After hours of playing with dolls and pretending to have a party with two little girls, Todd felt utterly defeated. This was not how the day was supposed to go. He had been a college student who had just invented a remote control capable of changing reality to grant every fantasy he had. But his own invention had been turned against him and he was now stuck in the body of a 5-year-old girl.
If only he had not picked that four-eyed brunette to try his invention on; if only he had left her as a baby; if only he had not assumed that she would be willing to become his assistant; if only he had not made the mistake of making her taller than him, giving her the chance to snatch the remote away and take control of everything. But it was now too late for regrets. All the effort and months of testing had only led to the mad scientist's own undoing.
All he knew was that Carrie was a college student just like he had been. He had no idea where she lived, and she was probably miles away from him by now. He had to think of a plan to find her and get the remote back. He could not imagine being stuck as little girl for another day, let alone a few years. It had not been easy for him to get the parts he needed to build the device, so there was no way he could build another remote right away, especially in his current state as a little girl.
"Tonya?" A voice broke him out of his thoughts. Once again, he had to hear his hated new name.
"It's time to play dress up!" said Emily excitedly, holding his hand and leading him to the side of the room where all the other little girls were gathered. The teacher was standing there with a chest full of outfits for them to choose from.
"No, no... please not this. I can't take any more," mumbled Todd quietly but nobody seemed to have heard him. Before long, Emily, Susan and him were next in line to choose dress-up clothes.
Todd quickly thought of a plan to make the most of the bad situation he was in. He would pick something with pants like what an outdoor explorer would wear. At least it wouldn't be too girly, and he could get over this without too much trouble.
No sooner had he pulled the outdoor explorer outfit from the chest when he heard a girl's voice ring out.
"No, that wouldn't suit a cutie like you! You should be wearing the princess outfit. It would be a shame if you wore pants when you're clearly not a boy."
The voice came from a girl standing near them. She was wearing a white blouse and a navy jumper dress. Todd detected a condescending tone in that voice, even though the girl's words seemed to be praising his cuteness. 'Great, there's a mean girl in this preschool. Will anything go right today?' he thought frantically.
To his horror, Emily began agreeing with what the girl had said. "Tonya, she's right! Why wear an outfit with pants when the princess dress is so pretty?"
Emboldened by Emily's cheerful reaction, the girl continued. "Well Tonya, are you afraid of wearing a dress?" She put emphasis on the name, as if she found it amusing.
The rest of the girls were now staring at them. Todd realized that he had to choose the dress if he didn't want to cause a commotion that might get the teacher's attention.
"Fine. I'll wear the princess dress", said Todd as he resigned himself to his unhappy fate.
"Hooray" cheered Susan. "We're done choosing clothes".
They took the clothes and went to the bathroom to change. To Todd's consternation, the mean little girl had followed them. She was happily talking to Emily and Susan about how fun it was to dress up, and his new friends seemed clueless to the fact that she had just bullied him into wearing an outfit which he didn't want to wear.
He took off the pink blouse, skirt and tights that Carrie had put on him using the remote. For the first time, he noticed that under those clothes, he was wearing pink panties decorated with colorful flowers and butterflies. 'Damn you Carrie!' he thought bitterly.
He slipped on the soft, sparkly purple dress. The hem fell to his ankles and the sleeves ended just below his shoulders. As he started to fasten the belt around his tiny waist, he heard Emily call out to him. "Cherri says let's look at the mirror before we go out".
"Who's Cherri?" he asked. "That's me", said the mean girl sweetly. She beamed with satisfaction as she laid eyes on him in the princess dress. Something about her expression made Todd feel uncomfortable. She was wearing what looked like a lab outfit over a white blouse and black skirt. Emily was wearing a blue dress and holding a magic wand, and Susan was wearing a pink shirt and pink pants. None of them were wearing anything as striking as what he was wearing and that bothered him.
He couldn't bear to look at his adorable reflection any longer, so he began to head out, but Cherri grabbed his hand. "Hey Tonya, your princess outfit isn't done yet".
She reached out and grabbed his pigtails, freeing them from the ribbons. She combed his hair and placed the tiara on his head. "Hah! Now you're ready to show everyone the princess you've become". For some reason, there was a smug grin on her face again, as if she knew something that he was not aware of.
Todd felt humiliation well up inside of him as the three girls accompanied him back to the classroom like maids of honor surrounding a princess. The girls clapped their hands excitedly and the little boys had enthusiastic expressions on their faces. Why is this happening to me? he screamed inside his mind as chants of "Princess Tonya" echoed in the room.