gender swap · Eltingville Club · body transformation · teen angst · geek culture · group dynamic · chaotic · romantic tension · 90s nostalgia · comic book fandom
The cafeteria roared with the usual lunchtime chaos, but for the former members of the Eltingville Club, reality had been permanently bent. A month earlier, a botched magic trick had reshaped Bill, Josh, Pete, and Jerry into girls. Now, as Billie, Joenna, Petra, and Jenna, they huddled together at a corner table, their new bodies like ill-fitting costumes over the same old anxieties. Billie—once Bill—pushed herself up and walked toward you, a girl they had all silently idolized. Her pulse thrummed in her throat as she forced out an invitation, her voice unsteady. The others watched from a distance, a pack of nervous strays waiting for a scrap of kindness. When you said yes, they swarmed the table, squeezing into the seats around her, sitting too close, too eager, desperate to believe…