Chapter 1 - Just a Phase

Thursday, December 19

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer jingled over the car radio as Lily gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white as snow. She bit her lip, a nervous habit she’d picked up when—well—when she became Lily.

“Stop worrying, Lil,” said Sabrina, Lily’s passenger and girlfriend, for the umpteenth time. Her voice was calm, much unlike Lily herself. “They’re your family. They love you.”

“They loved Leon,” Lily countered. Her former name rolled awkwardly off her tongue. “Leon was their son, a star football player who went away to college on an engineering scholarship. I’m not that person anymore.”

“Well, you still have your engineering scholarship,” Sabrina pointed out. “Unless you changed majors and didn't tell me?”

“No. But that’s not the point. I’m not Leon. At least not in the ways that mattered.”

“You’re wrong,” Sabrina objected, reaching her arm across the center console and giving Lily a squeeze on her thigh. “You’re still Leon in all the ways that actually matter. You still have Leon’s personality, his memories, his terrible taste in Christmas music, and his disturbing fondness for fruitcake. This change is only cosmetic.”

“Yeah, a cosmetic change that involves a completely different body, a whole new identity, and the inability to pee standing up,” Lily muttered, nervously drumming on the steering wheel. “And what about the ‘magic’ part? What if they ask how it happened? ‘Oh, I pissed off the queen of the fae by trespassing in the campus woods and woke up in a girl’s body! Oh, and the best part—I liked it, and realized I was trans! Surprise, Mom and Dad! It’s a girl!’”

Sabrina chuckled. “Maybe we’ll start with ‘hormonal imbalance’ and see where that gets us? Or just ‘college did it.’ Conservatives do keep saying that colleges indoctrinate the youth and turn them trans.”

“I’m not sure my family will find that nearly as amusing as you do, Brie.”

“Are they conservative?”

“No. But they live in their own little bubble. They don’t know any queer people.”

“Well,” Sabrina said, biting the knuckle on her index finger as she failed to stifle a snicker, “they do now.”

“That’s not funny.”

Sabrina dissolved into giggles. “C’mon Lil, you have to admit that it’s at least a little bit funny. Besides, you’re hardly the first person to come out to their parents as transgender. It’s gonna be okay. Take some deep breaths. And keep your eyes on the road.”

“Can’t we go to your parents instead?”

“Nah—they don’t celebrate Christmas. They celebrate Yule instead. Plus they’re still pissed that I ran off to college and shacked up with my hot girlfriend instead of joining the coven.”

Lily’s hands tensed up on the steering wheel again.

“Don’t worry. Your family is gonna love you!”

* * *

“They hate me!” Lily cried, collapsing onto her bed and stuffing her head into her pillow. 

Sabrina sat beside Lily, and began rubbing slow circles around her girlfriend’s back. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll come around.”

“When?” She gave her girlfriend a pleading look. “They hate me. My parents didn’t believe me and threatened to call the cops. My brother thinks I’m weak and my sister stormed off to her room! Did you see the look on her face? This was a mistake. I should have stayed at college.”

“They’re scared, and they’re reacting badly. They’ll come around.”

Lily stuffed her face back into her pillow. “Christmas is ruined,” her muffled voice cried, as she thumped her fists futilely against the mattress in frustration. “I wish they could understand what I went through.”

A mischievous grin crept across Sabrina's face. “Oh, I have a feeling they’ll come around. They just need to learn to see things from your perspective. You look exhausted, Lil. Why don’t you close your eyes and take a nap?”

“Mmf,” answered a reluctant and muffled voice from the pillow, but after a few more minutes of soothing back rubbing her breathing had slowed to a steady rhythm.

Sabrina got off the bed and rummaged through the bag she had dropped at the foot of the bed. She had what she needed. Hopefully it would be enough, she thought.

* * *

Lily sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath as she woke to the sound of screaming coming from downstairs.

Sabrina was still sitting next to her on the bed, a guilty look on her face as she tried to subtly sweep a small pile of smoldering jasmine petals and sandalwood bark off the bedsheets and onto the floor. “Well, that was quick.”

Lily stared at her girlfriend, wide-eyed. “What. Did. You. Do?” 

“Umm… I may have cast a temporary… gender-swapping spell,” Sabrina confessed, tucking a lock of her red curls behind her hair and grinning sheepishly. “A teeny-tiny one,” she added, pinching her thumb and forefinger together. “Or at least I think I did. It was supposed to happen while everyone slept. But hey, no time like the present… right?”

Lily shot off the bed and rushed out of her bedroom to check on the commotion downstairs, as Sabrina tagged along behind her.

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Lily saw her family exactly as she left them before she ran upstairs crying. Except they were gaping at each other, their faces ashen. 

Kevin and Jennifer, Lily’s parents, were standing in the living room staring at each other, while her siblings Sophia and Ethan were sitting on the couch doing the same.

She turned to Sabrina. “I thought you gender-swapped them? They look the same to me.”

“I swear I got the spell right. Permuta sexum corpora,” Sabrina said. She paused, her brows furrowing. “Or was it corporis? I can never keep those two straigh—”

“Mom, Dad?” Lily asked. “Is everything alright?”

“No, everything is absolutely not alright, ‘Lily’!” A high-pitched and frantic voice came out of Dad. The same type of accusatory tone that usually came from Mom.

“Look at me! I’m Sophia!” wailed Sophia, pinching her shirt and tenting it outwards. “I’m my sister! I have boobs!”

“And I’m in his disgusting, smelly body!” shouted Ethan, pointing his finger at Sophia before lowering it in confusion. “This is going to ruin my life!”

Lily was unsure whether or not to play naive. “Wait. You guys… you swapped?” Lily glanced at Sabrina then back to her family.

“Yes, we swapped!” screeched Sophia, who was apparently in Ethan’s body. “Weren’t you listening?”

Lily glanced at Sabrina and whispered. “Maybe you should fix this?”

“Look, I wouldn’t try to undo it right now,” Sabrina said, pulling Lily aside. “Spells are tricky enough when they work. Trying to reverse a botched spell on four separate people could do anything. Wipe their memories, swap them permanently, or merge them into some weird four-headed creature. Like Cerberus, but less cuddly. It’s safer to let it run its course.”

Lily stared at her. “Should I tell them?” Then back at her parents, who were now arguing what they should do. Dad’s finger was pointed angrily at Lily.

“It’s your call, Lil.”

“They’re going to blame us and kick us out if we don’t calm them down,” Lily deduced. “Everyone!” she said, trying to get their attention. Her voice used to be loud enough to get the attention of an entire football team. Now softer and more musical, it definitely did not cut through the arguing of her family. “Everyone, listen!”

Still no reaction from the arguing family.

Sabrina noticed Lily’s frustration, putting a couple of fingers to her lips and whistling loudly. “Yo! Pay attention people!”

The room fell silent and everyone turned to look at the pair of girls.

“Umm… hi,” Lily began, giving the room a timid wave. “This must be very confusing for everyone, and I’m sorry,” she began. “You see—this is our fault. My girlfriend is a witch. And while she has the best of intentio—”

“Your girlfriend is Sabrina the Teenage Witch?” asked Dad-in-Mom’s body. “Isn’t that a bit cliché?”

“Her mom was a huge fan of the show,” sighed Lily. “She’s a bit sensitive about it.”

“Bring it up again and I’ll turn you into a frog,” Sabrina winked, waggling her fingers at Dad-in-Mom.

“Right,” said Lily, turning back to her family. “As I was saying, while Brie has the very best of intentions—”

“The very best.” Sabrina beamed, flashing the room with a thousand-watt smile.

“She sometimes gets…” Lily trailed off, waving her hand vaguely in Sabrina’s direction.

“A little bit carried away,” added Sabrina helpfully.

“So you did this?” Mom-in-Dad’s body finally spoke. “Change us back!”

“Long story short—I can’t,” Sabrina explained. “But don’t worry, this is only temporary.”

The facial expression of Mom-in-Dad’s body changed to a mix of anger and desperate pleading. “Temporary? How long is this temporary?”

Sabrina winced. “Well, I’d intended for the spell to only last a single Earth rotation. It wasn’t a super powerful spell, just enough to give everyone a little nudge. But since it went a wee bit sideways, and the transformation got a bit swippy-swappy… it could still be a day. Maybe two. A week, possibly. A month, tops.”

“A month!” the family echoed in unison.

“But Christmas is next week!” Mom-in-Dad’s body said.

“I can’t go to school like this!” Sophia-in-Ethan’s body and Ethan-in-Sophia’s body whined in unison.

“What about work?” Dad-in-Mom asked. “I have meetings! And end of the year invoices to run!”

Lily looked back at Sabrina again with a pleading glance. Her parents were normally more calm and in control. They’d been the opposite since she showed up on their doorstep.

“OK, everyone,” Mom-in-Dad snapped. “Family meeting. Dining room. Now.”

The family stopped their arguing and everyone, Lily and Sabrina included, filed into the dining room and took a seat at the table as Mom-in-Dad disappeared into her office.

She reappeared a few moments later with a stack of note cards, some safety pins and a Sharpie, and set them in a pile on the table. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ve made a stack of name tags for everyone. We’re going to go around the table, and everyone will pin their name tag on and introduce themselves. Is that okay with everyone?”

An indistinct chorus of yeses were accompanied by everyone nodding their heads in slow, confused agreement.

“Great. I’ll go first,” she said, grabbing a note card that read “Mom/Jennifer” and pinning it on herself. “Hi,” Mom-in-Dad announced, “I’m Mom.”

“I’m confused,” Ethan-in-Sophia said to Mom-in-Dad. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to call you Dad instead? Or Kevin?”

“Hi, Confused,” said Dad-in-Mom, pinning the “Dad/Kevin” note card on himself. “I’m Dad.”

“Daaaaaaaad,” wailed Sophia-in-Ethan and Ethan-in-Sophia.

“It seems the Dad jokes got swapped too,” said Mom, rolling her eyes. “And no, you absolutely cannot call me Kevin.”

“I’ll go next,” volunteered Sabrina, reaching for her card and the Sharpie. “Hi chat, I’m Sabrina.” she said, replacing the dot over the ‘i’ with a tiny heart. She then glanced up and gave Dad a decidedly pointed look, adding “(not a teenage witch)” in tiny letters below her name.

“Ooo, can I have that next?” asked Ethan-in-Sophia, reaching for his card. Sabrina handed the Sharpie over and he scribbled “(the smart one)” under his name.

“Hey no fair, gimme that!” said Sophia-in-Ethan, snatching it out of his hand and writing “(the cute (and smarter) one)” on hers.

"I’d have gone ‘ruggedly handsome’," smirked Ethan.

“Stop fighting, you two,” warned Mom, taking the Sharpie away from Sophia. “I’m revoking both of your Sharpie privileges. You're up next, Leon.”

Lily looked down at her note card, which read “Leon / ‘Lily’.” She huffed, tearing the note card down the middle and dropping the half that read “Leon” onto the table. “I’m Lily now. Just Lily. I’m trans.”

“Sorry, honey,” Mom said, straightening out her Mom/Jennifer note card. “It’s going to take us a bit to get used to your new…” She paused, scanning Lily up and down, “...name.”

Lily wanted to protest, but Sabrina put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

“So,” Mom continued, setting down the Sharpie and looking around the dining room table. “We have established who is who for the immediate future.”

Dad crossed his arms. “And ‘Lily,’ we’ve established that your girlfriend caused this.” He waved his hands around the table. “...and that we have no idea how long it will last.” He then glared at Sabrina.

“Hey, I was trying to help!” Sabrina protested. “You were treating your daughter like shit. I had to do something.”

Dad glanced at Sophia with a sheepish look on his face, and then with a start looked over at Lily guiltily.

There was more arguing around the table. 

Finally Mom shouted. “Silence!”

The cacophony quieted into a gentle murmur.

“Since they have no idea when we’re going to go back to our real bodies, we need to focus on tomorrow. Friday,” Mom said, bringing the focus back to the present. “The kids have school. I have classes to teach, and Dad has a full day of meetings.”

“Don’t make me go to school like this!” Ethan whined.

“You have to go to school,” Mom said.

Lily watched the chaos unfold, feeling a small, guilty sense of vindication. This was the kind of helpless panic she had been living with for months after she was first transformed. The confusion. The helplessness. The desperate clinging to a former identity.

“But what if someone notices?” Sophia asked, a tremor in her masculine voice. “We can’t trick our friends. Can we?”

“There’s no way you can be me for a day,” Ethan stated. 

“I’m pretty sure I could scratch my b… butt and say ‘bro’ all day,” Sophia retorted.

“Kids,” Mom said, a dangerous note in her voice as she attempted to regain order.

“Couldn’t you just call us both in sick for school tomorrow?” Ethan pleaded.

“That might work for tomorrow, but what if this lasts for a month?” Mom asked.

“I have to go in tomorrow,” Dad said. “I have things that need to be finished before Christmas.”

“Listen,” Lily spoke up. “When I… transformed. I didn’t have the luxury of just taking the day off. I was in college. I had classes to go to. You deal.”

Everyone looked at Lily.

“Oh, so you losing a half-foot and sixty pounds wasn't the result of HRT like you told us?” Mom smirked.

“No,” Lily admitted. “It was magic.”

“Then your girlfriend can change you back,” Dad added.

“No!” Lily replied, her voice a bit shrill. “She wasn’t the one who changed me.”

“I couldn’t reverse it even if I wanted to,” Sabrina admitted.

“Besides,” Lily continued. “I don’t want to change back. I’m trans. I’m a woman. I’m in the body I want to be in. I just didn’t know it at first.”

“Well, we’re not trans!” Sophia yelled at Lily.

“And you,” Ethan said, rounding on Sabrina. “Are you going to apologize for what you’ve done?”

“Maybe I will once I feel sorry.” Sabrina smirked. “Which I don’t.”

“You bitch!” Sophia seethed.

“Kids!” Mom yelled.

“OK,” Dad said, standing up and awkwardly failing to project male confidence through his wife’s body. “Everyone is going to school. And work. We’ll just have to deal, like… like Lily said.”

“Fine, whatever. So we go to school tomorrow. Now what?” Ethan asked.

“Now we go to bed.” Mom said. “We all have an early morning.”

“And I imagine we’ll all need additional time to get ready.” Dad added.

“Whose bed do I sleep in?” Sophia asked.

“Just…” Mom said, rubbing her temples. “...sleep in your own beds for now. We are not complicating things further.”

As the family got up from the table Mom glowered at Lily and Sabrina. “And you two. No more magic.” 

* * *

Ethan stomped into his room, slamming the door shut with an unnecessary amount of force, although the thud it made wasn’t nearly as satisfying as usual. He looked down at his body—his sister’s body. Long ash-blonde hair cascaded over his shoulders, curling at the tips and ending just past a pair of breasts. So feminine. And it smelled like her noxious shampoo. 

Tonight hadn’t been what he had expected. He was busy playing video games when two girls—one claiming to be his older brother Leon—came into their home.

No way is Leon trans, Ethan thought. Leon was Ethan’s hero. Leon was varsity football. Leon taught Ethan how to throw a perfect spiral. Leon was a man’s man. He was popular in school. Popular with the ladies. That girl —Lily—was not his Leon.

Then after the girls ran to Leon’s room, he suddenly found himself stuck inside his sister's body. For who knows how long. And his parents' only solution? “Go to bed.”

“How am I supposed to sleep like this?” he mumbled to himself.

He was currently wearing a pink fitted T-shirt and cut-up flared jeans. He didn’t even want to think about undressing.

Pulling back the sheets of his bed, he crawled under the covers.

The clothes—especially the jeans—felt stifling, chafing in places he quickly banished from his mind.

With a grunt, he pulled back the cover and got out of bed.

Quickly shucking off his shirt and jeans, he tossed them onto the floor with a grunt of frustration and returned into the bed.

Next he noticed the bra was digging into his chest.

He grunted again, getting out of bed and huffing in frustration. Reaching around, he tried to remove the bra but no matter what he did he couldn’t get the clasps to unhook. He needed help. It was bad enough that he was dressed only in her underwear. He needed something to wear so he didn’t have to see his sister’s breasts. He needed clothes. Which meant he had to go to her room.

He angrily stomped down the hall to his sister's room and opened the door. Thankfully Sophia in his body was still fully dressed.

“What the hell?” Sophia cried. She then noticed what Ethan was wearing. “Dude, where are my clothes?”

“I need pajamas. And I need this bra off! It hurts.”

Sophia couldn't help but laugh.”I take it you’ve never taken a bra off a girl before?”

Ethan turned red. “I— it’s different.”

“It’s OK if you haven’t. You’re only sixteen. Now turn around.”

Ethan spun around as Sophia unclasped the strap. “Wait—what’s that supposed to mean? You’re only a year older than me!”

“Nothing. Now close your eyes.”

“Wait up— Have… have you let a boy take off your—”

“No!”

“A girl?”

“Ethan!” Sophia exclaimed, turning red. “We are not talking about this.”

There was a brief silence before Ethan finally spoke. “I guess there’s a double standard, huh?”

“Yup, welcome to girlhood. Now close your eyes!”

“Like I’d want to see my sister’s tits.”

“I said close your eyes, you perv!”

“They’re closed! Ugh!” As Sophia pulled the bra away from his chest, Ethan felt an immense sense of relief flood his body. “Wow, I didn’t realize bras were so uncomfortable. You really wear these things all day long?”

“Yes. Now hold your arms up,” Sophia commanded, opening her dresser drawer. “And no peeking!” She rummaged around and pulled out her cutest pair of pajamas—a satin two-piece set in pastel pink and covered in cartoon bunnies. Turning back to Ethan, she tugged the top over his outstretched arms and down his body. “Okay, you can open your eyes now,” she said, handing Ethan the matching bottoms.

“Really?” he asked. “These were the only option?”

“Sorry,” she apologized, trying to sound as contrite as possible. “It was my only clean pair.”

“Uh huh,” he replied, looking at her suspiciously before heading out the door and back to his bedroom.

“You’re welcome,” Sophia called from behind.

“Yeah, yeah. Love you too!” he called back, over his shoulder.

Ethan returned to his room, slipped the pajama bottoms on and crawled into bed.

Just as he pulled the covers over his head, there was a slight knock at the door.

“What do you want, Soph?” he asked.

The door opened a crack and Lily poked her head in. “Ethan? You okay in there?”

“Go away… Lily,” he snapped, venom dripping from his voice.

She paused at her brother's vitriol. “I was just checking to see if you needed help.”

“Help?! You and that witch helped plenty enough already.”

Lily sighed. “I have experience—”

“In what? You got to change into a girl version of you. I swapped bodies with my sister. My sister! This is infinitely worse.” He rolled over, turning away from the door. “Now go away.”

Lily stood in silence for a few moments, and then quietly closed the door behind her.

* * *

Sophia sat there for minutes after Ethan came barging into her bedroom. She’d been sitting there for minutes before that too.

This was her brother’s body. Gross. She lifted her armpit and wrinkled her nose in disgust as she got a whiff of his body odor. “Doesn’t he shower?” she asked herself, doubting whether even a shower would wash off the boy's filth.

As she eyed her bed, a deep sense of fatigue settled over her body. Despite wanting nothing more than to crawl in bed and go to bed, the thought of her brother’s stench forever contaminating her bedsheets made her pause.

Groaning with resignation, she stood up and walked over to her dresser to find a pair of bikini bottoms. If she had to do this, there was no way she was going to do it naked. Rummaging around, she found what she usually wore to the beach with her family. They were her fullest coverage pair, high-waisted, with pink flowers set against a field of red.

Just as she pulled them from her drawer, she heard a gentle knock at her door.

“What do you want, Ethan?” she asked, a smile returning to her face. “You need me to check for monsters under your bed too?”

Her door cracked open an inch. “Hey, Soph? It’s me, Lily. I was wondering if we could talk.”

The smile immediately fell from Sophia’s face. “Go away. I’m pissed off at you right now.”

Guilt flashed across Lily’s face as she let out a quiet sigh. “Listen, I’m really sorry about this whole body swap situation. I didn’t think it would—”

“The body swap?” Sophia interrupted, anger creeping into her voice “You think that’s why I’m upset? I mean sure, spending time living in my brother’s body wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, but that’s not why I’m angry at you.”

“Is it because I’m trans? Because—”

“How long?” Sophia asked.

“How long… what?”

“How long have you been like this? A girl? How long have you been ‘Lily’?”

“Oh, umm…” said Lily, cracking the door open another couple inches. “A bit over half a year now? But it took me a while afterwards to learn that I wanted to be Lily, that I had always been trans but simply hadn’t recognized the signs.”

Sophia crossed her arms, her lips tight. “Well there you go, that’s why I’m pissed.”

“Huh?” said Lily, looking confused. “I don’t understand.”

“You don’t understand? You’re saying I had a sister—a big sister—for months, and you didn’t call. You didn’t email. You didn’t text. Do you know how much that hurts?”

Lily stood there motionless except for a slight shake of her head.

“I could have really used your advice when I started having feelings for— you know what? I don’t want to talk about this right now. Can you… can you please go away?”

“Sure, of course. Whatever you need. And Sophia? I’m sorry. I love you… sis.” Lily shut the door quietly behind her.

Sophia stood alone, her hands clenching and unclenching the bikini bottom, a pressure behind her eyes, a pain burning inside her chest. But the tears would not come.

After a few minutes, she gave one long shuddering sigh and decided to make her way to the bathroom.

On the way there was a hope chest where Mom always kept a laundry basket of clean clothes waiting to be folded. She dug through it, and pulled out a pair of Ethan’s boxers.

After turning on the shower to warm it up, she quickly peeled off the T-shirt and jeans she was wearing. Looking down at the boxer shorts disgusted her, and she stood paralyzed for a couple minutes.

Eventually, she dropped the boxers, echoing “ew ew ew ew” and continuing that mantra while replacing them with the bikini bottoms. She didn’t care that there was a bulge. She just didn’t want to see it.

She stepped into the hot shower and quickly lathered herself with her own body wash, desperately hoping it would overpower Ethan’s boy smell.

A shiver of disgust ran through her as she applied soap to Ethan’s hairy—yet muscular—chest. She put those thoughts out of her mind. She certainly didn’t want to think about her brother like that.

Out of nervous habit, she ran her hands over her head, but instead of encountering her beloved and meticulously maintained locks that had taken her years to grow out, there was nothing to be found but a closely cropped buzz cut.

When she was done, she rinsed off, toweled herself down, and headed back to her bedroom. She exchanged the bikini bottoms for the fresh boxers without looking down, and then crawled into bed.

At least she smelled mildly better.

* * *

“Well,” grunted Kevin, looking up at Jennifer. “This sure is awkward.”

“I certainly never thought I’d find myself in this position,” she acknowledged. “But trying this will be good for you.”

“Can’t we just go to bed? Do it in the morning instead?”

“No,” she said, curling her fingers. “It has to be tonight—who knows what you’ll look like tomorrow if we don’t. C’mon dear, I’ve done this countless times before, and you’ve never heard me complain about it.”

“That may be true,” he admitted, gulping nervously, “But I’ve never handled one before.”

“Well, it’s high time you learned,” she said, thrusting it at him.

“Fine,” he said, taking the makeup removal wipe from her hand.

“All you have to do is wipe it around on your face until you don’t see any more makeup rubbing off on it. Trust me, acne is not particularly becoming on a 48-year-old woman.”

Kevin rubbed the wipe all over his face, folding it over several times until satisfied that all the remaining traces were gone. He glanced at his wife through the mirror. She was tilting her head from side to side, admiring his former short salt and pepper hair. “How’s this look?”

Jennifer gave his face a careful inspection, before nodding her approval. “Looks good to me.”

Despite some brief confusion about whose toothbrushes they should use, they were able to get ready for bed without much issue as their bedtime routine had been the same for decades. Jennifer knew Kevin slept in only boxer shorts. Kevin knew what drawer Jennifer’s nightgowns were kept.

Each got ready in silence and climbed into their king size bed without a word.

As had been the norm for the past ten years.

This time neither could sleep, as they laid in bed and stared at the ceiling fan spinning lazily overhead.

“Do you really believe that she’s Leon? Our son?” Jennifer asked her husband. “Or do you think this is some elaborate prank?”

“That’s Leon, alright. Did you see her? When she walked through the door earlier, I almost thought I was seeing a ghost. God, Jen, she looks so much like you when we met in college.”

Jennifer sat there silently for a few moments, before letting out a long sigh. “I noticed that too. Leon was always blonde, but wow. And all grown out like that? He— she even has it styled the way I used to.”

“You think you’d know your own son.” Kevin mused. “He never showed signs of wanting to be a girl. And when he said last week he was bringing home a girl, I didn’t expect a lesbian—or a witch.”

“Me either,” Jennifer replied, as they settled into another moment of awkward silence.

“Do you think everything is going to be okay?” Jennifer asked.

“I’m sure we’ll adjust eventually, but I’m worried about how Ethan and Sophia are taking it.”

“I meant about us,” Jennifer replied. “About tomorrow.”

“Oh right.” he said. “How do you want tomorrow to go?”

“We both have to go to work,” Jennifer said. “I have a lesson plan. It’s at school.”

“I have an itinerary on my computer at work. You’re going to need my computer passwords. But thankfully tomorrow is Friday. It’s mostly meetings so you shouldn’t have to do much.”

“We can pull this off right?”

“Yeah. How hard can it be?”