Last night was, to put it mildly, not the best I’d had. Dinner was a blur. Dad was too busy making the family time his, complaining about work and his ‘useless’ colleagues. I was glad about it, for once. I was certainly in no mood to talk about my day.
My sleep was very limited as well. If I somehow managed to stop thinking about the curse, I was eventually woken up by the constant jolts of pain from rolling over.
My hand darted to my phone, silencing the alarm the moment it rang. I grumbled and continued staring at the ceiling.
How do girls deal with this nightmare?
Do they just never sleep face down?
I sighed and got up to grab my clothes.
“Green, I guess,” I said as I pulled out the winner of today’s roulette.
I also grabbed a fresh pair of underwear and jeans, but before I got changed, I decided to take a shower. With my new goal in mind, I set my clothes down on my bed and walked to the bathroom.
As I passed by the mirror, something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I walked back and stared at my reflection.
What the hell?
I moved around, trying to see my face from every angle I could. Something seemed different, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t piece it together.
My eyes then scanned the rest of my body. I made an audible gulp before removing my clothes and putting them in the hamper.
Nothing…
Besides my chest, everything looked the same as last night.
Maybe I’m imagining things.
My thoughts were challenged once more as I showered. I couldn’t see the change, but I could feel it. My skin felt different.
Softer.
I looked at my arm closely. Not seeing anything, I began poking at it, then pinching and squeezing. My hand wandered to my cheek next, touching it with three fingers and pressing gently.
Squishy.
I kind of like this.
All motion halted at that moment.
I should hate this, right?
Why don’t I?
Turning off the water, I wrung my hair and grabbed a fresh towel. After drying myself with it, I wrapped it around my waist and walked to the cabinet to grab the shaving cream and my razor.
Returning to the mirror, I wiped it clean and dropped a dollop of the cream on my palm before bringing it up to my face. My hand froze midway.
There was no facial hair to shave.
I quickly put the razor down and used my free hand to feel my face. It was smooth, devoid of any roughness despite not having shaved it the day before.
How did I miss this earlier!?
Granted, even before this, I didn’t have much, but the amount was not zero.
There was a knock on the door.
“W-what?” I yelled louder than I intended.
“Michael? Is that you?” Mom called from the other side.
“Uh, yeah,” I replied. “Why?”
“No, it’s okay,” she responded. “You’re never up this early. I thought it was Andrew in there for a sec.”
Before I could say anything, she continued. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to rush you. I just wanted to see if you could pass me some painkillers for your dad’s headache.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. One moment.”
I washed my hand and went back to the medicine cabinet to search for the pill bottle. Once I had it, I made my way to the door, but then paused and looked down at my chest.
What if she notices?
Not willing to take any chances, I undid my towel and wrapped it around my body before opening the door to give her the medicine.
“Thank you, honey. I—” Her eyes darted to the towel.
“You’re welcome!” I shouted, almost slamming the door. The curse made itself present, causing me to hold my head in both hands.
What was I thinking!?
How was this any better!?
Mom’s shadow lingered for a moment before she faked a cough. “I uh… I’ll get breakfast started in a bit. Don’t be late, okay?”
“Y-yeah!”
I didn’t get the time to process what happened. It was only then that I realised another challenge was waiting for me. My fresh clothes were in my room. Worse even, Andrew’s room was between mine and the bathroom.
Not having much of a choice, I took a deep breath and ran as fast as I could without dropping the towel.
Safe!!!
I quickly closed my door and locked it while I got changed. However, I was quickly reminded of a rather small, yet problematic, inconvenience when putting it on.
---<>----------<>----------<>---
“Isn’t it a bit too soon to be wearing that?” Andrew asked as I walked downstairs.
He was, of course, referring to the black hoodie I had on me. It was the first thing that came to mind that could hide the problem beneath it.
Mom joined him. “It’s still summer. It can’t be that cold outside.”
“Oh! It’s not because of the cold,” I explained, taking a seat at the table. I expected this question, so I’d already come up with an excuse. “I just decided to dress a bit differently than usual today, and well, I don’t really have much to go with, other than this.”
My brother merely shrugged and went back to his phone.
Mom gave me an amused smile. “Well, you can only blame yourself for that one, honey.” She hummed for a moment, eyes still focused on her cooking. “Did the idea of fixing your hair get your curiosity going?”
“Uh, yeah. I guess it did. Where’s Dad?”
“Left for work early,” Andrew responded.
Two bad days in a row. I could already imagine his mood later.
“Honestly, Michael, you have no idea of how glad I am to hear that you are willing to try new things,” Mom continued. After preparing our breakfast, she placed the plates on the table and served it. “Say, how about we visit a few clothing stores after your appointment?”
“Huh?”
“Is it that strange?” Mom laughed and took a seat. “We’re going to the mall, anyway. It makes sense to make the best of our trip, don’t you think?”
“I guess it does.”
“Of course it does! Better get it done before the effect of whatever bit you wears off.” She turned on her seat to address my brother. “You’re free to join too, if you want.”
Andrew snorted. “I’m good, thanks.”
Once more, I dug my own grave with her. She could become suspicious of me if I went against it after what I said.
It’s not the worst idea, I suppose.
I do need stuff to hide my chest from now on.
Having added that extra activity to today’s plan, I quickly finished my breakfast and headed out for school.
---<>----------<>----------<>---
Today was our first day of homeroom, and Ryan had already reserved two spots at the back of the classroom by the time I got there. The teacher, a woman in her late twenties or so, was sitting at the desk, reading something on her tablet.
“Hey, dude,” Ryan greeted me, once more, offering a fist bump.
I returned the gesture, doing my best to hide my disappointment at his continued usage of that word and greeting. You reap what you sow, as they say.
“Still feeling cold today?” he asked, noticing the extra layer of clothing.
“I wasn’t cold yesterday, and I’m not today, either.”
Ryan shrugged in response. I knew it was hard to believe, given the evidence.
As soon as the bell rang, the teacher stood up and smiled at us. “Good morning, everyone! My name is Ms. Sterling, and I have the pleasure to be your homeroom teacher this semester. My job here will be to help and guide you through your first time as high school students. My favourite hobby is hiking, and a little fun fact about me is that I have a pet cockatiel that loves to play hide and seek with me.”
Ms. Sterling then grabbed her tablet from her desk and continued. “Now you all know me, but I don’t know any of you, so today, we’ll have the most dreaded ice breaker.”
Hearing the multiple groans in the classroom, the teacher giggled. “Now, now. I know it can be boring, but it’s the best way for me to get to know you all. Similarly to how I did, I want you all to introduce yourselves by name and a nickname, if you have one. Then, I’d like to know your favourite hobby and a fun fact about you. Let’s start from the back, shall we?” She pointed to Ryan.
My friend stood up right away. “Hey! My name is Ryan, and I don’t really have any nicknames. My favourite hobby is to play video games, but a close second would be basketball. A fun fact about me is that I once photobombed a newspaper article by mistake. My Dad legit framed the thing and has it hanging in our study room.”
“A fun moment of fame,” Ms. Sterling commented. “Thank you, Ryan.” She then pointed at me. “Next?”
I sighed as I got up. Better to get it out of the way sooner. “Uh, hi.” I gave a small wave to everyone. Well, the few who were actually paying attention. “I’m Mike-ah... I mean, that’s my… A-anyway. My hobby is uh… I guess video games?” Yeah, quite original. Not that I had anything better to say. “And uhm, I guess a fun fact about me is that I never get sick?”
“An enviable trait,” Ms. Sterling said with a nod. “Thank you, Mike.”
I zoned out for the rest of the introductions. It was not like I’d talk to any of these people unless required for a project.
Speaking of projects, next came Chemistry, and the teacher wasted no time in asking us to form groups of three. Ryan and I would be together, of course, but that meant there was space for an outsider.
Said outsider made herself present almost instantly. The girl was around my height, perhaps slightly taller, with raven black hair and blue eyes. She wore a pair of butterfly framed glasses.
“Hi,” she said with a small wave. “I’m Sable. You’re Mica and Ryan, correct?”
The magic took no time in letting me know how it felt about that name.
That was the second trigger today, and I quickly came to realise two things about the curse.
The first was that stopping Ryan only delayed the inevitable. The second was the insidious nature of this spell.
The more I change, the more it will trigger…
“His name is Mike,” my friend corrected, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But yes, that’s us.”
As the girl came closer, she got a better look at me and covered her mouth with both hands. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay,” I responded.
“It does happen a lot,” Ryan added. “Don’t worry about it. You wanted to join our team, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t really know anyone here, and I noticed you were still missing one person, but uh, I can really look somewhere if you’re uncomfortable with me now.”
“It’s all good,” I said. “I really don’t mind it.”
“Still, I’m really sorry about that.”
“Let bygones be bygones,” Ryan responded. “We’ll be happy to have you, Sable.”
“Thank you so much!”
---<>----------<>----------<>---
“By the way, dude. I was wondering if you’d like to come over to my house after class,” Ryan suggested as we marched towards our table for lunch. “My mom will be making banana bread to celebrate the start of high school for both of us.”
Oh, if you had only brought this up yesterday…
“I’d love to, Ryan, but I have plans already.”
Suddenly, he was looking at me like I grew a second head. “You? You have plans after class.”
“Is it that weird?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“I’m just getting a haircut and maybe buying some clothes or something. I don’t know.”
“Well, colour me impressed,” Ryan said, arms crossed. “To what do we owe this miracle?”
“My mom convinced me to do it. That’s all there is.”
“Fair enough.”
At this point, he knew he wouldn’t be getting anything else, so he changed the topic to be less focused on me. That was something I liked about Ryan. As my friend, I could understand him wanting to bring me out of my shell. However, he could tell that I very much liked this shell, so he would stop pushing before it got bad.
The rest of the day went by relatively quickly, with Sable joining Ryan and me for all the remaining classes, though any attempts at conversation were quickly shut down by the teachers.
When the final bell rang, we walked out of the school to see Mom was already waiting for me in the car.
“Hello, Ryan,” she said, sliding down the window next to the passenger seat. She pressed a button, and the car’s trunk opened for me to place my backpack. “It’s been a while. How was your time at the beach?”
Ryan rested his arms on the frame. “Hi, Mrs. Lindgren. It was great! We got to swim with a group of sea turtles.”
“Oh, that sounds so fun! I do wish we could do something like that soon,” Mom commented, almost longing. “Between Axel’s work and Michael’s lack of enthusiasm, though, it’s not that likely. Andrew is the only one on my side.” She faked a sob.
“Hey, you never know. At least Mike seems to be having a change of heart recently.” Ryan cupped a hand around his mouth and whispered, still loud for me to hear. “Is it true that he’s actually going to get new clothes?”
Mom looked at me and smiled wryly. “We’ll try at least. Speaking of which, I’m sorry, Ryan, I wish we could keep talking, but we have our appointment in thirty.”
My friend saluted and stepped away from the door, opening it for me in the process. This triggered the spell and a frown from me.
“Oh! Sorry, dude,” he said, noticing it. “Force of habit.”
No point in being mad about it now. I sighed and got in the car, pulling the door along so he didn’t get the chance to cause another wave. “It’s fine. Thanks.”
Mom turned the car on, and we both waved at Ryan as we began to move. He did the same.
“It really does bother you, huh,” she commented once we were on the way.
“What does?”
“You know, what we discussed yesterday. How he treats you.”
“No, I uh… Yeah, I guess so.”
She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing otherwise.