The Class Reject: A Damsel in Disguise (Featured Story)

Chapter 8

Miren shook her head. There was NO WAY in hell she shaved her head for nothing. 

Through slightly squinted eyes, she examined herself in the mirror. 

"Is it possible for you to go without glasses?" Chara considered. "You don't wear them much anyway." 

Her friend pursed her lips before shrugging. "I mean, I'm not blind. But I'm farsighted. I use them for studying and tests." Part of her wondered if she would have seen the stupid Splasher if she had been wearing them...

"Wait, I know!" Miren watched her friend disappear from the room. She waited for might as well have been an eternity when Chara presented her with two pairs of black-rimmed, male glasses. Miren sighed, not because the rims were butt ugly or anything, but because life seemed to be getting more absurd by the millisecond. 

"Am I a hipster now?"

"Chris is a hipster," Chara said, handing them to her. When Miren blinked, she noticed that her vision hadn't changed. "He even presses his own teas and likes Sonic the Hedgehog 'ironically'."

"That sounds bad."

"Speak for yourself. His green spice oolong dragon blend is to die for." Miren's lips jerked upward in a slight smile. 

"Good to know."

"Do you have contacts?"

Miren blinked. Did I?  "Actually, I do," she concluded. "But I don't like wearing them. They make my eyes a weird shade of brown and--"

"Bring them out."

Miren sighed before retrieving the contacts from a compartment in her suitcase. She handed the container to her friend. "Happy now?"

She was always happy. "I'll be happier when you put them on."

"Good thing I breathe to please you," Miren replied with a slight huff. She turned to the mirror, straining herself over the table to place the contacts in her eyes. After a few failed attempts—this was precisely why she didn't bother with them—she finally inserted them in. She blinked a few times, wetting her irritated eyes. She put on the glasses again and peered at her reflection. Even with the shaved head, glasses, and new light brown eyes, she still saw Miren. She turned to Chara.

"How do I look now? Please tell me I look like a guy." Secretly she hoping she wouldn't. But that was her girlish pride talking.

Chara's smile intensified. "Yup!" she ensured her friend. "I mean, from the face up, I wouldn't question it. You're not that girly to begin with."

Miren nodded. If she moved her face the right way among strangers, then no one would think anything.

"However..." Chara started, her eyes trailing to Miren's lower form, "You're body still needs some work." She walked toward her sunrise-shaded mattress to retrieve a bag of supplies they bought at the drug store.

Chara scratched her head, coming closer to the girl caught in a cross-dressing transition. She eyed Miren's bust, very evident underneath her tee shirt. "Yeah, I don't know how we're going to do this. I mean, we have sports bras, some gauze tape..." She tapped her chin. "They may work, but to be safe, you'll probably want to stay away from tee-shirts. Only sweater vests and loose button-ups for you."

Miren held her breath. I didn't think this would be so undignifying. She knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk, but she didn't know that there would be this many steps to boyhood. She knew what was at stake, that she couldn't chance anything. But it just seemed extreme. What's next, she makes me wear a hacky-sack in my pants?