He touched the necklace to the panties and made sure they also touched his hand in the process. What felt like a spark of static electricity zipped through his hands and up his arms, and he dropped the amulet and the underwear onto the table. Unsure what would happen, Mark sat there, waiting, as Edgar reached out, carefully removed the piece of jewellery, reached for the other undergarment and touched the two together.
Each sat at the table, neither wanting to look away from the other, waiting to see the first hints of the transformation. Like his flatmate, Edgar had also experienced a shock of static electricity that had gone up his arms, but after a bit, nothing else. Disappointed, he huffed, "Maybe we did something wrong," as a look of doubt crossed Mark's face and picking up the Amulet of Zulo and the cotton bikini briefs, he touched the two together, touched them to exposed lower arms, thought about touched them to his face, wondered if it would only work if he was wearing them, then dropped them back on the table, confused as to why it didn't work.
"I guess, if something was to happen, it would have by now?" Mark asked, to which Edgar numbly nodded.
Suddenly wanting to comfort the other boy, Mark resisted the urge to get up and hug his flatmate. Settling for reaching and gently clasping Edgar's hand, he said, "It was a good idea, even if had its flaws and didn't work," and indicating the application he'd pushed away, he sighed, "Suppose I should go back to filling these out."
A slight nod from his friend, who scooped up the underwear and stuffed them back in the bag. Pocketing the necklace, he nodded a second time and said, "Yeah," then made a huffing noise, stood and said, "Guess I might as well get ready for work," and trudging toward the back bedrooms of the apartment, he left Mark, who had started to work on a different application as he had decided that he wasn't going to go to any school Declan and his buds attended.
In his room, Edgar huffed in agitation again as he closed the door and tossed the bag of clothes on his bed. Certain he had done everything right, he took the Amulet of Zulo from his pocket and stared at it. Wondering what had gone wrong and why it hadn't worked, he toyed with the idea that what he had wasn't what he thought it was, or that what he had read was bupkis. Moving across his room, he dropped the amulet on his dresser, sighed and began to get dressed for work. Changing into a pair of tan slacks, he pulled on the polo shirt the department store, not one he bought the girl's clothes from, he worked at demanded the employees wear. Hating the uniform, he wondered if maybe he should do what Mark was doing and look into going to college.
Outside his bedroom, he headed for the bathroom and after he had made sure he look presentable, he gazed at his reflection. Searching for any hint of femininity in his face, he ran a hand through his short black hair and turned away. Muttering, "Get over it. It didn't work," he exited the bathroom, told Mark, "See you later," he collected his car keys and headed back out.
Half an hour later, dinner in hand, he strolled through the front door of the department store he worked at. His mind on other things, he missed it as when he passed the customer service desk the woman behind the counter said, "Evening Roni."
Absently, he waved at a couple people as he headed toward the back of the store and after he had stored his dinner in the fridge, made sure his name was on it, he punched in. Affixing a name tag that stated, "Edgar," to the front of his shirt, he headed out to the floor, where he worked in one of three departments, depending where they needed him.
As he wasn't needed in electronics or the toy section, he headed over to the sporting section. Joining Barry behind the counter, he was about to see if a customer needed help when the other employee said, "I thought you were scheduled to work the clothing department tonight?"
Unsure, as he had never worked in the clothing section, Edgar shrugged and replied, "Nobody told me," then asked, "Who's the supervisor tonight?"
"Patricia," came the immediate response and as Barry began to ring up another customer.
A quick nod and Edgar sighed before saying, "I'm going to find her," to which Barry told him, "She'd probably over in woman's active wear," to which Edgar nodded and excused himself.
Back across the store, he stepped into the aisles of various woman's garments and began to look for Patricia. Glad it was her on the floor and not Harvey, who didn't seem to know what he was doing, or Janice, who had some personal vendetta against every employee, Edgar stopped when he saw what his mind insisted was a pretty outfit. Wanting to try it on, to feel the soft fabric of the top brush against his skin, to see how low the jeans sat on his hips, he blinked and shook his head. Wondering what was wrong with him, as he had never had any interest in woman's clothing, outside his failed idea of getting revenge, Edgar glanced longingly for a moment longer at the outfit, thought it was really cute, but then forced himself to look away.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked himself as he continued his search for the on-duty supervisor. Wondering if maybe the Amulet had worked, but had only turned his thoughts girly, he shuddered at the thought that while it hadn't turned him into a girl, it had done something to his mind. Hoping it was a one time thing, he turned a corner and spotting Patricia, he waved to her and tried to put the odd thoughts from his mind.
---
After Edgar had left, Mark continued to work at the applications for the colleges a bit longer before he began to notice things that were off. Cursing, thinking the mistakes were because of his flatmate, his questionable plan, and the ridiculous things Edgar had told him the necklace could do, Mark stared at the sheets of paper.
On a number of them he had checked the body marked F, and had stated in a couple others his sex and gender as female. A couple of the others he had not only checked and wrote the same thing, but he'd signed and printed his name as Abby. Swearing, "Dammit," he crumpled up the applications, stood, and tossed them into the recylcling bin. Unhappy that he would now have to start over on pretty much all of his college applications, he cursed at the idea that they needed to be done in pen and that white-out couldn't be used on them if mistakes were made.
Glad that he had extras, that a number of the colleges and universities he had contacted had sent him more than one copy, Mark considered starting over, but then decided he was done for the day. Wanting dinner, he searched through the cupboards for something to eat, and when he couldn't settle on anything, he figured to go and get something. Walking the couple blocks to the local burger joint, he entered and before approaching the order counter, he headed instead for the toilets. Thinking to take care of business first, his mind on the applications, what he had written and how Edgar's plan must have really messed with his head, he didn't give it a second thought when he entered the restroom and headed for the nearest stall. Pushing down his shorts and underwear a little way, he sat down and was just about to do his business, when it suddenly hit him what he'd done.
Realisation that he had entered the woman's toilet without a second thought came to and he silently swore, "Shit." Standing, hoping he had enough time to slip out and into the men's room before he was discovered, he hastily zipping and buttoning his shorts. Reaching for the thin knob that locked the stall door, about the open it, he stopped and groaned when he heard the last thing he expected, and wanted, to hear as the bathroom door opened. And then, to his horror, he heard a woman's voice saying, "Go potty, sweetie. I'll be waiting right here," followed by a little girl's voice saying, "Yes, mamma."