As rick pondered this question, he glanced over at the girls, once his two best guy friends, while he knew he shouldn't think of them as girls and Definitely shouldn't think of girls as yucky, he couldn't ignore the deep sense of icky-ness that filled his 8 year old mind. He wanted no part of that. "They might have been boys before but they DEFEINITELY have cooties now" he thought, his mind taking on the tenor of his 8 year old self.
Turning, he eyed Jack and Sean. The two stood somewhat taller than him, and their faces seemed almost...older?
"Well duh" He thought "That's 'cause they're 11 and I'm only 8!"
This thought evoked a sense of excitement he didn't realize he felt. The 11 year old's were so cool! And they wanted to play with him! Any qualms he had about ditching his former friends, now girls, drifted off as his tail twitched with the anticipation of hanging with the two cool older boys.
"Jack you're right!" He announced " they're so icky, lets ditch 'em and find something cooler to do!"
With that, the boys stuck their tounges out at the girls and scampered away.