my legs, I’d been terrified and certain that I’d never be able to walk again. In a way, that had been even worse than the knowledge that I’d become both Twisted and a girl. And then when I suddenly had my legs back, when I’d regained something that I’d thought lost forever… I imagined that had to be exactly what Christine felt at discovering that she could still play.

“Heck yeah,” Christine cried out with an almost manic gleam in her eyes as she began playing again.

I looked at Ricky and we both grinned at seeing our friend so happy. As Ricky and Liz began playing, I noticed a little porcelain doll dancing in the floor in front of us. I chuckled at that, took another look at Christine, and then cleared my voice and began to sing.

--------------------

I stepped off my school bus and let out a sigh of relief, thankful that school was over. It had been a long week but Friday had finally come, proving that I’d managed to survive my first week back after my twist. Then I smiled faintly and began walking the rest of the way home, eager to get out of these legs and soak my tail for awhile.

As I walked, I stared down at my boobs which I could feel swaying with each step. I shook my head, amazed that after only one week, I was starting to get used to having these weights on my chest. I was getting to the point where I was starting to work around them while playing drums and I had learned how to keep from dipping them into my dinner while I ate. There were even times when I completely forgot that they were there, or at least that they shouldn’t be there. Then again, there were still plenty of times like right now when I was fully aware of just how weird it was to have these things.

“I’ve been a girl for over a week,” I reminded myself with a sigh, “and it hasn’t killed me yet.” Then I let out another sigh and added, “One week down, a lifetime to go.”

Of course, being a girl was a bit to get used to, but it was nothing compared to being a mermaid. When you suddenly have a tail instead of legs, it makes the other changes seem almost minor comparison. That was probably why I hadn’t freaked out more about losing my winkie.

I paused on the sidewalk, suddenly feeling a surge of worry about what I was going to do. Then I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to calm myself down again. One of the things that I’d always been told by every Twisted I talked to was that I had to accept that my twist couldn’t be reversed and that I should take things one day at a time. As Aunt Kelsie had told me last week, before long it will all seem normal.

“Hard to believe this will ever be normal,” I muttered to myself, even though I’d been thinking about how I was getting used to this a minute ago. The truth was, I knew that Aunt Kelsie was right. I was starting to get used to it all and knew that eventually, being a girl and being a mermaid would all just be normal to me. However, every once in awhile, like right now, I still got hit by a moment of panic at the sheer weirdness of it all. “I still can’t believe I’m Twisted.”

I stood there for a moment, feeling embarrassed for the way I’d momentarily started to freak out, especially since I’d been so proud of how well I’d been managing since my twist. Then I continued on my way home, deciding that I was going to have a nice long soak when I got there. I smiled at the thought of spending an hour in the swimming pool that now served as my bed. That would be just the thing I needed.

When I reached my driveway a minute later, I wasn’t at all surprised to see Aunt Kelsie’s car already there. Before my twist, she’d come over a few times every week, usually on the weekends or after mom got home from work. But now, she was here nearly every day, arriving well before mom got home. Of course, the reason for this was obvious to me. Now that she knew for a fact that I was her kid, she wanted to spend more time with me. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that. What did surprise me was the fact that my mom’s hover car was parked in the driveway as well, an hour before she normally would have gotten home.

I went into the house and found mom and Aunt Kelsie sitting in the living room talking. Both stopped talking as soon as I’d entered and gave each other a quick look of amusement before looking at me.

“Hey honey,” mom greeted me. “How was school?”

“It was school,” I answered, giving her a suspicious look and wondering what was going on.

“Hey kiddo,” Aunt Kelsie said with a smile. “Are your friends going to be coming over to practice again today?”

“Not today,” I told her with a shrug. “But we’re going to practice Sunday.”

“That’s good to know,” Aunt Kelsie responded with a grin that send up warning flags.

“Why don’t you go soak for a bit,” mom suggested with a grin that was very much like the one Aunt Kelsie had. “I know how much you need that when you’ve been on your legs for too long.”

I looked back and forth between mom and Aunt Kelsie, getting more and more suspicious over what they were up to. “Okay,” I said slowly.

Just as I began to turn away, mom blurted out, “And when you’re done, we have a surprise for you.”

“And there it is,” I muttered as I started for the basement door.

The basement was nearly twice the size of my old bedroom, but it wasn’t nearly as nice. The floors were concrete though some rugs had been spread around so my feet wouldn’t get cold. There were still boxes of clutter that had been stored down here for what seemed like forever, but that didn’t really matter. What did matter was the fold out swimming pool that had been assembled down here for me.

I slipped out of my clothes, something that I’d become well practiced at doing quickly and with ease. I didn’t even have a problem with my bra, which I tossed casually to the side before climbing up the short set of stairs that had been set up next to the pool and then jumping in.

The pool and water weren’t heated at all but it still felt perfectly comfortable to me as I submerged in the water and let my tail reform. One of the things I’d noticed was that no matter what the temperature of the water, I never felt cold in it. I always felt perfectly comfortable so assumed that it was another part of my twist, either due to some adaptation to my body or perhaps a part of the same trick that let me breathe underwater.

Once I was fully changed, I settled down on the spongy mattress that covered nearly the entire bottom of the pool and which was much more comfortable than my old bed. Of course, there was no need for blankets of any sort since the water alone was warm enough for me. I just lay there for a bit, not quite napping but coming close. I probably would have stayed there for longer if it wasn’t for what mom had said about having a surprise for me.

After only half an hour, I climbed out of the pool, reformed my legs, and dried myself off. I didn’t bother getting dressed again and merely slipped on a robe and slippers before going up to see what mom and Aunt Kelsie had planned.

Mom gave me a thoughtful look, and without a word, went and got a hair brush which she began brushing through my hair. “You have such amazing hair,” she finally said. “It’s so silky smooth and never seems to tangle. That’s a good thing considering how much time you spend in the water.”

“I already brushed it before coming up,” I pointed out with a sigh, knowing that it wouldn’t do much good. Mom just seemed to get a kick out of brushing my hair. In fact, a few days ago she’d admitted that she’d always wanted a daughter and had thought it would be fun brushing her hair and braiding it. Fortunately, mom hadn’t tried braiding my hair yet.

Aunt Kelsie watched in amusement, asking, “How are you holding up kiddo? I know this is all pretty strange to you still.”

I hesitated a moment before deciding to answer honestly. “Sometimes I’m all right, but other times, not so much.”

Aunt Kelsie nodded at that, giving me a sympathetic look. “I remember how difficult it was after I first went through my twist. I suddenly had a new body part and was too embarrassed to let almost anyone know. It took awhile to get used to it, but now I can barely remember what it was like not having it.”

“At least you knew you were going to be Twisted,” I pointed out, trying not to sound too accusatory.

Mom and Aunt Kelsie gave each other guilty looks. Then mom gave me a gentle hug and said, “It’s too late to change the past now. All we can do is take care of the present and the future.”

“I know,” I responded, staring at the floor as I now felt guilty myself.

Mom gave me another hug and then gestured for me to sit on the couch before she sat down beside me. “I know you’ve been through a lot lately,” she told me while putting her hand on mine in a reassuring manner. “And I know this hasn’t been easy, but I’m proud of how well you’ve been dealing with it.”

“We both are,” Aunt Kelsie told me with a self-conscious smile. “So we decided to get you a present…something to celebrate your twist.”

With that, Aunt Kelsie got up and went behind the couch, grabbing a box that had been wrapped up in brightly colored wrapping paper that was obviously a leftover from my birthday. There were red balloons on the paper as well as the words ‘happy birthday’, exactly like there had on my birthday present. I accepted the present from her and couldn’t resist shaking the box, only to hear something rattling inside. Then I began tearing off the paper.

Under the wrapping paper was a wooden box, one with a hinged lid on top as well as doors on the front. And though I’d never owned something like this before, I immediately knew what it was. I’d seen something similar in my mom’s bedroom as well as in Christine’s. It was a jewelry box. I gulped and slowly opened it, seeing that there was already jewelry inside.

“Every woman needs jewelry,” Aunt Kelsie told me with an amused look. “So we thought we’d give you a start.”

“We thought that showing you some of the nicer parts of being a woman might help make your adjustment easier,” mom told me.

I was a bit stunned by this and not sure what to say so I pulled out a piece of jewelry instead. It was a necklace with an aquamarine pendant that had a pearl on each side. Though I certainly wasn’t an expert in jewelry, I didn’t think it was cheap. There were a pair of earrings, simple pearl studs that went well with the pendant. And then I noticed a pearl bracelet.

“I think I’m noticing a trend,” I commented with an uncertain smile.

Aunt Kelsie laughed and responded, “We thought they were appropriate.”

There were other pieces of jewelry as well, such as another pendant that looked like a gold metal seashell with a pearl in the mouth and pair of earrings that dangled a little and had small aquamarine colored stones in them. The one piece that stood apart from the others was a delicate looking ring with several small red stones in it that I thought were rubies. It was the only piece that didn’t seem to use pearls or aquamarines.

“This used to belong to my mother,” Aunt Kelsie told me quietly. “When she was a girl, she caught the Antarctic Flu and nearly died. After she got better, my grandmother bought her this ring to celebrate her survival.” She paused to give me an odd look before adding, “I wanted you to have it.”

I stared at her in surprised, seeing that this was a family heirloom that obviously meant a lot to her. “But if it belonged to your mom,” I said, still a little shaken that she’d give me something like that.

“Your grandmother,” she reminded me. “I just wish you could have met her.”

“I did,” I reminded her quietly.

I vaguely remember Aunt Kelsie’s mom, though not real clearly since she’d died when I was only five or so. What I did remember was that she’d been a friendly woman who liked giving me candy.

Aunt Kelsie smiled at that, obviously happy that I remembered her mom. “I’d forgotten that you did meet her a few times.” Then she grinned and said, “See if it fits.”

The ring was on the small side but it fit perfectly on my little finger. Aunt Kelsie beamed at that so I left it where it was. Then I put on bracelet and the pendant with the aquamarine and pearls.

“I think I’m a little overdressed for this stuff,” I joked, gesturing down at the robe I was wearing. I felt a little odd to be wearing something as feminine as this jewelry, but after I’d spend the last week wearing dresses and skirts, I certainly couldn’t complain.

“Maybe a little,” Aunt Kelsie replied.

I stared at her and mom, then said, “I’m not sure what to think of this… I mean, I hadn’t even thought of wearing jewelry yet…but thank you.”

Mom gave me a hug then took the pearl earrings and smiled, “I think we need to get your ears pierced.”

“I think we can take care of that without a problem,” Aunt Kelsie agreed with a grin that made me gulp nervously.

I was about to protest that I didn’t want my ears pierced, then hesitated, realizing that would make me sound like a wimp. After all, not only did most girls at school have their ears pierced, so did some of the guys.

“Okay,” I said almost defiantly. “I want to try these out…”

Mom and Aunt Kelsie both grinned at that, apparently pleased that I was willing to go along with their plans. Then Aunt Kelsie went behind the couch again and pulled out what looked like a plastic tackle box for fishing.

“We got you something else as well,” Aunt Kelsie told me. “But it isn’t as exciting as the jewelry so we didn’t wrap it.”

She set the box in front of me and opened it up, then lifted some folded trays that were filled with makeup. I stared in surprise as well as confusion.

“We don’t want to push you into anything before you’re ready,” mom quickly told me. “But a beautiful young woman needs makeup as well.”

“I can’t wear makeup,” I blurted out. Then because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings or admit that it was just more girlie than I was comfortable with, I added, “I spend too much time in the water…”

“That excuse isn’t going to work, kiddo,” Aunt Kelsie teased me. “We got this special makeup that doesn’t smudge and doesn’t come off in the water. It’s very expensive and is mostly used by swimmers and women who work in water shows, but we thought it would be perfect for you.”

“Once it’s on,” mom explained, pulling items out of the kit, “you spray this fixative on your face and it all stays on until you use this remover.”

I’d been fine with the jewelry but the idea of using the makeup was actually making me a little uncomfortable. I could see from mom and Aunt Kelsie’s reactions that they fully intended to have me try this stuff on as well.

“You’re a beautiful young woman now,” mom told me gently. “I want you to be able to show it off and take pride in it. One of the best things about being a woman is being able to look nice and get complimented.”

Aunt Kelsie put her hand on my shoulder and told me, “Our plans for tonight are to get you dressed up and looking nice, and then we all go out to dinner together for a girl’s night out.”

“But I’m not ready to wear this stuff yet,” I said nervously, looking at the makeup and wondering if maybe it had been a mistake to be so accepting of the jewelry.

“If you play along with us for now,” mom told me with an amused look, “then tomorrow we’ll go to Morgan Beach so we can test how waterproof this makeup really is.”

The promise of going back to the beach immediately caught my full attention. Swimming in the school pool was fun, but it wasn’t anything like going swimming in the open water. I was already excited at the idea of going there again and it was obvious my parents knew this. They knew exactly which buttons they needed to push.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh.

After this, mom and Aunt Kelsie wasted no time in getting started. Aunt Kelsie got a needle and an ice cube and pierced my ears one at a time, which really stung, though I made an effort to act like it was no big deal. Then I had the pearl earrings put in.

“Leave these in for a few days so the holes don’t close up,” mom cautioned me. “We’ll also need to be careful to keep them from getting infected.”

Mom dried my hair and then had me get dressed again. I put on the nicest dress I had, one that looked very sexy on me. By now, I’d been wearing dresses so often that I wasn’t bothered by the idea anymore. Of course, until now I’d always told myself that it was for practical reasons related to my tail which had to emerge every few hours. This was the first time I was wearing a dress for the purpose of actually dressing up and looking nice.

Then once I was dressed, they began on my makeup. Aunt Kelsie was the one who put it on, explaining what each type of makeup was and what she was doing. It was awkward enough for me that I was being made up, but she wanted to turn this into a lesson at the same time. I patiently sat through it all, trying to pay attention to what she said since I knew that I’d probably need to know how to do this myself eventually.

“We don’t need the fixative right now,” Aunt Kelsie told me as she’d finished. “But we’ll try it out tomorrow at the beach. What do you think?” Mom held a mirror up for me to get a good look.

I gasped at my reflection in surprise, asking, “Is that really me?” I’d already looked pretty hot, but now I looked even more so. With the dress, makeup, and the way Aunt Kelsie had done my makeup, I even looked a little older and more sophisticated.

“You’re gorgeous,” mom told me with a grin. “You’ll have to beat the boys off with a stick.”

I groaned at that while Aunt Kelsie laughed. “Trust me,” she assured me with an amused look, “That can be a good thing. I’m not into guys either but being able to get that kind of attention when you want is very nice.” Then she paused a moment before adding, “There’s a certain feminine power in being able to make guys do what you want.”

All I could do was nod at that, remembering that very well from the other side of things. Really hot girls had always intimidated me a little, making me feel as though I wasn’t in their league and that they’d reject me. At the same time, a hot girl probably could have gotten me to do whatever she wanted just by wiggling her ass a little. In fact, since I was still attracted to girls, I wasn’t sure that had really changed.

I was now dressed up nicely and ready to go, but I still had to wait for mom and Aunt Kelsie. Mom had changed while my makeup was being done and only had to touch up her own makeup, but Aunt Kelsie took another half hour on top of that to get ready. Mom told me that this was actually pretty quick.

We arrived at the restaurant a short time later and I was feeling self-conscious about being dressed up. Several people gave me looks of interest, though that wasn’t too new since I’d been getting looks like that all week. However, they did seem just a little more intense.

The waiter was a young man who looked to be about 19 or so, and while he was taking our order he kept looking at my chest. I blushed at that and tried to pretend I didn’t notice, though it was obvious that mom and Aunt Kelsie thought it was funny.

Once the waiter was gone, Aunt Kelsie teased, “I think he likes you.”

“Why couldn’t we have gotten a cute waitress instead?” I asked with a faint smile.

“You might not be interested in him,” Aunt Kelsie pointed out, “but he’s definitely interested in you. Just relax and have fun with it.”

I didn’t know how I could possibly relax and have fun with someone staring at my boobs, but I couldn’t help but finding it funny as well. I knew that if I’d seen a girl who looked like I did, I’d be staring at her chest as well. I certainly couldn’t blame the guy for doing the same thing I would in his place.

For the rest of the dinner, the waiter was very attentive, constantly coming over to check on us and see if we needed anything. I’d never had someone be this attentive when I was at a restaurant before. It was a little weird for me, but I tried to do what Aunt Kelsie suggested and just relax.

By the time dinner was done, I was almost looking forward to having the waiter show up because he was always very polite and helpful. I still wasn’t attracted to him in the least, but I was starting to find that the attention wasn’t so bad.

“Next time, we’re going clubbing,” Aunt Kelsie told me as we began to leave the restaurant.

I nearly choked in surprise at that. “Really.”

“Of course not,” mom said, giving Aunt Kelsie a warning look. “You’re still too young.”

“That’s funny,” Aunt Kelsie teased mom. “Somehow, I don’t remember you being of age the first time you went into a club.”

I watched mom blush a little and grinned at that. I was about to ask Aunt Kelsie for more details of what sounded like an embarrassing story, when I suddenly notice Ricky coming towards us and the restaurant entrance with his own parents.

Ricky gave me an appreciative look though it took several more seconds before his eyes suddenly widened in recognition. He blurted out, “Lori?”

“Hey,” I greeted him, amused by the look on his face.

“Lucas?” Ricky’s dad asked me in surprise, not having seen me since before my twist but he’d obviously heard about it. And of course, both his parents had met my mom a few times in the past.

“She’s called Lori now,” Ricky told his parents. Then he looked at me again and said, “You look…nice.”

“Just nice?” I couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Okay, you’re totally hot,” Ricky said, still staring at me. Then he scowled, “You know this isn’t fair.”

I just smiled with my best innocent look, knowing exactly what he meant. He was attracted to me but knew that I wasn’t attracted to him in the least. As far as he was concerned, I was being a total tease and would probably be leaving him with a case of blue balls. I could sympathize, though I was still having fun.

“I’ll see you Sunday,” I told him with a grin.

“You look very lovely,” Ricky’s mom told me as they continued going into the restaurant. “I’m glad to see you’re adjusting so well.”

Once Ricky and his family were gone, we continued to the car while mom asked, “So Lorilei, did you enjoy getting dressed up and going out?”

I thought about it for a moment before smiling and responding, “I think I can handle doing this again.”

“It’s a start,” Aunt Kelsie said, grinning to mom. “We’re going to make a real lady of her yet.”

--------------------

I woke up floating face down in the middle of my fish bowl, which was what I’d begun calling my bed and private pool. I stretched out, went to the bottom of the pool and made an effort to really stretch my tail out.

In spite of how comfortable I found sleeping underwater like this, I actually hadn’t slept very well last night. Yesterday afternoon, I’d begun feel a little cramped and sick to my stomach and it had only grown worse. My nipples were sore and tender while my guts felt knotted up. Unfortunately, I already knew what this had to be. Ever since the doctor had confirmed that I was now fully female, I’d been expecting this, though I had hoped I’d have a little more time.

When I came back to the surface and prepared to pull myself out of the pool, I found a jumbo sized box of fish food sitting there, obviously left as a joke by either mom or Aunt Kelsie. At any other time, I might have found it sort of funny, but at the moment I was in a bad mood and didn’t really find anything funny.

I pulled myself out of the water and onto the platform next to the pool where I grabbed a towel and began drying myself off. It seemed silly to dry myself off at all since I was going to be going straight to the shower so I could wash my hair, but that was upstairs and I didn’t want to drip the entire way there. While I was drying off, I willed my legs to return as well.

Moments later, I felt something warm and wet running down my newly reformed legs. I looked down and gasped in disgust at the blood that was all over me and which was dripping into a puddle on the floor. For a moment, I could only stare at it in horror, feeling almost as though I was going to get sick to my stomach and puke as well. The sight of blood had never really bothered me before, but this was different. It wasn’t the blood itself that was getting to me but what it meant.

“Damn,” I cried out in frustration. I’d known that I was having my period and was going to start bleeding, but I hadn’t expected anywhere near this much blood at once. I suddenly felt terrified that something went wrong with my twist and that I wouldn’t stop bleeding. “MOM,” I cried out loudly.

“What’s wrong?” mom called back as she came down into the basement, pausing when she saw me sitting there with blood all over my legs and the floor. “Oh my God…”

“I think I was starting my period,” I blurted out in shame, unable to meet her eyes. “But it’s so much…”

“This isn’t normal,” mom exclaimed, looking more than a little worried.

I just gestured at myself and demanded, “Is there anything about me that’s normal anymore?”

“Let’s see how bad this is,” mom said, her voice shaking as she used the towel to wipe the blood off of me.

Though I was extremely uncomfortable being naked in front of my mom and having her hands so close to my new vagina, I remained motionless and let her wipe all the blood away. Once she’d done so, I realized that there was no fresh blood coming out. Mom let out a sigh of relief while I hesitantly stood up, afraid that blood would start rushing down my legs again, though fortunately that didn’t happen.

“Go take a shower and get cleaned up,” mom told me, looking a little relieved. “I’ll call the clinic and let them know we’re coming in today for a follow up.”

Without saying a word, I nodded and made my way upstairs to the shower. I took a nice hot shower and used soap and hot water to wash my body, especially my legs and the moist slit between them. I took my time washing there, being especially careful since my vagina was so sensitive. The fact that the skin around it was smooth and hairless only seemed to make it more so.

I smiled faintly as I washed my legs, thankful that I’d never have to worry about shaving them since my twist had left me with absolutely no hair below my neck. My body had a lot of subtle adaptations due to my aquatic nature and I was pretty sure that my lack of body hair was one of them. No body hair meant a little less drag while swimming through the water. I was just thankful that this lack of hair hadn’t extended to above my neck or I would have been bald as well as half fish.

By the time I climbed out of the shower, I had calmed down and felt much cleaner, physically and otherwise. Not only that, but the hot water seemed to have helped with the aches and cramps from my period as well since they’d all faded a great deal. That alone was reason enough to be relieved.

“Thank God that didn’t happen while I was sleeping,” I muttered, thinking about the bloody mess that had come out the moment I’d changed back to my legs. I shuddered at the thought of sleeping in bloody disgusting water all night. “Gross…”

I tried not to think about that anymore, or the fact that I’d just gone through a rite of passage for women. Instead, I tried to focus on taking things one step at a time. I finished drying myself off and went into my old bedroom, which now served more as a walk-in closet, then I got dressed. I even made sure to put on panties and a pad, though both would be gone the next time my tail emerged.

Once I was dressed and presentable, I went to find mom who gave me a worried look and asked, “How are you doing?”

“Better,” I admitted with a self-conscious smile. Then I weakly joked, “I thought Sunday mornings were supposed to be quiet and peaceful.”

“We’re still going back to the clinic,” mom told me gently. “You’re expected in an hour so you’d better eat up quickly.”

I nodded at that and went to the kitchen to get some cereal, but when I looked in the cupboard I found another jumbo sized box of fish flakes sitting next to my cereal. That joke was already starting to get old. I wondered how mom would feel about finding fish flakes in her breakfast the next time she decided to have cereal. I had a certain satisfaction as I ate breakfast while fantasizing about that very thing.

When I arrived at the Spiral Clinic a short time later, I was almost immediately ushered in to see Dr. Franklin again. She listened patiently as I told her about how I’d begun feeling cramped and bloated yesterday and then about how I’d gushed blood the moment I’d reformed my legs. Talking about these things with her was extremely awkward and embarrassing for me, but she let me go at my own pace without being judgmental.

“And how do you feel now?” she asked me once I was finished.

“Better,” I admitted. “A lot better.” I hesitated a moment and added, “I’m not feeling cramped anymore either.”

“Let’s take another look at you,” Dr. Franklin told me with a pleasant smile.

I let out a sigh and got undressed again, noticing that my pad was still clean. Dr. Franklin looked me over and then had me climb into her examination machine again where she gave me another scan.

“Most women go a little longer between gynecology exams,” Dr. Franklin commented with a chuckle.

“I’d rather not make this a regular thing,” I responded, happy to put my clothes back on.

Dr. Franklin looked at a computer monitor and the holographic display, barely paying me any attention for the next minute. Then she finally nodded before turning back to me.

“According to my scans,” she told me pleasantly. “It looks like you have just finished going through your period.”

I was startled by that and protested, “I just started it.”

“And you’re already over it,” Dr. Franklin said with an amused look. “It appears that this is one more aspect of your unique physiology. From what I can tell, I’d expect all of your periods to be brief and to come in bursts.”

“That was one hell of a burst,” I blurted out, thinking of the puddle on the basement floor.

Dr. Franklin gave me a thoughtful look and mused, “I think that this makes sense when you consider it as part of your aquatic adaptations. After all, your biology is still mostly human but bleeding while in the water might be likely to attract sharks and predators. This way you minimize that threat, and since you discharged your menstrual release only once you were back in legged form, that would reduce it further.”

“That makes sense I guess,” I replied with a shrug.

“Your monthly visitor will likely be short but messy,” Dr. Franklin told me with a smile. “You should be thankful it will be over quickly.”

“I am,” I agreed, not wanting to go through the cramps any longer than necessary. Getting it all out of the way in one big messy burst might not be so bad, as long as I could see it coming and prepare to be in the shower.

After talking with Dr. Franklin for another minute, I left her office and started back to the waiting room where my mom was. But as I was going down the hallway, I saw Dr. Rothschild. The sight of the odd little man reminded me of some more questions I’d come up with for him.

“Excuse me,” I said to Dr. Rothschild, “But I was hoping I could talk to you more about my tricks.”

Dr. Rothschild looked up at me for a moment before saying, “It was Lucas, wasn’t it…?”

“I go by Lori now,” I answered, feeling a little self-conscious as I did every time I gave my new name to people.

“Of course,” he responded with a grin. “A very lovely name too.” He paused to look at the clock on the wall, then said, “I have twenty minutes until my next appointment. Come into my office and we’ll talk.”

We went back to Dr. Rothschild’s office where he’d examined me a week ago. Then I told him, “I’ve been wondering about my tricks… When I change into my tail, it destroys my pants or underwear…sort of like when I went through my twist. And I don’t seem to get cold when I’m underwater either. Could this be a new trick?”

“I see,” Dr. Rothschild mused, bringing up my files on his computer. “Ah yes. I’d noticed some things when I was looking over your file after our last visit and I was going to contact you about this for a follow up. It seems you saved me a call.”

“Are they new tricks?” I asked curiously.

“Not exactly,” he told me with a chuckle. “They’re part of the same trick. You see, I was trying to get a better understanding of how your trick lets you breath underwater when I saw something I’d missed looking over your initial scans.”

Instead of explaining what he’d already found, Dr. Rothschild had me sit still while he used another kind of scanner on me. He had me change to my tail and back again, then he looked over the results, nodding as though what he’d just gotten from me confirmed what he already knew.

“You do only have two tricks,” Dr. Rothschild finally explained to me. “The first is changing your tail into legs.”

“And the other is breathing underwater,” I said.

“Sort of,” he agreed with a chuckle. “It’s just that your second trick is a little more complicated than I first thought.”

I was definitely getting more curious and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Your second trick is that you generate a form of skin tight energy field around your body when you’re in your mermaid form,” Dr. Rothschild explained. “When you’re changing back to your mermaid form, this field activates and tries to protect your transforming body…hence your damaged clothing. This same field also insulates you against temperatures and pressure while you’re underwater.”

“I have a force field?” I blurted out in surprise.

Dr. Rothschild shook his head, “Certainly not the way you’re thinking. It won’t protect you against injury…merely certain environmental stresses that come from being underwater. This field is also what allows you to breath there, though I’m still not certain if the field absorbs air from the water or somehow converts the water to air.”

“I guess this explains why I don’t get prune fingers,” I mused, staring at my hands. Then I looked at Dr. Rothschild and said, “Thanks you.”

I was definitely pleased to have a better understanding of my trick and how it worked. I suppose the technical nuts and bolts weren’t that important, but at least this explained my destroyed clothes and the other oddities.

I left Dr. Rothschild’s office and returned to the waiting room where mom nervously asked, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I told her with a grin. “It looks like my period is over.”

Mom gave me a look of surprise and asked, “What do you mean?”

“The doctor said it was part of my twist,” I explained, not feeling comfortable with talking about this where the other people in the waiting room could hear. I took a deep breath and tried to pretend the other people weren’t present. “Apparently I go through the whole thing all at once instead of over a week. I guess I’m done until next month.”

Mom just stared at me for a moment before muttering, “I don’t know whether to be worried about the mess or feel jealous.”

“I’m just glad it’s over,” I admitted as we left. However, the thought of going through that again next month actually left me feeling just a little nauseous.

“I guess congratulations are in order,” mom told me, putting a hand over my shoulders. “You are now officially a woman…even if you did only get the condensed experience.”

“That was more than enough for me,” I assured her.

Mom just gave me an amused look and said, “I just can’t wait to tell Kelsie that our little girl is growing up.”

--------------------

The sound of drums pounding and cymbals crashing wasn’t a soothing one, but playing the drums was an excellent way of burning off stress. At the moment, I was pretty sure that I had enough stress that it could use a good burning off. It was always rough going back to school on Mondays, but today had been even worse because Nina had been making snide comments to me nearly every time she saw me.

“Hard to believe I used to like that bitch,” I muttered as I smashed a cymbal.

This was actually the first time I’d been able to practice with my drums in the last few days. Ever since Christine had begun playing the drums again, I’d been pushed out as the bands drummer and had been made the new singer. I didn’t mind too much since she was a better drummer than I was at my best and I was actually a pretty good singer. In fact, I was even starting to enjoy it.

Then I looked up and noticed Christine was standing in the doorway, clutching a rag doll. I’d been expecting my friends to come over in a little while so we could practice for the talent show, but Christine was the first to arrive. She smiled when she saw that I’d noticed her and came inside.

“Not bad,” Christine said with a grin before going to her own drum set which was now set up in my garage as well.

Christine had pulled her drum set out of storage and brought it over yesterday so she could practice on her own equipment. She’d even customized it, putting an extension on the bass drum petal so she could reach it. Without another word, she began to practice and I began to jam along with her. We went at it for only about ten minutes before stopping, not wanting to wear ourselves out before Ricky and Liz arrived.

“I heard that Nina was being a big meanie,” Christine said, giving me a curious look.

“Yeah,” I admitted, hardly able to believe that I was being bullied by a girl. Of course, she wasn’t using physical threats or anything, just snide comments and whispers behind my back. “I can’t exactly punch her for it either…”

Christine nodded at that and told me, “Most girls don’t fight like that. We get sneaky and play dirty.” She paused go give me a grin and added, “You’re gonna have to learn how to fight like a girl.”

“I’d rather just punch her,” I admitted. “Dealing with this kind of stuff is one of the worst things about being a girl.”

Christine snickered at that and said, “Just wait until you get your monthly visitor.”

“Actually, I had already had my period,” I told her, enjoying the look of surprise on her face.

I hadn’t told Christine about that because every time I was with her, Ricky had been there too and I didn’t want to talk about something like this with him. There was no way he’d be able to understand. I knew that not very long ago, I wouldn’t have been able to either.

“What?” Christine asked. “When?”

“This weekend,” I answered with a shrug, trying to act casual about it. “It started Saturday afternoon and ended Sunday morning.”

Christine stared at me for a moment before she laughed. “You almost had me there…”

“I’m not joking,” I told her with a grimace. I could barely believe I was telling my ex-girlfriend this. “I gushed out a half gallon of bloody mess all at once, then it was over. The doctor said that this is just the way my body works now.”

“Holey moly,” Christine exclaimed, giving me an odd look. “You’re kind of lucky then…”

“I guess,” I admitted. “At least comparatively, though it’s hard to think of it that way.”

“You know, I never thought I’d say this,” Christine said quietly, looking almost pained. “But I kind of miss having those.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

Christine nodded at that, looking depressed. “I didn’t like them, but they meant I was grown up,” she explained sadly. “Now, I’ll never be grown up again. I don’t even feel anything for boys anymore…and I know that eventually I won’t even remember what it feels like to like boys like that.”

By this point, Christine was starting to cry and I felt really bad for her. I’d undergone such a drastic transformation of my own that I could definitely sympathize with what it was like being forced to become someone new. Without saying a word, I got down on my knees and hugged her. She threw her arms around me and cried into my shoulder for several minutes.

When Christine finally pulled away, she quietly told me, “Thank you,” as she wiped the tears away.

“Anytime,” I responded with a faint smile.

Christine looked like she was about to say something else when Ricky’s voice called out, “Hey, what’s going on…?”

“We were just talking about girl stuff,” Christine told him, giving her best innocent little girl look, which was pretty good. “You’re a boy and wouldn’t understand.”

“That’s all right,” Ricky responded with a grin. Then he gave me an appreciative look that made me blush before he quickly tore his eyes away. “Let me get my guitar plugged in and I’ll be ready when Liz gets here…”

Christine grinned and went back to her drum set, seeming to forget about how she’d been crying a minute ago. However, she gave me a nod and a thankful smile before she began playing. I hesitated only a moment before playing on my drums as well. Since I was our singer now instead of our drummer, I wasn’t going to get a lot of opportunities to just jam with my friends.

When Liz arrived a short time later, I wasn’t too surprised to see that she’d brought Melissa with her again, though I was surprised by the color of the girl’s hair. Melissa’s hair was now an aquamarine color that was only a shade or two off from my own.

“Hey Lori,” Melissa greeted me excitedly, though she was obviously trying to act calm and casual at the same time. “Do you like my hair?”

“I love the color,” I responded, seeing that Liz was watching me with a faint smirk. “Did you go through your twist?”

“She dyed it,” Liz said, obviously amused. Then she added, “It looks like you’ve got your first groupie.”

“Wouldn’t grouper be more accurate?” Ricky asked with a grin.

“Don’t make me sick the squirrels on you,” Christine warned him. Then she looked at me and grinned broadly. “You know, I think I have a plush squirrel at home.”

I stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing as I imagined her animating a toy squirrel and having it chase Ricky around. When I stopped, I looked at Ricky and then burst out laughing again.

“If you ladies are done laughing at me,” Ricky said, which got Liz to snicker and Melissa to giggle.

I looked at Melissa again, this time noticing that she was wearing a cheap looking mermaid necklace. I couldn’t resist chuckling at that as I went to stand behind the microphone, then I gave Melissa a nod before I began singing.

We spent the next hour playing the same two songs over and over again. When it came time for the talent show on Friday night, we’d pick the song we thought we did best and use that one. I was feeling pretty proud because I was getting better at controlling my voice as well as remembering the lyrics. In fact, I was growing more confident that when it came time for the talent show, we’d kick ass.

“You guys sound great,” Melissa exclaimed when we decided to stop for the night. Then she looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, “But what are you called?”

“Well, I’m called Ricky,” Ricky responded with a grin though he knew that wasn’t what she meant. “And she’s called Lori…”

“I mean your band name,” Melissa responded with an exasperated look.

“We don’t have one yet,” I told her with a shrug. That was actually something we’d talked about several times but couldn’t come to an agreement on.

“How about the Mermaids?” Melissa suggested eagerly.

I chuckled at that and reminded her, “But I’m the only mermaid here.”

“And I’m not even a maid,” Ricky added.

Melissa scowled at that and then asked, “What about the Sirens? That sounds cool…”

“Again, that’s more of a girl band name,” Ricky told her.

Melissa glared at him and then asked her sister, “Can’t you guys just get a girl to play guitar?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Liz responded with a grin. “Our whole damn problem is too much fucking testosterone…”

“Hey,” Ricky protested. “I resemble that remark.”

“Maybe we could get away with dressing him as a girl,” Christine offered, sticking a tongue out at Ricky.

Ricky let out an exaggerated sigh and asked, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this was pick on Ricky night?”

“It was in the memo,” I added.

“You too?” Ricky asked, giving me a look of mock hurt. “Oh the betrayal…”

“Lori switched sides a week and a half ago,” Christine pointed out smugly. “This shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

Just then, Aunt Kelsie stepped into the garage and asked, “Is this a private argument or can anyone join?”

“Aaagh,” Ricky gasped, grabbing his throat and acting as though he couldn’t breathe. “I’m choking in estrogen here…”

Aunt Kelsie just smiled at that and told me, “Dinner will be ready in just a little while.”

After Aunt Kelsie left, we talked for a few more minutes and promised to practice again tomorrow after school. Liz and Ricky packed up their guitars while Melissa kept watching me.

“I hope I get to hear you guys play again,” Melissa said before she started to leave with her sister.

“Hey Melissa,” I called back, giving her a thumbs up and saying, “I love the hair.” Melissa grinned broadly at that before leaving.

Christine chuckled at that, then looked up at me and said, “It looks like you have a fan.” She stuck her tongue out at me and added, “Just don’t let it go to your head, Miss Fishy.”

--------------------

Sociology was a class that I was normally not very interested in, not only because I usually found the subject boring but also because Mrs. Ruiz would just keep talking on and on. Some of the students joked that she had a special trick that let her put people to sleep. Today, I actually tried to stay awake and pay attention because she was talking about Twisted relations and that had become very relevant to me.

In spite of the fact that the topic actually had at least some interest to me, I still found my mind wandering a great deal. I couldn’t help but thinking about PE, and the annoying fact that we would only be going to the swimming pool for class during the next week before switching over to baseball instead. Not that long ago, I would have been delighted by that, but now I was dreading it. I didn’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t get at least a little swimming time in during the school day.

My shoes were currently sitting beside my desk while my tail was stretched out beneath it, and beneath the chair of the girl who sat in front of me. I tried not to draw attention as I pulled my dress up enough so that I could use my spray bottle to mist my tail, keeping it nice and damp. Mrs. Ruiz gave me a quick glance but nothing more, nor did most of the student.

In spite of my rather dramatic twist and odd body, I was old news. Today, another girl had come to class having just gone through her twist last night after school. Marissa Jordan was a slender black girl who I’d always found friendly, but now she actually had words written all over her skin, almost as though they were tattoos. I wasn’t quite sure what was written since Marissa was trying to cover up her arms with long sleeves, but from the words on her face I suspected that it was text from some steamy romance novel.

Nina was sitting several seats away and kept giving me dirty looks before whispering to the girl beside her. The two of them would snicker and then look away. I knew better than to think that they were saying good things about me.

I’d hoped that Marissa’s recent twist would take Nina’s attention off me, but unfortunately she still seemed to have a problem with me, one that had only gotten worse after Simone had come to my defense. Nina had recently begun spreading lies and rumors about me. I guess that kind of thing really bothered some girls, but I found them more annoying than anything else and wished she’d just deal with me face to face like a guy would.

When class was nearly over, I willed my legs to return and then slipped my shoes back on so I’d be ready to leave when the bell rang. I started out the door as soon as I was given the signal to do so, as did every other student in class. However, since Christine was in the same class, though sat on the other side of the room, I waited for her in the hallway.

While I was waiting on Christine, I overheard two girls giggling and saying, “I heard her twist makes her want to have sex with dolphins…” I let out a sigh at that, knowing that this was one of the rumors that Nina had been spreading around.

Marissa came out of the classroom a moment later and surprised me by coming straight to me. “I just wanted you to know,” she told me quietly, “Nina is spreading some nasty stories about you. I don’t believe them, but I thought you should know who was doing it.”

“Thank you,” I told her, trying not to stare at the words written across her face or to read them. However, it was difficult not to notice the words ‘sparks shot through my quivering body’. Then I made sure to raise my voice loud enough so that some of the gossip mongers nearby could hear as I added, “But Nina is really just jealous because I turned into a girl and she has to wait until she’s eighteen before she can get the operation to finish the job…”

Marissa’s eyes widened at that, then she snickered as she realized what I was up to. Neither of us looked directly at the gossip mongers who looked smug at the juicy new gossip and ran off. I doubted many people would believe that rumor, but Christina had told me yesterday that rumors didn’t need to be very believable to cause embarrassment.

“About your twist,” I told Marissa carefully, not wanting to embarrass her. “Have you discovered any tricks yet?”

“Not yet,” she responded with a sigh. “But I hope that I get a good one to make up for having this on my face…”

I nodded at that, fully understanding. “You could always use makeup to cover up the more embarrassing parts,” I pointed out.

“Good idea,” Marissa said with a grin. “I’ll see you later.” With that, she hurried off while Christina came up.

“I heard what you said,” Christine announced with a smirk. “Good start.”

Instead of feeling happy about the compliment, I shook my head. “Maybe, but I felt kind of low. That’s not the kind of girl I want to be.”

“There are other ways of dealing with Nina,” Christine told me with a shrug. However, she didn’t offer suggestions on what the other ways might be.

After this, I only had one more class for the day and it went by quickly and without any issue. Before I realized it, I was riding the bus home and wishing I had my own car, as usual. I wondered what it would take to convince mom to buy me one, though I suspected she’d just tell me to go get a job so I could buy one myself.

“I wonder if I can get a job as a lifeguard,” I mused, suddenly realizing that this would be a great job for me.

When I got home, I was vaguely relieved to see that Aunt Kelsie hadn’t come over early today which meant that I had the whole house to myself. I liked having Aunt Kelsie around, but I did need some private time to myself. I didn’t waste any time before running to the basement, stripping out of my clothes, and jumping into the water for a nice refreshing soak.

I spent about ten minutes underwater before surfacing again and brushing the wet hair from my face. All my stresses of the day were washed away with the water, even more effectively than by pounding on the drums. It was at moments like this that I could think about Nina and smile at how silly all her gossip and rumors were.

“I should see about getting a TV in here,” I mused, imagining how nice it would be to watch TV while soaking like this. “And one of those radios I can listen to underwater.”

Then I leaned back in the water, stretching out and feeling quite content. It was at times like this that I really didn’t mind my new life and situation at all. In fact, I was getting pretty used to the whole thing by now, even with being a girl and half fish. I splashed my tail at that, smiling as I did so.

“This feels pretty good,” I mused, running my hands along my tail.

My hand went to the spot where human skin and scales met, then moved further down where I ran it along my scales. My scales felt nice and smooth, and not at all slimy like some of the kids at school joked. Then I brought my hands back up, feeling along my flat stomach and then up to my boobs. It still stunned me a bit that I actually had boobs, especially ones this nice and which felt this good.

“Very nice,” I half purred as my nipples hardened and I began to play with them.

I was definitely starting to get turned on and it felt very nice, much better than it did in my old body. I’d felt this one other time since my twist, though I’d been embarrassed about it and had done my best to ignore the way I’d been feeling. But right now, I was home alone and in my very comfortable fish bowl so it actually felt sort of right. And it felt so good that I continued at it, feeling more and more excited in the process.

Not only were my nipples poking out like tiny erections but I was starting to feel all warm and gooey in what would have been the space between my legs, if I still had legs. I might not look like I still had equipment downstairs but I did, just hidden behind my scales in a spot that looked no different than any other.

I reached down to that spot and my scales pulled aside like a curtain, revealing a moist and very wet slit. I rubbed at it, moaning at how good it felt. Then I slipped my finger up inside myself, gasping at the sensation.

“That’s different,” I said with another gasp.

I continued fingering myself, feeling a very pleasant pressure building inside of me before it finally exploded into an orgasm. My whole body thrashed about under water as the pleasure rushed through me. It felt incredible, way better than jacking off as a guy had.

Once I’d calmed down a bit, I lay back in the water and giggled at what I’d done and how good it had felt. Then I pulled myself out of the water and willed my legs to return. I was still feeling turned on so reached between my legs to continue my playing.

Having something inside of me like my finger felt very weird, and though I wouldn’t have believed it, I liked how it felt. I couldn’t help but wondering what it would be like to have a guy inside of me…what it would be like having sex with a guy. Unfortunately, those thoughts were a big turn-off and kind of killed the mood.

“I definitely prefer girls,” I said with a sigh. “But maybe if I could get one built like Aunt Kelsie…” I thought about it for a moment and then shook my head.

Since I was done with playtime, I dried myself off and decided to get dressed again. However, I was still in a pretty damn good mood and decided that I might as well do it right.

There was no denying the fact that my twist had made me female. This was something that I’d accepted as one of the new facts of my life, though I was still trying to adjust to it. And though I thought I was doing a good job and was increasingly identifying as female, most of the time I still tended to think of myself a guy inside

At the moment, I felt particularly feminine, more than I have since waking up with this new body. I didn’t know if this was psychological from having finally explored my new parts or if it was physical, due to the flood of hormones that had to be rushing through my body. What I did know was that I kind of liked feeling like this and wanted to encourage it.

I dried myself off including my hair, which I then brushed to get it looking as nice as possible. Then I turned my attention to getting dressed, using how mom and Aunt Kelsie had dressed me up last Friday
evening as a model. I put on the nicest dress I owned, though I didn’t bother with panties. I’d learned that with my tail situation, panties were pretty impractical, which also meant that so were short skirts.

For my shoes, I picked the pair of low heels that looked nice but wouldn’t be a problem for me to walk in. But as I put them on, I made a mental note to practice in high heels so that I’d actually be able to
wear them when I wanted. After all, I’d always thought that high heels made girls look sexier, and since I was now a girl…

“And now for this,” I said, reaching for the jewelry box that mom and Aunt Kelsie had given me.

Ever since they’d given me this, I’d been wearing the pearl earrings and sometimes one of the other pieces, usually the shell pendant. I carefully removed my earrings and replaced them with the other pair that had dangling aquamarine stones. When I shook my head afterwards, I could feel the weight of them moving around on an odd fashion. After this I put on my nice pendant, the bracelet, and the ring that had belonged to Aunt Kelsie’s mom…to my grandma.

“Not bad,” I said as I looked myself over in the mirror. However, I still didn’t look as nice as I had last Friday and the reason was obvious. I wasn’t wearing any makeup.

I turned my attention to the expensive waterproof makeup kid that mom and Aunt Kelsie had given me, though I didn’t touch it, not wanting to waste any of the makeup with practice. Fortunately, mom had also bought me a small cheap makeup set for the sole purpose of being able to practice. I had yet to do any of that but now seemed like the perfect time.

My first attempt at putting on makeup was far from successful so I wiped it all off and tried again. Unfortunately, my second and third attempts weren’t really any better. By my fourth attempt, I was starting to feel frustrated that something I’d always thought was easy was turning out to be anything but. It especially annoyed me because even that bimbo Cheryl from school was able to do this, and everyone knew that she was as dumb as a rock.

“Makeup is stupid,” I muttered in frustration, though I knew it could make me look even nicer. Friday night had already proven that. I wanted to just give up, but I was a little too stubborn to do so that easily.

Then I heard my mom calling out from the living room, “Lori, I’m home…”

I hesitated a moment and then cautiously went into the living room to meet her. “Mom,” I said self-consciously when I saw her. “Can you help me with my makeup?”

Mom stared at me for a moment and then started laughing. I turned bright red in embarrassment and silently cursed myself for even trying to do this. Now I looked like some kind of clown or idiot.

“Wait,” mom called out when I turned to run to the safety of my room. She rushed to me and put a hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have laughed…” I just stared at the floor in shame, feeling like I was about to start crying. Mom just gave me a hug and said, “I’m impressed that you tried this on your own…”

“But I look stupid,” I blurted out.

“I think every girl does the first few times she tries,” mom told me with an amused look. “It just takes a little practice.”

I gave mom a skeptical look but she just gently pushed me towards the bathroom where I’d been practicing in front of the mirror. I looked at my reflection and began crying, “I look like a clown…”

Mom looked confused and uncertain for a moment, then gave me another hug. “I’m not really sure what I’m doing,” she admitted with a faint smile. “I’m not Twisted and don’t know what you’re going through. If I’d known you could be, I might have been better prepared…”

“What?” I asked, surprised by mom’s sudden change of direction.

“You’re smearing your mascara,” mom told me as wiped my tears, then held up her finger which was dark with the makeup. She stared at me for a moment with a strange expression before carefully saying, “Even though you look completely different from the way you used to, when I look at you I can still see the old Lucas. And sometimes, you act so much like any other girl that I just get a little confused. I imagine it’s a lot more confusing for you.”

I nodded at that, wiping my tears away and getting makeup smeared on my hands in the process. “Yeah.”

“I can’t really understand what you’re going through,” mom told me gently, “but I am trying. I’m trying to be as understanding and helpful as I can.”

“I know,” I told her quietly, giving her another hug. “And you’re doing fine.”

When mom pulled away, she smiled at me and then announced, “Your first mistake is using bright red lipstick. With your hair coloring, you should go with a gloss…or maybe even a bluish color…”

A minute later, I had all of the makeup cleaned off my face again. Then I started over, this time with mom instructing me what to do, though she didn’t actually touch any of the makeup herself. This time, the results were noticeably improved, though I still had a long way to go.

“Okay, let’s try it again,” mom suggested patiently.

“Isn’t it getting time for dinner?” I asked her, though I didn’t want to stop just yet.

“Almost,” she responded, then immediately followed that up with more suggestions for my makeup.

I was about halfway through and was liking the results this time when I heard the doorbell ringing. “You go ahead and finish up,” mom told me. “I’ll go see who it is.”

With mom gone, I was a little hesitant to continue, afraid that I’d mess up again and end up looking stupid. However, most of the base work had already been done and mom had already given me advice on how to do the rest. I took a deep breath and continued, taking my time and being careful.

Once I was finished, I looked myself over in the mirror and felt rather proud of what I’d done. Sure, my makeup work could use more improvement, but I actually looked pretty nice this time. I smiled at that, eager to show mom.

“I can’t believe I’m getting so excited about makeup,” I said, wanting to feel guilty for that but shoving those emotions aside. After all, I was a girl now and girls wore makeup. I refused to feel guilty because I was making the best of my new life.

I went to go find mom, only to hear her talking to someone else in the living room. I paused where I was and listened in for a moment, surprised to realize that the other person she was talking to was my dad. I hadn’t seen him in over a year and the thought of seeing him now filled me with a surge of panic.

“I was nearby for my work,” dad said, his voice cold and angry, “and I decided to come over so we could talk about that email you sent me…”

“Frank,” mom said, her voice almost pleading. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you but I didn’t want this argument…”

“You tell me you cheated on me and you can’t even talk to me directly?” he snapped. “I should have known you couldn’t keep your legs closed. So who was it? Your boss?”

“Don’t you dare,” mom exclaimed angrily. “I know you were having your own fun with Katherine…”

They argued for another minute while I just stood back, wincing and feeling even worse. Finally, dad demanded, “Where’s Lucas? Where’s my son at?”

“I told you,” mom responded. “Lucas went through a twist and…”

“Where is he?” dad demanded angrily.

I gulped nervously and then stepped into the room. I couldn’t bear to look at dad directly, or at least to have him look at me. But I still looked up and met his eyes.

“Hi dad,” I said quietly, terrified of what he’d think of me now. I took deep breath and added, “I’m called Lori now.”

Dad stared at me, his eyes filled with shock and surprise. Then his expression hardened and the look in his eyes turned to one of cold anger.

“Don’t call me that,” he finally said, nearly spitting out the words with a hostility that hit me almost like a physical blow. “You’re not mine.” With that, he turned and gave mom an angry glare before storming out the front door.

“Dad,” I called out, tears running down my cheeks and ruining the makeup I’d just worked so hard to put on. However, I didn’t care. Dad might not be my biological father, and he might have ignored me while I was growing up, but he was still the only dad I’d ever had. “DAD!”

Dad didn’t suddenly turn around and come back into the house and I was left standing there sobbing uncontrollably, feeling as though something important had just been ripped out of me. Mom rushed over and grabbed me firmly, holding me tight and trying to comfort me.

“How could you do this to her, Frank?” mom muttered to herself angrily, glaring towards the door. “It’s not her fault…” Then she told me, “It’s going to be all right honey. I’m here for you.”

--------------------

I stood in the middle of my old bedroom, looking down at myself and then at my reflection in the new mirror that hung on the wall. Did I look good? I thought I did but wasn’t quite sure it was right or appropriate.

What really frustrated me was that just as I was starting to feel confident as a girl, dad had come over and ruined it all. It had been two days since dad had had completely disowned me and I still felt depressed and uncertain. Dad…Frank, I reminded myself since he’d made it very clear that I wasn’t his, had shattered what little female self-confidence I’d managed to build. Frank might have turned out to not really be my biological dad, and he might have been a lousy dad while I was growing up, but his complete and total rejection that way had still really hurt.

When I noticed mom standing in my doorway watching me, I asked, “How do I look?”

“You look great,” mom told me, coming in and looking me over.

I looked into the mirror again and nodded. I’d completed a soak in my fish bowl short time ago and had only just finished getting dressed and ready for the talent show tonight. I was wearing a tank top that revealed my navel as well as a little cleavage, and a fairly short skirt. Both the shirt and skirt were aquamarine in color and made of that scale fabric which had been popular last year and which shimmered a bit like sequins or scales. I even had a belt on with a buckle that looked like a sea shell. My hair and makeup had been done up as well, though I’d had mom’s help for both.

“What if people laugh at me?” I asked nervously.

“No one is going to laugh,” mom assured me, giving me a hug. “You’re a beautiful young woman and a wonderful person. Frank was an idiot who never deserved to have you for a daughter.”

“She’s right,” Aunt Kelsie said as she stepped into my room as well. She gave me a sympathetic smile then came over and gave me a hug. “I’m proud to say you’re my daughter…”

“Thank you,” I told her, feeling incredibly touched by that. Unlike Frank, Aunt Kelsie had always been there for me. And though I didn’t say so, I suddenly realized that I was actually proud to have her as my real father. I hugged her even more tightly at that.

When we pulled away, I was actually crying though I wasn’t feeling sad. It was odd to realize that I’ve cried more since my twist than I had in the entire year before it. Aunt Kelsie smiled at me and gently told me, “You’re going to smear your mascara…”

“No I’m not,” I responded with a self-conscious smile.

I was currently wearing the waterproof makeup, which I could wear to bed and it would still be good in the morning. I’d actually tested that out last night. I wiped my tears away without fear of smearing my makeup and then smiled proudly at Aunt Kelsie and mom.

“Okay kiddo,” Aunt Kelsie told me, “I think you need one more thing.” She gestured to my jewelry box and the ring she’d given me levitated out of it and flew to her hand. She held it out to me and said, “For luck.”

I put the ring on and gave her another hug. “Thank you,” I quietly told her again, half tempted to call her ‘daddy’, but that would have been too weird.

Aunt Kelsie smiled proudly and put her arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get you to school so you can kick ass in that talent show. You look gorgeous and I know you’re going to sound even better.”

Once I finished double checking my clothes and jewelry, we took off for school where I’d meet up with the rest of my band. We’d already had our instruments brought to school earlier today so all we had to do was show up, get set up, and then impress everyone.

When we arrived at school a short time later, mom and Aunt Kelsie took off to get seats in the audience while I went to find my friends. I found them right where we agreed to meet and saw that I was the last one to arrive.

“You look really nice,” Melissa told me, having tagged along with Liz. Ricky nodded agreement at that, though he made an obvious effort not to stare at me.

“Thanks,” I told her. “But you’ll probably want to go get a seat before they’re all taken.”

“You heard her, brat,” Liz said to her sister, though she was smiling faintly as she did so. “Get the fuck out of here.”

Melissa nodded, not seeming to be bothered by the way Liz was talking to her. “See you later,” she told us before running off.

As soon as Melissa was gone, I looked over my friends and noticed that they’d dressed up a bit too. Liz was dress about the same as usual, though her clothes were just a little nicer. Her real attempt at dressing up came from the new tattoo on her arm which she had exposed in order to show it off.

Ricky was wearing a black leather vest and a faux snake skin belt. He had short sleeves on and was going to have the blackout lights going while we were on stage so that the snake tattoo on his arm would really become visible. Of course, this was probably going to be a surprise to his parents who he still hadn’t told about it.

Then I looked to Christine, who was wearing a black dress and a black bow in her hair. She had a belt with a skull on it, though it wasn’t too intimidating since the skull looked kind of cute and girlie with a pink bow. Christine was done up in full gothic lolita style, which was probably the closest she could come to the way she used to dress before her twist. I was actually a little surprised that she was able to do this much.

“Looking good,” I told Christine who just grinned at that.

“Thanks,” she responded happily. “It’s pushing my compulsions a little, but not enough to make me change right away.”

“We’re not up for awhile,” Ricky said thoughtfully. “Let’s check out the competition while we wait for our turn.”

We all agreed with that and went to the side of the auditorium to watch the show while waiting our turn. The first person up was a kid who could juggle and he was even pretty good at it. However, I suspected that this might be the result of some trick which would have made it somewhat less impressive. That was followed by a chubby boy in a kilt who played a tune on bagpipes…badly.

“My ears hurt after that one,” Christine complained when the bagpipes were finished.

Liz snorted and muttered, “I might have to go kick his ass next week just on general principal.”

Next came the Jessica twins, a pair of identical looking brunettes who were actually a single person. When Jessica had gone through her twist, she’d developed a clone body that was identical to her original one, though she still had only a single mind that controlled both bodies simultaneously. She ran some interesting magic tricks, using very obvious assistance from her twisted tricks. However, she was pretty entertaining and I found myself clapping when she was done.

After this, there were two musical acts in a row, a girl who sang beautifully and then a band. We paid very close attention to these acts since they were our direct competition. I couldn’t help but glaring at the singer since I’d actually have to do better than that and I didn’t think I could. Her performance made me feel almost like I’d failed before I’d even gotten a chance to show what I could do.

“Don’t worry,” Christine assured me. “You’ll do great.” Then she held up the stuffed toy dragon she’d brought and asked, “Want to hug Mister Slithers for good luck?”

“I’d rather not,” I responded with a chuckle.

A short time later, it was finally our turn to get on stage and show what we could do. We quickly set our equipment in place and then waited until the curtain was pulled open to reveal us to the audience. A quick scan of the audience revealed mom and Aunt Kelsie who were sitting next to Ricky’s parents. Then I saw Melissa who was already cheering excitedly from her own seat.

“Next,” the announcer called out to the audience as he presented us. “Let me introduce Scales…”

Scales was one of the names that Melissa had suggested for our band, another obvious reference to my tail. However, Ricky had decided that it could also refer to his snake tattoo and happily agreed to the name. Since Liz and Christine didn’t care one way or another, that became the name of our band.

As soon as we were introduced, Christine began setting a beat down with the drums while Liz and Ricky began playing as well. I waited a full ten seconds before I began singing, giving it everything I had. After everything that had happened in the last couple weeks, especially with Frank, I had a lot of pent up frustration which I poured into the song.

It was a little strange standing out in front of my band with a whole crowd spread out in front of me. I felt nervous at first but focused entirely on the music to keep myself distracted from that. However, I did spare enough attention to notice the stuffed dragon toy that was dancing on stage beside me. From the grins and pointing in the audience, it looked like they were enjoying Christine’s trick.

When the song ended, the audience began clapping and cheering. Melissa was loud enough that I could make out her voice over the others while her mom stood beside her looking particularly happy. Then I looked to my own mom and Aunt Kelsie, both of whom were clapping and cheering, making me happy that they’d liked it.

“Good job,” Ricky announced as the curtain closed. We began grabbing our equipment and clearing the space for the next act while he continued, “We sounded totally wicked out there…”

“Yeah, we did,” Liz agreed with a smirk. “Fucking awesome.”

“And really really good,” Christine added cheerfully.

I just grinned at that and asked, “I didn’t sound too off?”

“You sounded dead on,” Ricky told me with a grin. “Even better than at practice.”

I felt incredibly giddy at how exciting this had been and at how well it had all gone. Though I hadn’t told anyone, I’d been half afraid that I’d freeze up with stage fright at my first performance in front of an audience. I was so glad that hadn’t happened because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able live it down.

Once the last couple acts had finished up, the announcer, who was also our school’s vice principal, began to call out the winners of the various categories. The judging had been done partly by a group of three judges and party by audience voting. There was a pause after the final act while they decided who was going to win the prizes.

Then came the first announcement of, “The prize for most humorous act goes to Ted Chappel and Bobby Morgenstern.” The audience clapped and I nodded, chuckling as I thought about their comedy routine. They had been pretty funny.

“Best solo performance goes to Tess Washington,” the vice principal called out the name of the singer I’d been jealous of. I felt jealous again, which was silly since I wasn’t even eligible for this award. However, her being given this prize might very well mean that she was going to win the one I wanted.

The best group performance was called out next, which wasn’t us, followed by the best performance without the use of a trick. Then he finally announced, “The prize for the best musical performance goes to Scales.”

“We did it,” I blurted out in surprise, earning a grin from Christine and a look that seemed to say, “I told you so.”

The four of us ran up to the stage to accept our prizes, award certificates that we could hang on our walls and gift cards to several local stores. The prizes weren’t really that impressive, but that wasn’t the point. This had all been about pride.

After the awards were finished, the audience all got up to socialize and talk to the performers. I was stunned to suddenly find my friends and I surrounded by students and parents who wanted to congratulate us.

“That was awesome,” one boy I only vaguely recognized exclaimed.

Then I noticed a hot looking redhead coming towards me, and by redhead I meant that her hair was actually crimson, though there were a couple golden blonde streaks as well. I recognized her as a senior named Blake, though I’d never talked to her before.

“You all sounded fantastic,” Blake said, her voice a bit sexy and flirty. She gave me an appreciative look like what I was getting used to seeing from guys. “Especially you.”

“Um…thanks,” I responded, a little embarrassed by the attention but enjoying it as well.

“I heard about your twist in the swimming pool,” she said with an amused look. “It kind of caught my attention because I used to be a guy too…”

I stared at her in surprise that anyone as hot looking as her could ever have been a guy. And she definitely knew how to dress in order to show off her body. “Really?”

“We should talk some time,” she told me. “I have a couple other friends you might want to talk to as well. The whole sex change thing can be awkward and it really helps being able to talk to people who understand.”

Suddenly, Christine smacked my side to get my attention and then pointed off to the side. It took me a moment to see what she was actually trying to direct my attention to. Nina was there, glaring at me with an unhappy look on her face. And right beside Nina was her boyfriend Tim, a nice enough guy, and he was staring right at me with looks of definite appreciation. Nina glared at him, obviously not happy about it.

“They success is the best revenge,” Christina told me smugly.

I just laughed at that, thinking that if I could piss Nina off just by doing what I enjoyed and doing it well, then I was more than happy to do so. I couldn’t help but wondering what she’d do if I actually talked to her boyfriend, though that was something I wasn’t sure I wanted to find the answer to.

Then mom and Aunt Kelsie finally caught up to me, both blurted out their congratulations. “You sounded amazing,” mom exclaimed proudly while Aunt Kelsie nodded agreement. She looked to my friends, who were just leaving to go see their own families and added, “You all did.”

“I’m so proud of you,” Aunt Kelsie said, giving me a hug. “You’re beautiful and talented.”

“And modest too,” I joked, earning a laugh.

“I think she takes after you,” mom told Aunt Kelsie with a smirk.

Aunt Kelsie put one arm around my shoulder and one around mom’s. “I think we need to go out and celebrate. Maybe some ice cream and then a stop at a swimming pool for a quick dip.

“Really?” I asked eagerly, looking forward to a chance to stretch my tail before bed.

“Come on daughter of mine,” Aunt Kelsie said proudly. She paused to muse, “It’s still a little strange saying that, but I can definitely get used to it.

“Me too,” I agreed with a grin.

I stood there for a moment, staring at mom and Aunt Kelsie and feeling quite happy. The thought of what Frank had said to me still felt a little tender, but he’d never really been my dad in any way that truly mattered. Aunt Kelsie was not only my biological father but the one who’d helped raise me. I might not have known of my relationship to her at the time, but she’d always been there as one of my parents.

“Come on,” I told my parents eagerly, wanting to get to the pool before it closed for the night. Then I paused, proudly looking at my family before catching them both in a hug at once. A moment later, I turned and started walking, calling back, “We have ice cream and swimming to get to…”

“She’s your daughter,” Aunt Kelsie joked to mom.

Mom just laughed at that and said, “No, she’s our daughter.”

--------------------

I sat on the edge of the large swimming pool, absently swishing my tail back and forth through the water. I was well aware that a number of people were watching me curiously, but I pretended that I didn’t notice.

This was the largest swimming pool in Spiral and the fact that it was an indoor pool which could be used all year round made it even better. There was plenty of space for me to swim around in so it was no surprise that I came here pretty often. In fact, I came here so often that I’d made a deal with the owners. I got to come in and swim for free whenever I wanted and for however long I wanted, and in exchange, I acted as a backup lifeguard and they got to brag that they had a mermaid swimming here. Apparently, my presence drew a lot customers.

“Are you a real mermaid?” a little girl asked me.

I smiled at that, having gotten used to the question. “No,” I answered her honestly. “I’m just Twisted.”

Once the little girl was gone, I looked over the swimming pool and then at the clock on the wall. It was Sunday afternoon and I’d been here all morning but it was getting about time for me to leave. Mom had a doctor’s appointment today and was going to pick me up on the way home.

“One more lap before I go,” I said, sliding into the pool and smiling as I swished my tail and shot through the water like a torpedo.

There were plenty of people swimming in the pool so I couldn’t race through as fast as I’d like. Instead, I kept low, below most of the swimmers who were at the surface, and was careful not to bump into anyone or give them a scare.

Being in the water like this felt so natural and was such a large part of my life that it was hard to believe I’d once been afraid of the water or didn’t know how to swim. I’d been Twisted for only two months but it felt almost like that had been a whole lifetime ago.

When I’d gone through my twist, it hadn’t just changed my body but most of my life. I’d lost a dad who never much cared for me and had discovered a new one who’d been right under my nose the whole time. And even though I’d always been close to my mom, becoming a girl made me even closer to her.

Once I was finished with my final laps around the pool, I went to the side and reluctantly pulled myself out of the water. I grabbed the wraparound skirt that I always brought to the pool and snapped it in place and then changed my tail back into legs. Several people stood back watching this, including the lifeguard who’d seen it many times before.

“Hey,” someone called out to me. “You’re Lorilei right? The lead singer of Scales?”

I looked to the person talking and saw that it was a beautiful brunette girl who looked to be about my own age. She had on a one piece bikini that showed off her nice figure very well. And since she was soaked, it was obvious that she’d already been in the water.

“Yeah,” I responded with a smile, trying not to be too obvious about checking her out. That kind of thing did make some girls uncomfortable. “That’s me.”

“I heard you guys play a couple weeks ago,” she told me with a grin. “You were awesome…”

“Thanks,” I told her, pleased by the compliment. “We’re playing at Silver Linings next Saturday night...the seafood restaurant on Westbrook and Main.”

“I’ll be sure to check it out,” she responded, looking me over with an expression of obvious appreciation, the kind I usually saw when boys looked at me. That suddenly caught my attention even further. “I’m Daphne by the way…”

I smiled at that and said, “Call me Lori.”

Daphne stared at me for a moment, blushing just a little which looked very cute. “I’m a bit of a fan,” she admitted, seeming to almost become shy or at least self-conscious. Then she abruptly asked, “Do you come here often?”

I just laughed at that. “Only every weekend and sometimes after school.” Then I grinned broadly and added, “They even have me on the books as a backup lifeguard. They got me CPR training and everything for it.”

Suddenly, I heard someone call out, “Lori…”

I looked over and saw several of my friends coming towards me, obviously having just arrived. Not only were they still dry, but I would have noticed Liz, Ricky, and Melissa before this if they’d been here.

Ricky and Liz were actually holding hands, which wasn’t too surprising since they’d begun dating a few weeks ago. I’d been a little surprised when I found out, though Christine had smugly announced that she knew they’d end up together. I just hoped that it worked out for them.

Then I looked at Melissa, who was back to her natural hair color, having only kept it aquamarine for a few weeks. However, in spite of not having the same hair color as me, she was definitely still one of my biggest fans and made sure to catch any of our shows she could.

I glanced down to Melissa’s bare feet and grinned. “You’re not wearing your shoes,” I pointed out.

Melissa nodded at that and almost pouted as she responded, “They won’t let me wear them in the pool.”

Melissa had just gone through her twist a few weeks ago and she’d come out of it with a compulsion to wear high heels and a trick that gave her an unbelievably good sense of balance. I’d actually watched her running around in stiletto heels as easily as if they were sneakers.

“This is Daphne,” I introduced her to my friends. “And these are…”

“The guitarist and bass player,” Daphne quickly said. “I’m a big fan of your band.” Then she gave me another appreciative look before averting her eyes self-consciously

“Cool,” Ricky said while Liz elbowed him for paying too much attention to Daphne.

“This is Ricky and Liz,” I finished saying.

Daphne looked around and asked, “Is your drummer here too?”

“Naw,” I responded with a grin. “Christine got invited to a birthday party with a bunch of little girls. I don’t think she could turn down being able to play with a bunch of girls her own size.”

Ricky and Liz nodded while Melissa blurted out, “Where’s your tail?”

“The fucking brat drug us here so we could go swimming with you,” Liz said, though there was nothing hostile in her tone.

“I was just on my way out,” I said apologetically. “My mom is arriving to pick me up in a few minutes so I really need to go get cleaned up and changed.”

“That bites,” Ricky said. “We just arrived and you’re already leaving.”

I shrugged at that. “Sorry about that,” I responded with a sigh. Then seeing the look of disappointment on Melissa’s face, I told her, “Why don’t you come over later this week and I’ll let you take a dip in my fish bowl.”

“That would be great,” Melissa responded with an excited grin. Then she paused to look down at her bare feet and scowled. “Do you think I can talk them into letting me wear my shoes?”

“Like I already told you,” Liz teased her. “They’d get ruined in the pool.”

“I’ll see you guys later,” I told my friends. Then I turned to Daphne, not sure what to say to her. Then I took a deep breath before blurting out, “I really hope to see you at Silver Linings…”

Daphne brightened and promised, “I’ll be there.”

The two of us just stood there staring at each other for a moment and I could definitely feel something between us. There was no doubt that I was attracted to this girl and from the way she was looking at me, she obviously felt the same way.

I was a little uncertain about my emotions, or at least about what to do with them. Ever since my twist, I’d avoided the very idea of dating anyone, and there had been one or two girls who’d indicated that they might be interested. Until now, I’d just wanted to focus on getting comfortable in my own skin and learning about who I now was.

“Maybe we can hang out sometime,” I suggested to Daphne, abruptly deciding that it was time for me to put my tail back in the water, as it were. My last girlfriend had turned into a little girl and then I’d turned into a girl myself, but it was time to put that behind me and move on.

Daphne grinned at that and replied, “I’d love to…”

Ricky and Liz gave each other knowing looks while Melissa looked like she couldn’t decide to be annoyed or happy for me. She finally settled on standing there with a smirk.

After I finished with my goodbyes, I went to the locker room where I showered and then got dressed. Unfortunately, I’d been distracted long enough that when I got out front, I found that mom and Aunt Kelsie were already there waiting for me.

“How was the doctor’s appointment?” I asked mom when I climbed into the back seat of the car.

Mom and Aunt Kelsie shared an odd look with each other but neither said a word for several long seconds. Then instead of answering me, mom asked, “So, how was your swim?”

“It was good,” I answered, giving mom a suspicious look and wondering why she was changing the subject. I couldn’t help but feeling a little worried. “The pool manager said that they wanted to put me on the payroll and make me an official employee.”

“That’s great,” Aunt Kelsie exclaimed.

I just shrugged at that. “Yeah, but then I’d probably have scheduled hours instead of coming in whenever I wanted. I told him I’d have to think about it.”

When we arrived home a few minutes later, I immediately started for my room, but mom called out for me to stop. “There’s something we need to talk about,” mom told me, looking a bit nervous.

“Is it your appointment?” I asked, getting worried again. “Did the doctor find something wrong?”

“Nothing like that,” mom said, giving me a smile.

Aunt Kelsie grinned and reached out, taking mom’s hand and holding it. “It’s actually good news.”

Mom took a deep breath and then blurted out, “You’re going to be a big sister.”

“What?” I gasped in surprise, staring at mom and then Aunt Kelsie who nodded confirmation.

“I’m pregnant,” mom said, looking to Aunt Kelsie and smiling at her.

For a moment, I stood there staring at her, trying to absorb what she’d just told me. Then I grinned and asked, “I’m really going to have a brother or sister?”

I had always wondered what it would be like having a brother or sister and had daydreamed about it quite a few times. Growing up, I was an only child and had spent a lot of time playing by myself, often wishing that I had someone to play with.

“A sister,” mom told me proudly. “The doctor confirmed my pregnancy today and the baby’s gender.”

Mom gave me a hug and Aunt Kelsie joined in a moment later. The three of us continued holding each other for nearly a minute before we pulled apart and then sat down in the living room where we began talking about what this new addition would mean for our family.

As we sat there talking, I couldn’t help but feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement over this news. Having a baby sister around was going to be a big change, though nothing like all the other changes that had occurred in my life over the last couple months. In the last two months, I’d become Twisted, a girl, and a mermaid, and at that very moment, I couldn’t wait to become a big sister as well.

THE END