Schooled

by Pamela Ruth Foland

  Every day he had kept his promise to his mother and taken pictures of himself and forwarded them to her. She had yet to respond. His father had been impressed with his improvised sexual reassignment. Stone’s father had encourage moderation in establishing his “new endowments.” While most males considered their genitalia a measure of their “manhood,” Stone’s father reminded him that he didn’t want to be too over-sized for his future lover’s sake. Stone had personally been inclined to accept genitalia that fell in the slightly less than average range. He had after all began life as a female.

  Stone took in a deep breath and ran his hands over the muscular ripples of his abdomen and flexed his arm muscles. He had very much accepted Faith’s opinions whether conscious or unconscious when redesigning himself. He hoped she would really like the final result. Stone adjusted his metabolism, bringing to an end the process of growth and redesign that had ultimately begun with his conception. He felt at home within his skin and looked forward to his life in a way that didn’t actually apply when he had argued to come to the school.

  Ready to show himself off, Stone stepped out of his quarters into a hallway decorated with streamers, metallic fringe curtains and garlands. Balloons lined the ceiling and techno dance music blared from the speakers in the main room. Faith stepped from her room dressed in a revealing burgundy dress, black lace stockings, red flats and a lace jacket that was just a shade darker than her dress. Stone’s jaw dropped and he felt an unfamiliar tightness in his pants. He regretted not going with his nanites, it would have been a simple thing to give his manhood a little more room to… No, his erection needed to be managed and the pants were the best plan. Stone noticed Faith’s attention had fallen to his bulge, and he reddened. Faith simply smiled and took his hand, “Don’t worry! It is a natural compliment.”

  Stone smiled back at the radiance of her smile. She was just perfect. Together, arm in arm they walked down the hall to the main gathering area.

  - - - - - - -

  Maeve primped and preened her curly red hair. She was also monitoring the music, lighting and refreshment levels in the main gathering area. She had planned this party with Lyla and she wasn’t going to disappoint any of her team. She looked over her outfit. The party dress it resembled something like a Sweet 16 dress or quinceañera dress. She turned in front of the full-length mirror she used to practice movements and expressions. Her rapidly developing sense of style logged the dress as a fashion don’t.

  She fluttered her nanites through half a dozen more before settling on a white dress with a red and green cherry motif cut in a 1950s housewife style. She flipped through a dozen sets of shoes and settled on a pair of thigh high fake leather lace-up boots in the same shade as the cherries. She adjusted her hairdo into an eighties updo. Her lips reddened to match her boots and she went with an understated eye-shadow effect.

  Maeve twirled one more time, finally satisfied by the effects. Then she stepped up to her door. She opened it with an electronic flourish, momentarily dimming all the lights except the one over her door. She stepped through the metallic fringe curtain and almost tripped over Sport.

  Thankfully, his reflexes were good, and he leaped out of the way. Maeve quickly righted herself and chuckled at the near mishap. “Sorry, Sport, why were you in front of my door?”

  “I was just coming to see if you were coming out. The party is starting. You have to see Lyla dance. She has no rhythm,” Sport chuckled. He looked her over and clicked his tongue in lieu of applause, “Nice outfit.”

  “I guess her superhuman abilities don’t include super-dancing,” Maeve stated.

  Sport chuckled, “The only thing super about her dancing is how super bad she is.”

  Maeve glanced at the common area through one of the dormitory cameras. Lyla looked like she was having some non-symmetrical seizures. Maeve selected one of her more “infectious” laughs and used her vocal apparatus to release it for the first time. The result was fairly good but Maeve made note of ways she needed to modify the laugh for the new delivery method.

  Sport laughed in response. “I take it you saw…”

  Maeve nodded with a smile. They proceeded down the hall together. Everyone was assembled except for Millie and Beaker. Maeve toggled the speaker in Millie’s room, “Hey, are you coming the party is getting going?”

  “I’ll be out shortly,” Millie answered.

  Maeve toggled the speaker in Beaker’s room, “Beaker, are you coming? The party is getting going.”

  “Yep, just finishing up,” Beaker answered.

  Maeve smiled and followed Sport into the common area. She hoped she could dance better than Lyla, and Goru. Goru had joined Lyla in spasming rhythmically to the music. Maeve set her hips swaying as she searched for files on the appropriate dance moves for the music. Stone and Faith were slowly gyrating in time with the beat and each other’s movements. Maeve calculated a similar motion for herself and began dancing.

  Stone started laughing and pointed from Maeve to Goru and Lyla, “She’s had a body for less than a week and is better at dancing than those two who have been getting used to theirs for fourteen years!”

  Everyone stopped and laughed including Goru and Lyla. Maeve calculated whether or not they were laughing at her specifically. All things pointed at Goru and Lyla being the butt of this particular joke, and they were laughing so… Maeve allowed herself to chuckle at the humor of things even though she didn’t comprehend why it was funny.

  - - - - - - -

  Millie twirled in front of her bathroom mirror. She liked the way her skirt fluttered. It was new, all of her outfits were new. She had no choice in the matter, none of her old clothes fit. She had grown so much, including her breasts which had passed beyond the place where binding them was practical. The outfits themselves weren’t the only thing new. She was experimenting with an individual sense of style. None of her new outfits were chosen to match anyone else’s. She had also freely chosen things like the skirt which she had only ever worn before because he parents made her. No longer focused solely on being Milo’s equal opposite, Millie didn’t find frilly things absolutely detestable.

  Satisfied that the outfit fit her well, Millie stepped into her bedroom. She hesitated a moment at the hall door before closing her eyes. Her courage outpaced her fear and she took the last step. The door opened, and she stepped out into the hall. Her eyes opened to the sight of Beaker exiting his room across the hall. He wore burgundy slacks and a black dress shirt and tie. His shoes were the same style he always wore, comfortable looking hiking boots. He smiled broadly at Millie and her breath caught in her chest. She finally remembered how when Beaker broke the spell and fiddled with his glasses.

  "You look nice,” Beaker stated offering her his arm.

  Millie wrapped her arm around his and interlaced her fingers with his. A warm pleasant tingling passed up her arm from the points of contact. Millie wanted to discover what it would be like to kiss him. It seemed the feeling was mutual as Beaker bent to meet her lips with his own. “People, you are missing the party!” Goru shouted over the music and slapping Beaker on the shoulder.

  They made their way down the hall to join the party. Goru went back to dancing with Lyla. The pair looked like a pair of convulsing baby deer as they “danced.” Stone gestured with a smile, “They are a pair aren’t they?” Beaker laughed. “The really funny thing is Maeve is a better dancer than both of them,” Stone smiled.

  Faith approached them with four cups of punch. She held two of them pinched between her fingers of each hand. Stone took one handful and Beaker emptied Faith’s other hand. Not a drop was spilled. Millie accepted a cup from Beaker and Faith took hers back from Stone. Everyone seemed to be wearing new clothes. Stone’s still had the wrinkles from the packaging. Milo grabbed Maeve and drug her onto the dance-floor. He was dressed in a burgundy silk suit. On reaching the dance-floor, Maeve started dancing and Millie had to agree Maeve was good. A slow dance tune began playing. Goru and Lyla left the makeshift
dance floor like they were burned. Stone and Faith embraced and began fluidly moving to the music like one person. Beaker looked at Millie, a question in his eyes.

  Millie nodded and followed him onto the dance-floor. Awkwardly they embraced. Millie knew neither of them knew which hand went where. They both looked at Stone and Faith for the proper positions. Then they began moving to the music. It started with Beaker’s hands on Millie’s hips. Millie had her hands wrapped around Beaker’s neck. Together they swayed with the music. Then they began moving as one to the beat. Millie’s whole world was in that moment with Beaker. Nothing else mattered.

  Millie was shaken from heaven by the sound of breaking glass. She spun to see Goru going down. He had stiffened and knocked the punch-bowl to the floor. He was on the floor convulsing. It took Millie a moment to realize what was happening. He was going through his metamorphosis. Millie wondered if this is what it had looked like when she and Beaker went down. Goru hadn’t been short before but he had been thin. As he convulsed, Millie watched him go from thin to tall and visibly anorexic.

  The elevator door opened, and Millie’s cousin Tina exited with hovering stretcher and two male medics dressed in blue scrubs. “Get him on the bed! Lyla, Faith, Millie, out!”

  Millie realized that Tina was covered in a thin membrane meant to contain her pheromones. Millie backed away with Lyla and Faith as the medics transferred Goru to the stretcher. Tina stepped between Goru and Millie. “I mean it girls! I won’t have another forced pairbond!”

  Millie realized that this was about her and Beaker. She retreated down the hall, as did the other two. Beaker quickly joined her, “Do you feel like our bond was forced?”

  Millie blinked at him, “I had feelings for you before we matured. I wouldn’t have this any other way.”

  He bent his head down to meet hers and their lips brushed against each-other. Finally he pressed his teasing lips into hers firmly, satisfyingly, a warm tingling sensation spread from where their mouths met to every cell in Millie’s body. He led her further down the hall stopping in front of her room. She smiled encouraging at he smiled back, “We should get to know each-other better first.” He tapped her door panel, and it opened. Beaker gestured for her to enter. She saw Milo over his shoulder guiding Lyla into her room. Stone was lingering at Faith’s door for a stolen kiss. In the common room Millie could hear and sense a subdued exchange of information between her cousin and the medics. Goru was on the stretcher and they were moving him into the elevator. Millie guessed that the party was over.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Goru

  Goru awoke disoriented. He blinked incredibly crusty eyes open. He couldn’t place the four white walls. Goru pried his tongue from the roof of his mouth where dried saliva had plastered it. It was the worst cottonmouth he had ever experienced. Goru noticed a pitcher of ice water on a table next to his bed. He tried to sit up in bed, but the blood rushed from his head. As he grasped his head he realized his right hand was covered in an IV glove. Goru held his head very still as he grabbed the pitcher. There was a glass but he just sat up and drank directly from the pitcher. Once his mouth and throat were fully lubricated, and the pitcher was empty of liquid, Goru took stock of his condition. His whole body had the feeling of muscles which had been over exercised and left to rest numbly the next day.

  He scrolled back through his memory coming up against a thick wooly confusion. The last thing he remembered for certain was reaching for a glass of punch. Then it felt like he was punched. He gingerly rolled his head around on his shoulders. He had so many kinks in his neck and the rest of his muscles. What, had he run an iron-man triathlon and forgotten to warm up first? There was a knock on the door.

  “Uh, come in?” Goru croaked, his voice sounded off, different, deeper.

  The door opened, and a woman entered wearing a doctor’s coat with a stethoscope, as if doctors still used that kind of primitive tech. She smiled at him, “Good morning Mr. Nattan. I wasn’t expecting you to wake up for several days. How are you feeling?”

  Goru took stock, “A little hungry, little thirsty, and I am a lot disoriented! Where exactly am I. What happened?”

  “You had your metamorphosis. You’re in the infirmary. My name is Tina and I am your doctor,” She answered, “I am a little surprised you are hungry. That IV is providing you with all the nutrients and fluids your body needs to replenish itself at its new size.”

  “What about my thirst?”

  Tina nodded, “Your body is redirecting moisture to the new tissues so your mouth and such are kind of neglected. Let me get you something more.” She took the pitcher from the table and placed it in the room’s delivery cupboard. After closing it and tapping on its screen, she reopened the cupboard and removed a cup with a straw. “This won’t run dry, you can dial this knob here to whatever flavor you like.”

  “Just plain water would be fine,” Goru accepted the cup and checked the setting. It was on ice water. He drew in a long hard sip. Then sighed, “Thank you.” His face took to itching, and he rubbed it only to find a three-day growth of a beard. “How long was I out?”

  Tina smiled and sat on the foot of his bed, “Fourteen hours. I personally wasn’t expecting you to wake up for days.”

  “Can I have a mirror?”

  Tina got up and went to the delivery cupboard. After a few taps, she returned with a small hand mirror. She presented it to him. Goru stared into the glass and saw a stranger staring back at him. His eyes were the only thing he recognized. His eyebrows had filled out they were bushier. He had a beard. His cheekbones were more prominent as was his jaw. He looked much less like his father. Goru was surprised how little he looked like his father. Over the years he had memorized his father’s face.

  “Everything okay?” Tina asked.

  “Yes, but not what I was expecting. I figured on spending the rest of my life wearing my father’s face and being tormented for it,” Goru answered honestly.

  “Sometimes fate has other plans for us,” Tina sat again, “When I was a bit older than your age, I still hadn’t had my metamorphosis. I was a telepathic deaf-mute. My mother had me training to become a factor. Not that she was ever going to let me out into the field… The words of a kind man changed my path. He told me I could be whatever I chose to be. I became a doctor. I was once chief of medical services for Refuge. Now I am a glorified school nurse. That all put me here to tell you with firm confidence, you are free to be who and what you choose to be.”

  “Who told you that?”

  Tina smiled and held a finger to her lips, “Your great-grandfather.”

  Goru blinked. He realized she knew exactly who he was. She was his doctor that was a big duh! “You believe in me?”

  “Somebody better, you don’t sound like you do,” Tina stated.

  Goru slumped back into the pillow, “It is hard, no one has ever tried to encourage me before.”

  “I’m sure your team has.”

  Goru sighed, “No adult. My mother beat me and Ms. D’llen was the only other adult who had gotten involved in my life.”

  “You’re going to have to get used to it here. All the mentors, and faculty advisers are here because they care,” Tina stated, “Basically all the staff from the lunch ladies to the librarians are here to bring out the best in you.”

  Goru digested her words.

  “I am going to leave you to rest,” Tina rose, “If you need anything tap the call icon on your table.” She headed back out into the hallway and the door sealed behind her.

  - - - - - - -

  Lyla paced in the hallway outside of the infirmary. She didn’t have the courage to knock. Goru was her co-leader. If anything happened to him everyone would look to her, just her. Lyla had stayed up all night web-searching facts about Briaunti metamorphoses. It left her alarmed. Ninety percent of the first briaunti hadn’t survived their metamorphoses. The images of the resulting corpses was beyond disturbing. It became after it became survivable, that didn’t remove the d
anger. If a briaunti didn’t caloricly prepare, it was possible they could starve to death in the process. That mostly happened when medical intervention was not available. Lyla paused in her pacing. If Goru had experienced that kind of complications, they would have notified the team, right?

  Even if there were no complications it could be a week before he woke up and continued his educational program. He could get behind! Lyla resumed pacing. She couldn’t lead everyone by herself. She made mistakes. She didn’t properly prepare. Dear god, what if….

  “Miss Carlyle, would you like to visit with Goru?” The doctor asked from the open doorway.

  Lyla’s eyes opened wide, “He’s awake? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours!”

  The doctor smiled at Lyla, “I guess he didn’t schedule himself the proper amount of time to do this. He is awake and begging to get out.”

  “I would very much like to see he’s alright. I wouldn’t be risking a pairbond with him would I?”

  “His hormone levels are at a steady baseline. He is no longer primed to bond at the moment,” The doctor answered, “Come this way.” She gestured for Lyla to follow her into the infirmary. Lyla went through the same doors into the same hallway she had just visited Millie and Beaker down. The doctor paused at the first door with a light over it. “Here you are.”

  Lyla swallowed hard and knocked.

  “Who is it?” A deep male voice asked from inside.

  “Lyla.”

  “Come on in!”

  Lyla stepped up to the door and entered when it opened to her. The man reclining in the bed bore only a cursory resemblance to the Goru she knew. “Goru?”