Chapter 2: Tom

We took Mums car and headed over to the town centre.

Once there Mum turned to me and regarded me intently then said, "Right let's get that hair taken care of first."

She guided me into a unisex hairdresser and after some negotiation, arranged for a haircut. We sat down to wait for a hairdresser to become free, I picked up one of the computer magazines to read. After a short while Mum leaned over and said into my ear, "Close your legs, dear! Try to sit with them crossed or knees together."

I blinked and looked at the way I was sitting with my legs wide open, slouched down in my seat. Not exactly the most lady-like position. At first I was a bit annoyed at having to change the way I sat, then I realized I would attract attention, which was the last thing I wanted. So I shifted and crossed my legs, something I had never done as a boy, since it was not usually very comfortable. I continued reading my magazine till it was our turn.

I was waved over to a chair where a young woman waited. On seeing me, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a fabulous colour! Where you get it done."

"I didn't," I replied bitterly. "It's natural."

"Ah I see. So what shall I do for her?" she turned to Mum.

"Well, we need the old ends trimmed off, then I think we need it tidied a bit," Mum replied.

"But I'd..." I started but she cut me off.

"I know you'd like it short again, Sweetie but why don't you at least try it long for a bit? Look at it this way. Normally it would take a long time to get hair that length. You get to try it out without having to wait for it to grow. We can always cut it shorter, later," she reasoned.

"OK, I suppose," I wasn't sold completely on the idea, but I could always hack it off with the kitchen scissors later.

After this the hairdresser went to work. I watched as she trimmed away my old hair and cut my purple locks into shape. When she was done, my hair hung in such a way that it framed my face better. It made my eyes stand out more. I wasn't sure I liked it.

We left and headed on to the next stop, the underwear shop. I wanted to escape, but having experienced moving about with my new shape, I knew that a bra was going to be a necessity. Mum set up a fitting with the sales assistant since we didn't know my sizes.
We were whisked off to the changing rooms and I was told to undress. The lady gave me a funny look when she saw I was wearing boxer shorts, but she said nothing.

I soon knew I was a double D cup, a truly colossal size to my mind. Mum had the lady measure my hips while we were at it, so we could get some more appropriate underwear. After some extremely embarrassing bouts of trying things on, we had a bag filled with unmentionables, including some sports bras that Mum insisted I would need for school. I was now also kitted out in girls' underwear. Though it felt very odd, the extra support was welcome.

We proceeded to get some more girl clothes. True to her word, Mum didn't push me too hard, with no pink and very few skirts. All the clothes were obviously for a girl and showed off my new figure to a degree, but they weren't too bad. At the end I had enough clothes for most situations, including school clothes and full gym kit. I guessed Mum must have found out what the school dress code for girls was.

She had me change into one of the outfits, a light blue T-shirt that clung to my new bosom a little too closely for my liking, dark blue jeans that hugged my hips a touch, though they were not especially tight, and a loose black top that zipped up at the front. The change was interesting. With the proper girl clothes I looked even more attractive. They accentuated my curves, making my new body look even more girlish. When Mum first saw me she pulled me into a hug and kissed me, "You're beautiful," she said.

I didn't know what to say as I knew what I looked like, I just didn't like it. Mum, on seeing my forlorn expression and downcast eyes at her words gave me another hug. "Come on we deserve a treat after all that hard work, we'll have a nice cup of coffee," she said.

We wandered to a nearby coffee shop, where we ordered a few cappuccinos and some chocolate cake. When Mum made some comment about me needing to watch my figure as I was getting the cake, I gave her an annoyed glare. It was bad enough that I was lumbered with this girls' body, now I was expected to starve myself to keep it thin? I had a good mind to make myself fat just to exert some sort of control over things.

It was early evening time by now and so there were a fair number of people about. As we sat drinking our coffees and eating our cake, I began to notice a lot of glances in my direction. I realised I was being checked out by nearly every man in the vicinity, and even a few girls. It occurred to me that I was now one of those hot girls that gave people whiplash as they turned to check them out as they walked past. I hated the attention! It was like I could feel the people's eyes roaming over every inch of my new flesh.

When I tried to hide myself by scrunching up, Mum saw what I was doing and asked me, "What are you doing Sweetheart?"

"They keep looking at me," I replied.

"Well you are very attractive, darling, just try and ignore it."

"I don't like it! Why can't they leave me alone?" By this point I was getting close to tears again.

Mum was about to reply when someone came over. It was my worst nightmare. Sally had been out shopping, had seen Mum, and come over. I wasn't ready for this, what would I say? What would she think of me now?

She gave me a glance then turned to Mum. "Hi, Mrs Rivers. I'm a friend of Toms from school. I was just wondering if Tom was alright? He's not been into school for a few days."

I sat my jaw open, a look of pure terror on my face.

"Well he's been down with MORFS for the past few days or so, but he came out of it this morning," Mum said.

"How is he doing?"

"Well ... Why don't you ask him yourself," she said pointing in my direction.

Sally's eyes went wide, "Tom?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied, barely able to speak.

"My goodness you look..." she paused, seemingly unable to put it into words, "Different, incredible." She stood there staring at me, looking up and down me, examining every inch of my new body.

She shook her head as if to clear it. "Are you OK?"

"I've been better," I replied tears in my eyes.

Sally sat down next to me and put her arm around me, "It'll be alright."

"Sally!" a voice called out.

"That's my Mum. I've got to go," she said, giving me one last lingering look. "I'll see you at school. You do look really good." She gave me a smile, then dashed off.

"She seemed nice," Mum observed.

"I wanted to ask her out. But there's no way she'd want me now." I was in such a state of shock that I didn't care that I was telling my Mum things I would have been supremely embarrassed to tell her just a few days ago.

"Oh Sweetheart, don't cry," she said. I hadn't even realised I was. "I know things look bleak now but you'll get back on your feet again."

We sat there, a few people staring at the pretty crying girl I had become. I could see her in one of the mirrors opposite. I hated her! She had ruined everything good in my life.

It was getting reasonably late, so Mum suggested we head back. She helped me up and we headed home.

When we got back I was still crying, and sat down at the dinner table head in hands.

I heard my Dad walk into the kitchen where Mum was. "Is he alright?" I heard him say.

"I don't know. He met one of his friends, and after she was gone went to pieces. It's been a trying day. I'm sure it'll get better with time," Mum answered.

They both came and sat down with me. By now my tears had dried up again.

Mum put her hand over mine then asked, "Feeling better Sweetie?"

"No, I just ran out of tears," I replied.

"Well I got you an appointment tomorrow for the post MORFS centre. So you don't have to go to school for at least another day," Dad said.

"Did you give any thought to a new name?" Mum asked.

"I don't know ... Jennifer is fine, I guess ... it's the sort of name a girl like this would have. She'd probably shorten it to Jen or some other stupid thing." I was crying again.

Pushing back from the table, I ran up to my room I scrunched myself up under my desk, not wanting to be seen, my position caused my new breasts to push into my knees, a constant reminder of my new shape.

Mum came and found me a short while later. She climbed under the desk and held me. After a while she said, "Come on, let's head down and have some dinner. It will make you feel better."

I followed her and ate some food, which did make me feel a bit better. I had an early night I was out pretty quick simply exhausted from the stressful day.

I woke up Thursday hoping it had all been a bad dream. I knew straight away by the purple hair in my eyes and the weight on my chest, that it wasn't so, but I had a few moments when I was not quite awake where I could almost fool myself. It was the high point of my day.

I put on some of my new clothes, bad-temperedly refusing any offers of help to do up the various unfamiliar garments, and stomped down the stairs in an extremely dark mood. I was angry, upset, and weepy, all at the same time. I both wanted to be with my parents for the support and comfort they would give, but also alone, raging at the injustice of this change or crying my eyes out for what I'd lost.

I can't imagine I was much fun to be around. I ate my usual breakfast of cereal, though it didn't seem to fill me up. My long hair was a right pain. It seemed to get in everything. I was constantly getting it in my mouth or in the way of my eyes, I resolved to get it cut short or at least tie it back with something.

After I was done we headed over to the centre for my appointment. Mum took me as Dad had some things to do. I was still pretty exhausted, both physically and emotionally. The wait for our appointment wasn't long. I spent it staring of into space, too drained to do anything else. I barely took in anything at all till we were in the Doctor's office and she was asking me questions directly. The doctor was a pretty blonde lady who insisted I call her Sarah.

"So Tom, you seem to have undergone a fairly radical change." she said. I shrugged. "Have you noticed anything odd?"

"Other than the fact that I'm a girl with big tits and purple hair you mean?" I said, anger flaring briefly, making me feel odd, like something was stirring in me. Then as soon as the feeling came, it went, I started crying silently. Mum put her arm around my shoulder.

"Well let's have a look at you then," Sarah said, ignoring my outburst, still maintaining a cheerful demeanour.

She took blood pressure, weighed me, measured me, had me strip, then poked me in all sorts of embarrassing places. Finally she had me lie under a scanner of some description before she had me dress again.

After that she sat analysing the results. "Well Tom, as far as I can tell you are a normal healthy young woman. The only slight anomaly is a heightened metabolism. You may well find you need more food than normal. It will moderately increase your healing rate and you should have no trouble staying thin," she said.

'Well there goes my plan to get fat. Stupid body!' I thought, a scowl forming on my face. My new body had even ruined my slightly childish ideas for acts of rebellion against my MORFS imposed shape, and what people expected of me because of it.

"Your nails are pretty tough. They seem to be made from nacre, like shells or pearls. You'll need a heavy duty file to trim them. They are pretty sharp, so be careful. That's about all the physical differences. I'll have a colleague who is a telepath, check for any alterations my tests can't spot," she said, picking up a phone.

A short while later a smiling little woman walked in. She was introduced as Anna. She asked me to relax. I felt a strange flutter in my head.

"Hmm," Anna said. "There is something there, but I can't tell what it is. It's possible you are still developing, not unusual for someone in stage 3 of MORFS. You should be careful."

"I've noticed since her change that she's had a lot of mood swings. Is that normal?" Mum asked. I noticed now I was officially a girl, rather than merely possibly one: she had changed pronouns.

"It's not unusual," said Sarah. "She has gone through not only a massive change, but is suddenly in a body coursing with new hormones that she is not used to. It will take a while to find a new equilibrium. It could also be related to her new metabolism. A lack of food can cause mood swings, and she will likely need more calories than she is used to."

"We offer counselling to people who have undergone such alterations to help them adjust to their new life, and for those like Tom, we offer help in fitting in with their new gender," Anna said. She turned to me, "I know you are very confused and scared right now Tom, but we can help you find your way. A first good step is picking a new name."

"Jennifer," I said.

"Are you sure, Sweetie? It doesn't have to be the one we suggested," said Mum. I just nodded, not wanting to speak anymore. I just wanted it to be over so I could hide away.

"OK, I'll get the paper work," said Sarah.

A short while later I was in the system as Jennifer Rivers, female. I had the full compliment of ID, and the school had been updated with my new status. I was now officially a girl. We went back home, I went up to my room and sat staring at myself in the mirror. I took all the old pictures I had of me, took one last look and threw them in the bin. It would only hurt me to look at them. I hated what had happened to me.

A short while later there was a knock on the door and Mum walked in. "Sweetheart why don't we sort out your old clothes?" she suggested.

I grumbled by way of a reply. It was silly, really. Most of my old clothes were useless to me now, but I still felt like I wanted to cling to them. I helped sort through my clothes for what I could keep and what was of no use to me anymore. As we were doing this, Mum saw all the photos in the bin.

"Why have you thrown all your photos out?" she asked, picking them up.

"It's not me anymore, I don't want to be reminded of what I've lost! The pictures will only hurt me," I snapped back.

"You shouldn't throw these away, Sweetie. I know it feels bad now, but maybe you won't feel that way later."

"You're right," I said, which caused her to brighten briefly. "I shouldn't throw them away, I should burn them instead. Give them here!"

I held my hand out for her to give me the photos, but she just looked at me with a slightly hurt and worried expression for a while, then said, "No, I know you don't mean that, these were good times you will want to remember. I'm not going to let you destroy the good memories, just because of how you feel now. You will regret it later. I'm going to take these and put them away. Maybe I'll give them back when you aren't so emotional and have calmed down a bit."