"Hey!" They heard a tough sounding woman's voice echo down the hall. Paula and Emily turned back, surprised to see the regular resource officer walking down the hallway. They turned to see a skinny black woman marching towards them. Emily cursed under her breath, as she was hoping that her father's transformation had replaced officer Elizabeth.
"Mendez, where are you going with that problem child?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips with a scowl staring into Paula's soul.
"W-well... you know...." Paula began, trying to come up with an excuse. Emily quickly jumped in, trying to come to her aid.
"Mr. Mendez was just taking me to the office..." Emily began before realizing she probably should play her new personality up to avoid suspicion. "... but it's like, total bullshit." She continued more monotone.
"Uh huh...." The woman replied with an eyebrow raised.
"Shit, screw this!" Paula moaned, and before Emily knew it she felt Paula's hand slide from out of her bag. As Paula aimed the camera at a confused and very annoyed looking resource officer, Emily tried to stop her but it was too late. A flash erupted and the picture popped out, and Emily caught it before it hit the ground.
The picture no longer showed an officer, but rather a student younger than Emily. She was still black, but beyond that was very different. She was much shorter, and instead of a skinny, yet muscular physique she was now shorter than Emily and although she wasn't fat, she was certainly larger.
Her neat, short haircut was now a mass of curly, unbrushed hair in an afro and her uniform was replaced with a dorky hall monitor sash around her now nerdier clothing. She blinked a few times, as if trying to regain her vision after the camera's flash, and then regained focus by adjusting her glasses with a gasp.
"Oh hello Mr. Mendez sir!" She gasped, while clearly avoiding eye contact with "him" as she blushed. "I-I didn't see you there. Not that I wasn't doing my job sir! I was- I, I just um..." She stammered, causing Paula to laugh.
"Hey it's ok... Lizzie, nothing to worry about. I'll just be one my way with Emily here, she's with me right now." Paula explained with a smirk, clearly trying not to laugh.
"Oh yes sir." She meekly responded, obviously wanting to protest but not being brave enough to do so.
Emily couldn't believe what Paula had done. This new person her father had become was clearly more devious than he ever was. As soon as the two got out of earshot of "Lizzie" Emily pulled her aside.
"What was that?" She whispered angrily.
"Hey, I got us out of that situation, so you're welcome." Paula retorted.
"Yeah, but you changed that woman! I don't fully get how this thing works yet, so I can't just turn her back! If I can even try to turn her back it'll probably take time!" Emily explained.
"Calm down will you?" Paula sighed like a typical teen girl, which was odd coming from an attractive Latino man. "Seriously, I'm sure Lizzie will love to grow up again. She's so much cuter now anyway! You gotta agree with that Em!"
"No I d- wait, how did you know she goes by Lizzie in this form?" Emily asked.
Paula paused, having a confused look appear on her face. "Huh, I'm not sure, it was instinct I think? Man, Em this thing really does mess with your head too huh?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Emily huffed. "It does things to your mind. Like, for an easier to digest example, I'm not usually a goth!"
"What? No way." Paula gasped. "But, like, I remember your whole goth phase starting six months ago! I remember our argument with it and buying some of the makeup and stuff. Shit, this thing is scary. I mean, I'm a freaking guy!"
Paula started to reach for her new equipment which Emily suddenly interrupted.
"Stop! Stop, okay, please stop. Let's just focus on getting out fo school so we can work all of this out okay?" Emily asked.
"Okay sure." Paula agreed.
The rest of the walk out was no problem. Apparently after reality altered again, "Mendez" had become the actual head resource officer, so no one questioned the pair's motives. After getting outside, the two snuck off down the block and started heading in the direction of Emily's house.
"So, what's the plan exactly?" Paula asked Emily.
"Look, I don't know." She sighed. "We can discuss it there."
"But, won't your parents ask why you're with the resource officer?" She asked tugging on her badge.
"Well, Not exactly. Maybe whoever my father is now will, but not my so called mother." She started to explain. "See, the person who is my mother right now was transformed into that, and was previously my boyfriend."
Paula stared for a moment, before a grin appeared on her face and she started to snicker.
"Hey! It's not funny!" Emily turned around quickly to yell at the trailing Paula. In doing so, her massive amounts of jewelry nearly threw off her balance, but she tried to play it cool anyway.
"Oh come on Em, you with a boy is funny enough, but I couldn't imagine seeing some dude turn into an old lady. That must've been priceless!" She laughed.
"Boys... what do you..." Emily began before she silenced herself. "Oh boy, I'm a lesbian now?!" She thought panicked. She quickly did a run through of attractive celebrities in her mind, and suddenly found every woman looking far more appealing than usual. "I guess it didn't JUST make me goth." She sighed to herself.
"Oh hey, we're here." Paula pointed, wiping a tear from her eye. "So, who's home?"
"Hold on, I'll check quick." Emily replied, pulling up "mom" in her favorites.
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E: Hey, where r u?
M: At mall wit Asian lady. She wont shut up! Did u get thing?
E: Y.
M: Good. All good?
E: Ill explain l8r, please get to my place ASAP. Where is your new husband?
M: He called me b4. Had to be all lovey. Hes @ work, u good!
E: Thx.
________________________________________________________________________________________
"Okay, so we should be good to hide inside for now..." Emily said, leading the way as they walked to the front door. "So the question is, what do we try to do now?"
"Well, I'd say that's obvious!" Paula yelled as she walked in behind Emily, shutting the door. "I am so sick of this thingie between my legs, so let's just figure out how to make me myself again ok?"
Emily froze. What the hell was she going to do? Should she try to just fix her father's awareness or was that too risky? Maybe it'd be better to just play it cool and experiment with the camera? Or, maybe they should just stall for time so Rick could come back and back her up if Paula freaked? What would she do?