Paul turned to see his mother rushing out the doors of the dance studio and straight to the toilets. Paul only glimpsed her for a few seconds but that was for long enough for him to know there was something very wrong. It appeared his mother was going grey almost instantly. How could that be? Had she just been hit with a flour bomb?
Paul wasn't sure what to do. His mother was clearly distressed but she had run into the female toilets. Paul didn't want to enter there. Not with his Mom's classroom full of subteen girls right next door. Besides he wasn't feeling that great himself.
He tentatively walked across and knocked on the door of the female toilets. "Mom? Are you alright?". He gulped, His voice sounded funny, high pitched. He tried again "Mom?" His voice was high, girlish. Was he losing his voice? He bought his hand to his throat and felt something odd. His Adam's apple was smaller.
Paul could hear the gaggle of the girls in the gym growing louder. With his mother indisposed they were possibly without supervision. He knew he should check on them or at least tell them to be quiet. He moved across to the door of the gym. Perhaps one of the student's parents was in attendance? He stuck his head through the door and looked in. No adults were in there, just 8 or 9 primary school aged girls. "You girls be quiet! Just practice your moves. Mrs Jones, will be back soon" Once more he winced at how feminine his voice sounded.
One of the older girls, who he recognised as his best mates little sister Katie. Turned to him and said "What happened to Mrs Jones? Her hair started to go white"
That confirmed what Paul had seen for himself. His mothers long dark brown hair had definately started to grey. How could that happen? When he had been talking to his mother just before, her hair had been normal. "You tell me Katie. Did one of you give her a fright?" It was all Paul could think of to explain his mother's suddenly greying hair.
"No Miss. We were just doing our lessons and the teacher saw herself in the mirror, screamed and ran out" By now all the girls were looking at Paul. Some of the other girls nodded in affirmation.
Had Katie just called Paul "Miss"? She knew who he was, despite his unusually high pitched voice. There must have be something wrong with his hearing as well. His ears did feel funny. He reached up to instinctively touch his right ear and was shocked to find it covered in hair. He grasped the offending hair and pulled it forward. His hand was holding a fistfull of blonde hair. Paul panicked and screaming (once more a feminine sound) ran for the male toilets.