It was nearing Noon, and that meant that it was time for the one hour lunch break, which Miles appreciated. He needed time to figure out what the hell was going on without any sort of distractions.
If only things were that simple, as Victor was wandering more and more from who he had been this morning:
“You will be...popular! You're gonna be popular! I'll teach you the proper poise when you talk to boys. Little ways to flirt and flounce, ooh! I'll show you what shoes to wear. How to fix your hair. Everything that really counts! To be popular! I'll help you be popular! You'll hang with the right cohorts! You'll be good at sports! Know the slang you've got to know! So let's start, 'cause you've got an awfully long way to go...”
Miles was sliding further and further adrift himself, as he somehow knew that Victor was singing a song from Wicked, which in this new reality was a childhood favorite of Victoria's. Miles started hallucinating, remembering a Halloween trick or treating session from years ago where Victor(ia) had dressed up as Galinda the Good Witch and had convinced Miles to be Elphaba, the titular Wicked Witch of the West. He remembered being a little girl, wearing a black dress and adorning her face with green paint. This disturbed Miles, as it meant that he was not only losing his physical self, but also his memories, which was far scarier than having long hair or painted fingernails. Miles truly felt like he was not only defying gravity right now, but all common sense itself.
Meanwhile, Victor(ia) was giggling.
“Oh, why the sour puss, Miles? You know I'm just kidding. You're already plenty popular, but you definitely do need a primer on how to talk to boys. It's OK, when I first started out, I was really bad at it too” she said as they got in line to get their food. “You remember how I did a face plant in front of Clark Holland in the eighth grade when I wanted to ask him to the spring dance? I nearly died from embarrassment.”
Vague memories of that happening appeared in Miles's head.
“Yeah” Miles chuckled, recalling that Victoria was somewhat of a late bloomer and had just experienced a growth spurt around that time. Miles grabbed a small container of milk. “He's going out with Ashley Cruz now, I heard.”
“Well good for Ashley. He wasn't right for me anyway. But to get back to you and Thomas, you two on the other hand are TOTALLY right for each other. Like peanut butter and jelly. All you have to do is be your adorable self around him, and he'll melt in your hands.”
“You really think so?” asked Miles, turning around to face Victor, his long hair swishing across his face slightly.
“Definitely” grinned Victoria, grabbing an apple to put on her tray. “Thomas from what I've heard is just a genuine, salt of the earth, real nice guy. You don't need to put on much of an act with him.”
“Like you do with Adam?” countered Miles.
“Adam's my little project. He's my Eliza Doolittle, and I'm Henry Higgins. He's a fixer upper, true, but I've got no doubt that at the other end he'll end up perfect boyfriend material.”
“How did you and Adam first start dating anyway?” asked Miles as they paid for their food(A hamburger for Miles, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Victor).
Victor bit his lip cutely.
“I think I asked to borrow his hat once. That's a great way to get boys to notice you, to ask to borrow something, or offering them a piece of gum. That's the icebreaker. Then you establish contact. You strike up a conversation. It's always important to make them laugh, but that's easy since boys usually fall over themselves to impress girls. You should also learn to remember small details about the things they say. You gotta be like Sherlock Holmes. That shows that you're paying attention, that you care about them, even if you really don't.”
Miles and Victor found a table to sit at towards the farthest corner of the lunchroom. They usually sat alone together at lunch time anyway.
“Then” said Victor, pointing a finger at Miles, “if they're not creepy or awful, you start initiating gentle contact. Nothing big. Just stuff like touching their shoulder or their arms. Nothing below the waist, obviously. Boys love that” said Victor as she took a bite of her sandwich.
“Geez, when when did you become such a dating expert?” chuckled Miles, now betwixt between the two realities- one where he remembered Victor's life as a boy and the other where he was starting to remember more and more of Victoria's life as a girl.
“Miles, I'm just really, really good at reading people” smiled Victoria.
**
Back at home, Molly was surprised at just how well Miles and Victor were taking the changes. She genuinely hadn't expected such rapid personality shift in either boy until at least later this afternoon, believing that the physical changes needed to come first. Then again, Molly realized that she was just the spellcaster, she wasn't in charge of how the spell decided to lay itself out. Ripples in reality often took surprising turns, and to Molly, watching her son's transformation was more compelling than watching The Young & The Restless on TV any day.
She noticed that as Miles and Victor were eating, they were currently going through their next changes.