A Clownfish

The birds were chirping outside. It was morning and the sun was shinning through a window onto a beautiful face. Long golden hair covering a pair of pretty shoulders. Making a wrinkled face and mumbling "I have to go to school don't I?", a new school year started for an 'average' high school student.

"Val, time for school!" Val's mother called from the kitchen. Reluctantly rising from a warm and comfortable bed, Val shimmied over to to get ready. The school had a dress code policy of a white blazer, a white undershirt, and white pants/skirt. All of the clothing was lined with a golden accent. Even though the school may seem to be upper-class, they did accept many who weren't rich.

Upon arriving to school, Val saw many students eagerly chatting with friends. Sliding past the the people chatting and holding hands, all while blocking the hall, Val hurried towards class. The classroom was already half full of students sitting randomly at their chosen desks. Chosing a desk towards the back, Val sat down and waited for class to begin.

"Hello, class, I am Ms. Zweinstein. Nice to meet you all." A woman stood at the front of the class and introduced herself. "When your name is called, please stand and introduce yourself." 'Oh god why, really? This is going to be disastrous. Sounds fun!', Val mentally spoke.

Most of the students spoke about their love of sports, friends, or some other preplanned speech. The 'class beauty' instantly won over all of the guys with another forgetful speech. "Val Lux" Everyone in the class stared at Val and wondered the same thing, 'Do they have something down there?' For as beautiful as Val was, it was not obvious what Val's gender was. Val wasn't overly masculine, and anyone would love to date Val for beauty alone, but Val was slightly androgynous. "My name is Val and I have a condition that will switch my gender every day, oh yeah I'm a girl right now." Most thought it was a joke, and some even laughed, but when the teacher just nodded and carried on they were shocked. 'What kind of condition is that! I call bullsht. So, am I gay if I date her?', these are just some of the thoughts going through everyone's heads.

This was a true condition for her and she was born with it. Every time she sleeps she will switch gender. Her tissues moving and changing. Many studies showed that no irregularities were shown, other that the obvious moving tissue.

Finally lunch came, everyone's favorite period. Sitting down at a table, she opened her lunch, but before she could eat three thug looking guys walked up. Val sighed, this happened constantly, "What do you want?" They sat down and the leader said "Hi, you're the talk of our class, you know? Many students are rich and used their wealth to check what's up. Turn's out it's true, whaddya know." Getting annoyed, Val wanted to get back to eating, "Well, that is new. Most don't believe it, and I certainly can't remember anyone looking me up. Let's cut the crap. Are you looking for a fight?" They smiled, "Let's go out back and see if it's true for ourselves." Suddenly another guy walked up.

He was handsome, but not someone you would pay a second thought to. "It's not nice to pick on her you know." The guys looked to see who said it and were ready to fight, when they saw who it was they paled. They apologized and ran off.

"Well, this day just keeps getting weirder. You don't look like a fighter. So why did they run off?", She questioned the unknown boy in front of her. "I'm Alex, and my family has a bit of influence, haha, but don't worry I don't have anything against you. Quite a speech you gave." Staring at him, Val could not figure him out. 'Does he have an agenda? Must be, what does he want?'

He sat down and started eating his lunch. He sat behind her in class. They ate in silence until they finished eating. "Val, do you want to hang out again some time?"

"What? Do what you want then? I don't promise it will be much fun though." The bell rang and they went back to class. The rest of the day being just as uneventful.

On the way home she kept thinking 'What was with him, what was it Alex? Maybe he is into some weird stuff, ugh, I hope not.'

While in bed, Val's organs slowly shifted around. Her face remained the same and appearance-wise he was the same. He had a wonderful dream about a parfait.

The next morning went the same as the last, just with a few slight differences. He went to school and sat down at the same desk and waited for the bell. Because of his appearance being nearly identical, most didn't pay attention to his changes. "Hey, you did change appearance? Wow, interesting. Does it hurt for that to happen?" Alex stared at Val with curious eyes. "How did you notice? Sometimes I will get muscle pain, but usually It's fine. Wait, why am I answering? "

"You're talking to me because you don't have many others to talk to. Your voice is slightly lower, hips slimmer, and chest as well. I wouldn't notice if I wasn't paying SUCH close attention. It would be hard to tell you were male though with your shoulder length hair." Slightly blushing Val made a disgusted face, "Are you a pervert? Who admits to staring at someone's chest? I happen to like my hair like this, and when I'm a guy I tie it up into a ponytail." When Val was female she would usually let it hang loose, but when wearing his hair in a ponytail he looks a bit more masculine.

*Ding Ding Ding* They stopped talking immediately and faced forward. He wouldn't admit it even to himself, but Val did like having someone notice. It felt nice for someone to notice those changes.

When lunch rolled around Alex followed Val to the lunch room. "Aren't you oddly clingy even though we just met?" "Huh, I guess, but you seem to be genuine and you intrigue me." Val made sure to walk in front of Alex to hide his blush. He wasn't complimented like that often. Most people avoid him because of his condition. Before they got to the lunch room they were stopped by a random girl in the hallway. "Hey, freak, my friends and I were wondering somthing. Do you like having sex with him as a male as well? I mean you must right, or will you just sleep with anyone?" She was laughing to herself like she could say whatever she wanted and he would just stand there. "For your information no, I don't sleep with just anyone, but if you are offering I might consider it." To 'seal the deal' he kicked his lips and stared at her.

Val had to deal with this all his life. She flinched and looked disgusted before walking off. Val continued to walk without saying anything to Alex. Alex was bewildered at what he just saw, 'he said that like it was nothing.'

At lunch Alex questioned Val for info, "What do you do for fun?"

"Huh, not much, but I like cooking and reading."

"Reading, is that 'Vampire Slayer'?"

"What? You know thisbook? Did you like the bar scene" Val was smiling ear to ear. He'll do anything to discuss his favorite books. 'He's so cute! Both forms are so pretty.' They talked for they entire break. It turns out they both liked the same author.

They spent several days talking about the books and shows they liked. They were just drawn to one another. "Hey, there will be a meetup for the author this weekend, wanna go together?" Alex planned to go already, but going with a friend was so much better. "Sure, that sounds great, hmm, I'll be a girl that day." Alex had been getting used to the changing more and more.

That Saturday the met up early in the city. "Hey, Alex, waiting long?" "Nah, just got here a few minutes ago. We still have time, let's go to the mall." Alex wore a tshirt and pants and Val wore the same.

They walked for a bit before Alex smiled and said "Follow me!" He dragged her to a clothing store. The store looked slightly pricey and was full of women's attire. "Wait, what are we doing. Is this dress-up, am I a doll?" Alex just pulled her towards a surprised woman in formal attire. "Yep, my little cute dress up doll."

The woman walked over towards them. "Hello, Mr. Alex. It has been a while since you visited one of your family's stores. What can I help you with?" Alex nodded with an evil grin and said "I need you to help me pick out clothing for my friend here. She doesn't seem to know a lot about fashion." She nodded her head and directed them to a curtain. On the other side was an entire room, albeit a small one. "Hey Alex, you said your family had money. Care to explain?"

"Oh yeah, sure, my family owns an international chain of clothing stores that sell to the elites of the world. Do you know what your sizes are? I'll get to play dress up with you and you get free clothing. Sounds like a good deal to me." His shit eating grin is so punchable. "Why would I tell you that? You can be so creepy sometimes." He shrugged his shoulders and sat on a bench in the corner.

The woman from before talked this time, "I'll measure, so can you please remove your clothing?" Alex placed his palms over his eyes during the measuring. "Okay, done." "Hm, let's see what would suit her. I have a few in mind be back in a minute." Alex left to quickly grab a few styles of clothing. "So, are you and Mr. Alex a couple?"

"What, no! We only met about a week ago. And, besides, I don't think he would be that into me considering... the condition." Before more could be said Alex came back with a pile of clothing. "Here try this first!"

After several failed attempts and some assistance the dress was on. It was a pale-pink frilly dress. Before Val could say anything Alex had already taken several pictures. "What the FUCK is this, Alex?" Alex was now laughing his butt off, "Can't you see? It's a dress. What's wrong, don't like it?"

The next outfit was a stipped light-pink and white shirt with a periwinke hoodie. This was combined with either jeans. Alex went to grab another set of clothing after sneaking a few more pictures. 'Cute, too cute!'

"Didn't your mother ever take you clothes shopping?" Val looked away from Alex and said in a melancholic tone, "When I was little, but the other kids were brats, and they made fun of me. Also having one wardrobe is easier." She brightened up at the last sentence.

After various outfits they decided, onesidedly, to not have any pink-frilly dresses. When it was over they headed to the convention. Val decided to wear a black hoodie, pink t-shirt, and jeans.

The convention was composed of various writers. Some popular and some not so much. Stalls were set up selling various books. Some cosplayers wanders around. They wandered various stalls and bought a few books. Seeing a book they both wanted they headed over to the stall, "Hi, are you looking for a specific book." Alex picked up the book and paid, but as they left the man said, "You make a cute couple." They turned around and tried to deny it. They both spoke gibberish for several seconds before just walking away.

"Thanks Alex, today was fun." Val and Alex had a bag full of books each. "Yeah, we should do this more often." Val nodded in agreement, "yeah, you remember that guy that thought we were a couple? Oh, god that was embarrassing. Let's try to go when we're both guys, alright?" Alex looked a little sad, "What, is it embarrassing to be thought dating me?" Realizing what she said Val corrected herself, "no no no, I just mean we couldn't be together."

Alex sighed, "That makes it sound worse! I get what you mean though, you only like girls right?" Alex nodded like he figured out a math problem. "No, I like guys too, but it's not like someone could love a mutation like me." Alex was baffled, "What, I think you'll meet someone who loves you for who you are!" They remained in silence until they got back home.

Alex was laying in bed covering his face, 'Why did I say that? It sounded like a confession, but maybe... NO! I can't think these thoughts. Don't think of Val like that. Why won't these feelings go away? Why, please?' Alex cried himself to sleep that night.

Val and Alex's life was going to be changing soon, would Alex tell Val and would Val even be with him?