While the others played in the water Janet struggled to keep her sense of 'self.' Marianne had insisted she join her at the beach, but the idea of wearing a one piece scared her too much. She was a boy and didn't want to loose herself like the others were, wearing a one piece would only act to confirm her new gender.
Instead she had opted to join some other girls at a crafts activity. The councilor in charge, a moose man, walked them through creating their own friendship bracelets. As she sat at the crafts table, Janet had to repeatedly run a mantra "i'm a guy, my name is Jared, I'm NOT 8 years old.' In spite of the mantra, however, her tail told a different story. Making the bracelet was fun and the councilor even let her pick her favorite color - pink!
"Thats a cute bracelet, Pinks my favorite color too!" Said a voice next to her. Blushing at the compliment, Janet turned to see a tabby cat girl beaming a toothy smile at her. "My names Alex! Short for Alexandra, not the yucky boy name Alexander!"
"Um.....nice to meet you Alex!" Janet replied with a soft smile
"Looks like you're a cat too! I'm a tabby!"
"Yea I"m a cougar"
"I can see! I love cougars, you guys have such thick long tails. My tabby tails not as fluffy as I'd like, I"m soooo jealous"
A hint of unbidden pride filled Janet, coupled with odd memories of her using a special shampoo to achieve that ideal tail poof. She shook her head. "I'm a guy, my name is Jared, I'm NOT 8 years old. My tail doesn't make me proud....I shouldn't even have a tail!' she thought.
"Hey, you seem nice! Y'know, a couple of us cats just formed a club. The CritterCreek Cats! You should totally join!" Alex said with excitement "No boys aloud though, I saw you with those other boys earlier, they definitely can't come. I don't want no stinky skunks or raccoons running things for us majestic cats!"
"Naw I already ditched those smelly boys" Janet replied. Again she shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"I mean ....boys aren't that smelly...I-I used to be a boy..." she said
"Doesn't madder! I was a stinky boy tooo, played dumb football and was obsessed with my muscles an everythin'. Now I'm a girl an its sooo much better, Like, football is sooo boring I don't even understand it, the rules are too complicated. Boy things are dumb."
Janet couldn't help but agree. Football, strangely, did seem super boring now. A budding conflict of feelings built within her. Being a girl did feel right, and her old life felt increasingly distant and old memories of being a human male seemed to have become foggy.
As Janet was lost in thought, Alex grabbed her hand and wrapped her friendship bracket around Janet's write, the words "CritterCreek Cats" stiched across the pink fabric.
Janet didn't know what to say...and didn't have time to process the moment before Alex's hand tugged on her wrist, leading her to stand and walk towards a group of cat girls of various species sitting near by.
"C'mon, I gotta introduce you to the other cats, and then we'll initiate you!"
While still conflicted, Janet followed as excitement and butterflies filled her stomach.