“So why weren't you in Subterfuge class?” I asked Ella when history class ended. “I thought that every student on the leadership track had to take.”

“I talked it over with my advisor, we decided I could skip and go to the second year course,” my roommate said. “Honestly I learned most of what they teach in 101 before I left the nursery.”

“That sounds rough.”

She shrugged. “It wasn't bad. The nanny's started us off with easy things at first. Like trying to tell if we were going to get a sweet or a castor oil, finding our favourite toy before it imploded, bargaining and fighting with our siblings over who would get the nice beds and who would sleep in the dungeon.”

My eyes bugged out. “You slept in a dungeon!”

Ella laughed quite prettily. “It wasn't a real dungeon. It was just called that. It had giant spider silk cushions to sleep on, and it was always nice and warm. I actually liked sleeping there. So I'd switch with someone who had to sleep there, and they'd do me favours. I got very good at making it seem like I was doing them a large favour.”

“You had a... very interesting childhood.”

“That's why daddy is called the Mad Immortal Emperor. He has strange ideas about pretty much everything. You learn to roll with it or go crazy and probably die.”

Putting her arm around me, which made my heart flutter a little, she asked, “So why were you almost late to class?”

“I ran into Micheal, the kid who messed with me on the very first day. He tried to intimidate me, then ran away after surrounding us in a big pink cloud of something.” I tried to make it sound unimportant, but wasn't sure if it worked.

Ella came to an abrupt stop, spun me around to face her and began looking me up and down. “Micheal Lambert, he's a prodigy with potions. That cloud was probably meant to do something cruel or nasty. How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine. I don't think I breathed anything in, and I got out of the cloud pretty quickly.”

She felt my forehead, causing me to blush. “Not too hot or cold, and your skin feels normal. Maybe you got lucky, or he just wanted to freak you out. If anything starts to feel odd, let me or one of our friends know and we'll get you to the school clinic.”

“Thanks, but I'm really not that worried,” I insisted.

“All right, but be careful. We don't want to get the reputation of being pushovers, so if you need help ask one of us and we'll deal with the problem. Now what happened to your dress?”

Once again I gave a slightly altered version of what happened in magic class. By the time I was done retelling my humiliation, we had reached the cafeteria.

Looking around the crowded room, I was thankful to see I wasn't the only student who had suffered on the first day of class. There was the girl that had been attacked by eldritch tentacles, savagely attacking a plate of kraken tentacles, using magic to stab her food with multiple knives. A boy looked like he had been used as a pinata, some kids I hoped were his friends were cutting his food into tiny pieces for him. A boy and girl were sitting side by side, their left and right arm were joined at the wrist, and looking at how closely they were sitting to each other, their legs were probably joined together as well.

My burned dress suddenly didn't seem so bad after all.

Edging past a boy who was staring dumbly at a crack on the wall while his drool formed a puddle on the floor, I headed for the counter. Sure I was probably going to get an inedible lump of food, but I could hope, and my stomach was growling like a dragon.

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The moment I got to the counter, a tray with the unholy lump of food and a glass of water was handed to me by the mangy cat woman. She smirked a little at my enthusiastic look.

“Seriously, there's nothing else I can have?” I asked.

“All out,” she said.

Sighing, I went to our usual table, and smiled at my friends. Everyone was already there, the girls and the boys. I was the most beat up of all of them, and once again my burned dress got a lot of attention. I ignored them, carefully sitting down so my bare thighs didn't touch the cold metal seat.

As hello's were said, food was put on my tray. It was an odd mix, since they hadn't ordered at the same time, but I wasn't about to complain. I was practically drooling at the sight and smell of food, and I wasn't sure if my full tray would be enough for me. I was ravenous.

While everyone started talking about there classes, I tried to pay attention. Hearing Naomi tell how a duel started in her weapons class sounded cool, and she acted out some of the fancier moves, but I spent most of the story shoving food into my mouth.

All too soon I realized I'd eaten everything on my tray, the phoenix grilled sandwich with half petrified gorgon cheese, a small spicy pegasus wing, a namazu seafood salad, and a fruit salad. I was still hungry.

Everyone was ignoring me, being too busy talking to each other to pay much attention as I ate. My hand crept over to the loaf of food, almost unwillingly I started gnawing on it. Despite the taste I couldn't stop myself. When it was done I started licking my hand, trying to get every crumb of food.

“Are you going to eat that?” I asked, pointing at a half eaten ushi-oni burger that was sitting in front of Garth.

“Uh, no be my guest,” he said.

As soon as I heard no, I grabbed it, not letting him finish. It was gone in two bites. Then I grabbed some fries from Honey Creeper, a bit of steak from Naomi, the last noodles of a stir fry from Antoine, and more.

By this point everyone was looking at me worriedly. Not that I noticed, I was too busy eating.

“Petra,” Ella said, “I think we should take you to the clinic.”

“Too hungry!” I said.

“Calci, can you pick her up?” Ella asked.

“Sure thing,” the Dwarf said.

“NO! FOOD!” I shouted. Getting to my feet, while shoving a piece of bread into my mouth, I backed away from Calci.

Then my chest started tingling.

Looking down at my dress, which was covered in food, I was horrified to see my small breasts growing. For a few seconds, my bra really hurt, digging into my shoulders and back, then it let go with a loud snap.

My dress started to tear, making room for my new size. I stood there in shock, horror and embarrassment. I now had a larger chest than Calci. And then my hips and butt started to tingle.

Screaming, I ran from the cafeteria before my dress exploded.

**

Sitting in the school clinic, wrapped up in a hospital gown, I poked at my breasts which seemed like they were almost as large as my head. My new butt felt bouncy and it looked like I was sitting on a pair of balloons.

“The swelling will go down in a few hours,” the centaur nurse said. “You'll be larger than you were, so you'll want to be careful until you get a handle on your new proportions.”

“Can't you get rid of them?” I asked.

“I could, but it's cheaper to just give you a new wardrobe,” she said. “And don't ask about being turned back into a boy. That would cost more than your tuition, so it's not happening.”

Putting my face in my hands, I fought back my tears. “I hate this school.”

“I hear that a lot. Here are clothes that will fit you, and a note to explain why you're late,” the nurse said, putting a small stack of clothes and a piece of paper beside me. “Hurry up and get to class.”

All alone, I put on my new bra and underwear. Looking down I realized I couldn't see my feet. The dress, a plain blue one like the one I'd put on that morning, was a little too tight over my chest and hips. Staring at myself in the mirror, I was a really pretty girl.

“OK,” I said to myself, “it seems I've gotta be a girl for a while. I can cry about it or I can man up and deal with it.”

I really wanted to cry.

Pushing my feelings aside, I stuck out my chest, which was a lot more impressive than it had been an hour ago. I wasn't going to let Doom Valley break me. And I certainly wasn't going to let that little freak Micheal beat me. This was all his fault, he'd done all of this to humiliate me while he got away Scot-free.

I wasn't a man anymore, but that didn't mean I was going to be all timid and faint at the thought of violence. I was going to have my revenge. I couldn't just attack him in class however. I'd get into too much trouble, and I wouldn't be able to hurt him enough.

With my newfound determination I marched to door, opening it with a flourish.

And promptly dropped to the ground, clutching my very sensitive boob which had just been hit by the door.

I hated my life.