THE CLAIRE SWITCH PROJECT
 
Lynsay Sands
 
 
Chapter 1
 
"A bunny." The disgust John Heathcliffe poured into those two words made Claire Beckett roll her eyes as she rinsed out and refilled the water bottle from the rabbit cage. He wasn't finished with his bitching, however, and continued, "I don't know why we can't — "
"You do know why, John," Kyle Lockhart countered with what Claire considered the patience of a saint. He didn't raise his head from the report he was reading, but added, "Because we have to follow safety procedures. We test it on animals to ensure that it's safe before we let it anywhere near humans."
Claire glanced toward John as she moved back to the rabbit cage, noting the irritation that flashed across his face. John, apparently, didn't appreciate Kyle's patience, but then she suspected there was little John appreciated about Kyle. Claire knew he resented Dr. Cohen putting Kyle in charge of the lab. John felt it should have been he. Both men were in the last stage of attaining their doctorates and it made their relationship somewhat competitive, at least on John's part. Kyle didn't seem to have the same issues, but then he was the one in charge.
"We've already tested it on a dozen mice and rats and now three bunnies," John pointed out impatiently as Claire reset the water bottle in the rabbit cage.
"Yes," Kyle agreed. This time he did glance up from the reports as he added pointedly, "And the first couple of those animals ended up a puddle of mush."
John waved that away as unimportant. "Only the first few, and that was because we were giving them too much juice. We fixed that. We now know the amount needed per pound. We — "
"We are testing it on the rabbit, John," Kyle said firmly. "And then we'll test it on a bigger animal, like a — "
"Yes, yes," the other man said impatiently. "We'll test it on half a dozen bunnies, then half a dozen cats, and then another half a dozen dogs, and then monkeys, and then, and then, and then… I'll be an old man before we test it on an actual human. If I'm still alive," he said with disgust. "What use is it testing it on these animals anyway? They can't tell us what it's like. They don't understand what we've done to them, and they can't follow commands and try to change. They — "
"They can tell us if it's safe by surviving the procedure," Kyle countered shortly. "They can tell us what damage — if any — the procedure does to them physically by our following and testing them over the years."
"Years," John muttered. "Stupid, safe science."
"Yeah," Kyle said dryly as he closed the file and got to his feet. "Sucks huh?"
Claire bit her lip to keep from laughing and raised her eyebrows in question as Kyle turned his sky blue eyes her way.
"Claire, I need to go give Dr. Cohen the latest test results of our subjects. Would you mind getting Thumper out of his cage and strapping him into place while I'm gone? We'll start when I get back."
"Yes, Kyle." Claire turned back to the cage as he headed out of the lab, but her eyes immediately found him in the rectangular mirror on the wall over the cage. Her gaze dropped over Kyle in his long white smock. He looked so sexy in the smock. She wouldn't mind playing doctor/patient with him, she thought. Then her eyes moved to her own reflection, and she sighed as she took in the familiar features under the mop of red hair she had scraped back into a ponytail. She'd been told she was pretty more than a time or two in her life, and had a certain amount of confidence in her looks, but they didn't seem to matter to Kyle. He treated her more like a buddy or kid sister than a woman.
"Yes, Kyle," John mimicked nastily. "Thank you, Kyle. Bend me over the counter and — "
"You are such a jerk sometimes, John," Claire interrupted as she reopened the rabbit cage. She managed to use bored tones despite her irritation and embarrassment. If the man knew he was getting to her, he'd be like a dog with a bone. She knew that from experience. John had become increasingly rude since she'd refused his invitation to dinner two months ago. He'd decided her refusal was because she "had the hots" for Kyle. Which was true, but Claire had no idea how he knew that.
"Come on, Thumper," she cooed, scooping the white rabbit out of the cage. "There's nothing to be scared of."
"Right," John agreed as he moved to the panel that controlled the destabilizer. "We're just going to zap you with a molecular destabilizer that will turn you into a puddle of goo."
Claire glared at his back as she closed the cage door, then turned her attention to Thumper. Petting the rabbit soothingly, she said, "Don't listen to him. That hasn't happened for a long time, not since we figured out we were using too much juice. You'll be fine."
Claire continued to whisper soothing nonsense to the rabbit as she carried him into the experiment chamber. It was a small room, built in the center of the wide back wall of the lab. The chamber was only ten feet square, its front and side walls made of protective glass to allow viewing. This was where the molecular destabilizer waited. It looked like nothing more interesting than an X-ray machine, but it wasn't photons of electromagnetic interference that this machine shot out.
The automatic door shushed open for Claire, then closed behind her with the same soft sound as she carried Thumper to the table under the destabilizer. Setting the rabbit on the surface, she began to strap him down.
For some reason, this part of her job always bothered Claire. She didn't like strapping the animals down. Of course, they always panicked and began to struggle at this point, but she couldn't blame them, she wouldn't like to be strapped down, either. Then too, they were probably picking up on some of her nervousness. As she worked, Claire found her eyes flickering nervously up to the funnel-shaped projector the destabilizer beam came out of. She was always nervous around the thing, afraid it would suddenly start spitting its beam at her, which of course it couldn't do. Someone would have to turn it on for that to happen.
That thought made Claire glance over her shoulder and through the glass to the control panel. John was there, frowning and muttering to himself as he worked out the necessary calculations for the proper amount of power to use with Thumper. It was a very weight-specific process, needing a specific amount of power per pound of the animal. Too little and nothing would happen, too much and… but that had only happened with the first couple of trials.
Sighing, she turned back to Thumper and continued fixing the straps, making sure they were firmly in place, but not so tight they'd harm him. Despite her reservations about working so close to the destabilizer itself, Claire enjoyed her job. This was an exciting field to work in, this experiment on the cutting edge. They had used research on chameleons, as well as various changes natural in nature, such as gas turning into liquid when under pressure, and liquid to solid when cold. Putting it all together they had created their destabilizer, hoping that it would bring about cellular changes that would allow other animals to effect tonal changes that could act as camouflage. In effect, creating a chameleon rabbit, or a chameleon mouse, rat, dog, and — eventually — a chameleon human.
Finished with Thumper, Claire turned to head out of the room, pausing when John's voice came over the intercom.
"Claire, Thumper isn't aligned under the projector. Go back and fix it."
Frowning, she turned and moved back to the table to peer at the rabbit. He looked to be in the right position to her.
"Are you sure?" Claire asked, knowing John would hear her through the open intercom. "He looks right from here."
"The camera is only showing his lower half." She could hear the irritation in his voice. "Maybe it's the camera that's off kilter."
Claire glanced up, peering at the destabilizer itself.
"The camera is on the far side of the projector," John announced. "Take a look at it for me, will you?"
Claire frowned. As far as she could see, there was no way to get to the far side of the projector without crawling over the table.
"The table slides back," he said helpfully. "Just slide the table backward, then crawl under the projector and look up on the other side for a small camera. It should be aligned with the projector. If it isn't, I'll need Kyle to pick up some special tools on his way back from Dr. Cohen's office so I can adjust it."
She pushed gently on the table Thumper was strapped to. As John had said, it slid easily backward, leaving the floor under the destabilizer clear. Claire stared at the space, reluctant to fill it. She really didn't like the idea of climbing right under the projector. It would put her in the direct path of the destabilizing beam.
"Which is perfectly safe so long as it isn't on," she assured herself.
"Hello! I'm waiting here," John said testily.
Sighing, Claire dropped to her knees and crawled into the space where the table had been. Once under the projector, she raised her head and peered up. Claire spotted the camera at once, but it didn't look out of line to her.
"It looks fine," she said with a frown. "It — "
The words died in her throat as a white beam suddenly shot out of the destabilizer's projector. It hit her with a jolt, and Claire suddenly found herself unable to move or even scream. It felt exactly what she imagined being hit by lightning would be like. A quick crack of agony shot through her, hitting seemingly every nerve ending, then she went numb and unconsciousness claimed her.
 
"Claire?"
The voice sounded urgent and upset, but it took a moment before Claire could move or open her eyes in response. When she did, it was to find herself staring up at Kyle Lockhart. His blond hair was endearingly tousled, something she'd rarely seen since high school. His sky blue eyes were crinkled with concern, and his mouth a firm line in his chiseled face.
"Kyle?" Claire breathed.
"Oh, thank God." He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them just as quickly and straightened. "Come on, let's get you up."
Claire peered around as Kyle helped her to her feet. They were still in the experiment chamber, but by the front wall, as far from the molecular destabilizer as possible. The white beam that had shot such teeth-jarring pain into her was still pouring from the projector.
"This way." Kyle began to usher her to the door, but Claire glanced back toward the beam and frowned as she recalled what had happened.
"The destabilizer went off somehow while I was checking the camera," Claire said as he urged her out of the room. She shuddered at the recollection of the beam jolting through her body.
"John is the somehow,'" Kyle said grimly.
"John?" Claire asked sharply as he led her to a lab chair and eased her into it. "You mean he deliberately zapped me?"
"Yeah. The bastard was determined to try his human trials and must have decided you would be the test subject. The jerk."
Kyle placed a hand on her forehead and used his thumb to pull one eyelid up. He peered into her eye for a moment, then shifted his hand to the other side to repeat the process.
"Your eyes are a little dilated," he said with a frown. "How's your vision?"
"Fine," Claire assured him. The moment he removed his hand from her forehead, she turned her head to glance toward the control panel, looking for John. The dark-haired man was out cold on the floor in front of the machine.
"What happened to him?" she asked, more out of curiosity than any real concern. It was hard to feel concern for the man after what he'd done.
"I knocked him out," Kyle muttered as he took her pulse.
Claire's eyes shot to his face in surprise. John was six feet tall and handsome in his own way, but he had the body of a scientist, long and lean. He also had the studious nature of a scientist and wasn't the kind of guy who ran around getting into fights.
Kyle shrugged uncomfortably under her startled glance.
"I came back in and saw what he was doing and punched him," he said almost apologetically. "Then I ran in to the experiment chamber to pull you out from under the beam."
"You punched him?" Claire asked, still marveling over the fact.
"It was just… instinct," Kyle explained with embarrassment. "I was… upset."
"Oh," Claire said huskily. "Thank you."
Kyle shrugged and avoided her eyes by staring at his watch as he took her pulse, but then his lips twisted with displeasure and he said, "It's my fault. I should have realized John would try a stunt like that. He's been crabbing about the animal trials from the start and insisting we need to do human trials."
"It's not your fault," Claire said quickly. "I've heard all his complaining, but didn't expect him to pull a stunt like this, either."
Kyle nodded, but she could tell he still felt responsible.
"Your pulse is a little fast, but not alarmingly so." He straightened and peered at her. "How do you feel?"
Claire paused and considered. She felt a little shaky, but then she'd been knocked out by the beam. Other than that, however, she felt pretty much normal.
"I feel fine," Claire said at last. "I don't feel different or anything."
Kyle hesitated, his gaze moving around the lab, then asked, "Do you think you're up to walking?"
When Claire nodded, he urged her back to her feet. "Come on, then. This has been more than enough for the day. Let's get out of here."
Claire couldn't have agreed more. She felt fine, but didn't want to stay in the lab. And she definitely didn't want to be there when John woke up. If he said a single word to her, Claire might be tempted to commit bodily harm on the jerk. He could have killed her with that stunt.
Kyle took her arm, eyeing her closely. He was just opening the door when Claire suddenly recalled the poor rabbit still strapped to the table in the experiment chamber.
"Wait." She paused and turned back. "What about Thumper?"
"Oh." Kyle glanced toward the glass-walled room. After a hesitation, he said, "Wait here" and hurried over to the control panel to switch off the destabilizer, then continued on to the small room.
Claire watched him unstrap the animal, smiling as she saw his lips moving as he petted and soothed the rabbit. Like herself, Kyle tended to murmur and coo nonsense to the lab animals, and she knew he got just as distressed when something went wrong. It was only John who treated them like blocks of wood.
Thoughts of the other man drew her attention to his unconscious form and she scowled. John Heathcliffe had done some rotten things in the time she'd known him, but today had taken the cake. It wasn't just that she could have been killed, but who knew what effects the destabilizer could have on her?
The door to the experiment chamber opened with a soft swish, and Claire glanced over, relieved to be distracted from her thoughts. Kyle was quick about putting Thumper in his cage and then he hurried to join her at the door.
"What are we going to do about him?" Claire asked, nodding toward John's still form.
"Leave him. I'd call security, but… " Kyle hesitated, then admitted, "I'm worried about Dr. Cohen's reaction if he learns you were exposed to the molecular destabilizer."
It was all he had to say. If anyone found out, Claire could expect to be kept here in the lab in her very own cage — though it would probably be a sterile white room rather than an actual cage. She would be subjected to hundreds of tests and asked a million questions every day to see just how her mind had been affected by exposure to the destabilizer.
No, thank you. Claire didn't know what effect her exposure would have on her, but no matter what it was, she'd rather not be locked up while it happened.
"You don't think John will tell?" she asked anxiously.
"And risk being banned from the scientific community?" Kyle asked with a snort. "Not to mention being arrested for assault, because that's what it was." He shook his head. "No. He'll keep his mouth shut."
Relief soaking through her, Claire nodded and allowed Kyle to take her arm and lead her out of the lab.
They didn't run into anyone on the way down to the parking garage. Claire was so unsettled by the whole experience that they were in Kyle's car before she remembered her own vehicle.
"What about my car?" Claire asked as Kyle started the engine of his little red car.
Pausing, he glanced in the direction of her parking spot, a small frown playing about his lips, then he shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be driving just now. In fact, I don't want you to be alone. I was planning on taking you home with me so I could keep an eye on you for at least tonight, preferably the weekend. But if nothing happens and you continue to seem fine, I'll bring you by to pick up your car tomorrow morning."
When she nodded her agreement, Kyle added, "Fortunately, it's Friday, so you'll have the weekend to recover before we have to decide what — if anything — to tell Dr. Cohen about this."
"I thought we didn't want him to know?" Claire asked with a frown. "I mean, if nothing has happened… "
"I don't want John to get away with this," Kyle said solemnly. "We could tell Dr. Cohen that he tried to turn the destabilizer on you and I arrived as he did it and knocked him out. That you managed to throw yourself out of the way when you heard it power up."
Claire blinked with a sudden realization.
"What is it?" Kyle asked.
"I didn't hear it power up," she said slowly, perplexed by the fact. Usually the soft hum started while she strapped down the animal, then built to a high-pitched whine as she left the room.
"He must have powered it up before you went in," Kyle said thoughtfully, and his expression became even more forbidding. "The bastard must have planned to try this all along. He was just waiting for a time when I was out of the lab." Kyle cursed. "I never should have — "
Claire placed her hand over his on the steering wheel and patted him soothingly. "You couldn't know. It's fine. Let's just go."
Blowing his breath out, Kyle nodded and shifted the car into gear, then backed out of his parking spot.
"You're okay with staying over tonight?" Kyle asked once they were out of the parking garage.
"Yes." Claire nodded. "To tell you the truth, if something's going to happen, I'd rather not be alone."
Kyle gave a nod, and fell silent, leaving Claire to worry over what might result from the experiment. Nothing much had appeared to happen yet to the animals they'd tested it on. If put in front of a white background, some of them lightened in color, like a chameleon taking on its surroundings, but it didn't happen to all the animals and it didn't happen regularly. This didn't seem to bother Kyle. Claire supposed he was just happy it happened at all. As John had pointed out, the animals didn't understand what was done to them so simply might not be using their full abilities. She did understand, however, and supposed that was why John had broken all the rules and exposed her to the destabilizer.
Claire peered down at her hands, the only part of her body that wasn't covered by clothing and that she could see at the moment. She stared at where they rested in her lap, but they looked the same as always to her. Her skin wasn't suddenly lightening to match the white smock she wore. For a moment, she considered trying to make them lighten, but then changed her mind. She was almost afraid to find her exposure had had some effect.
"Here we are."
Claire glanced up and felt herself relax. They were pulling into the driveway of the home Kyle shared with his twin sister, Jill. It was an old Victorian house on the edge of the city, their childhood home. Kyle and Jill had inherited it jointly when their parents died in a car accident some years back. The twins got along well enough that they'd decided to live there together until one of them married. At which point, they'd either sell the house and split the profits, or one of them would buy the other out.
Claire had been in the charming old house many times over the years. She and Jill had been best friends since grade school. Claire had slept over countless times as a teenager and still did. It was a second home to her, and she wasn't surprised to feel relief ease through her as Kyle parked the car in the drive.
"Jill's home early," Kyle commented with a frown. "I wonder what's up."
Claire shook her head, her eyebrows drawing together with concern. After the accident that had taken their parents' lives, Kyle had taken his half of their parents' insurance money and invested it. Jill had used her half to purchase a little clothing store downtown. It was doing well, mostly because Jill was a very dedicated store owner, willing to put in long hours to make it work. She usually started early and worked late. Her being home in the middle of the day was unusual.
Kyle slid out of the car and started around to her side, but Claire opened the door and stepped out before he could get there to open it for her. She smiled faintly as he took her arm to walk her to the door, noting the worry still visible in his eyes as he peered her way. His concern was sweet… and encouraging to Claire. She'd had a crush on him all through high school. It had blossomed into something more since she'd started working with him. Unfortunately, despite Jill's assertions to the contrary, Claire suspected he thought of her as nothing more than a buddy and coworker. She wished it was otherwise.
"Jill?" Kyle called out as they entered the house.
"Kyle?" Jill's voice came from the living room. Her tone suggested she was just as surprised at his arrival home in the middle of the day as they had been to know she was here.
"Yeah. Are you okay?" Kyle led Claire up the hall. "You aren't sick or something, are you?"
"Or something."
Claire frowned at the weariness evident in Jill's voice. As they entered the living room, she stepped around Kyle and peered at her friend. Jill sat balled up in a corner of the couch, her shoulders slumped and posture dejected. She was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, and she held a freshly opened container of ice cream… always a bad sign.
"What's wrong?" Claire asked with concern as she moved to sit beside her on the couch.
"What are you doing here?" Jill asked with surprise.
"Never mind that," Claire said. "Tell us what's wrong."
"Nothing," Jill said, then sighed and admitted, "Actually, I just got dumped."
"What?" Claire asked with amazement. Jill had been seeing a store owner named Ted Leacock for the last six months. Claire knew her friend had thought it was "the real deal." That she'd found the man she would marry and raise babies with.
"Yeah." Jill held up the container of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. "So I came home for lunch."
"Oh, honey." Claire hugged her with sympathy.
Jill shrugged. "Plenty of good men out there, and right now Ben and Jerry are being very sympathetic."
Kyle shifted and Claire glanced his way to see a myriad of emotions cross his face, anger for his sister, a frown of concern, then discomfort.
"Well," he said finally. "You can't just eat ice cream, Jill. I'll see about lunch."
Claire watched him leave the room, then glanced back to Jill as the blond slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Jill," she said quietly.
Jill shrugged. "Better now than later."
"You're too good for him anyway."
"I thought you liked him?" Jill asked with a frown.
"I did. He seemed nice," Claire said quickly. "Though he obviously had bad taste if he broke up with you… and you deserve a guy with good taste. A super guy."
"Super guy, huh?" Jill smiled briefly, then sighed. "He wasn't as nice as we thought, anyway. It seems I wasn't the only woman he was dating."
"What?" Claire asked with surprise, then understanding crossed her face. "All those late nights working?"
"Yeah. It seems he was working on a couple of other girls. Trying to decide who would be the winner in the 'Ted's wife lotto.' I apparently made it to the final two, but the other finalist won out."
"What?" Claire repeated with amazement.
Jill grimaced. "It was apparently close. So close, in fact, that he couldn't bring himself to break the news to me until now. A week before the wedding to the winner."
Claire opened her mouth, but Jill forestalled her with "Please don't say what again."
Claire closed her mouth, frowned, then shook her head. "But you two went away last weekend."
"Yes. And have been sleeping together for the last four of the six months we've been dating." Jill grimaced. "I guess I should be glad I wasn't the winner. Who needs a jerk like that for a husband?"
Claire nodded. "He'll never be faithful. Oh, honey. I am sorry." She gave her another hug.
"I guess I'll have to go to the grocery store," Kyle announced coming back into the living room. "We'll need lunch and supper."
"I thought you two were going to the school reunion tonight?" Claire reminded him, peering over Jill's shoulder. She had decided not to go herself, but the twins had planned to attend, and Claire was sure that getting out would be the best thing for her friend.
Jill snorted at the idea. "Like I'm going to the reunion without a man on my arm? You have got to be kidding. Magda would spend the entire night insulting me… the bitch," she added on a sniff.
"And I'd rather not leave you alone," Kyle said. He was speaking to Claire, but his concerned gaze was bouncing between her and his sister. "I need to keep an eye on you for at least twenty-four hours, though the whole weekend would be better."
Jill stiffened in Claire's arms, then pulled back to peer at her.
"Why? What's happened?"
Claire merely grimaced, while Kyle said, "John zapped her with the destabilizer."
"What?!" Claire winced at the shriek as Jill peered from her to Kyle and asked, "How? Was it an accident?"
"No," Kyle said grimly.
"You're kidding?" Jill looked outraged. She was one of the very few people privy to their experiments and what they entailed. "How?"
Sighing, Claire shook her head. "I had strapped in the bunny and started out of the room, but he sent me back to check on the camera. He said it was offline and told me how to move the table so I could kneel under it and check the camera alignment. Once I was there, zap," she finished with a shrug.
"So that's how he did it," Kyle murmured, and she realized he hadn't known how John had got her under the camera and therefore under the beam.
"The toad!" Jill said with disgust, tossing the ice cream carton on the coffee table.
"Yeah." Claire sighed. Really, it was unconscionable. She could have been killed and was just lucky Kyle had got her out before any damage was done.
"Dangerous toad," Kyle said grimly. "He was tired of running trials and decided to speed the experiment along."
Ben & Jerry — and even Ted — briefly forgotten, Jill caught Claire by the arms and looked her over as if expecting to find her glowing green and falling to pieces. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Claire assured her firmly. "Really. I don't feel bad at all."
"Well, you aren't suddenly turning the same color as the couch or anything," Jill murmured, eyes narrowed.
Claire glanced toward the paisley couch and muttered, "Thank God."
"Still, Kyle's right, we can't leave you alone this weekend," Jill said firmly.
Claire shrugged, uncomfortable with all the concern.
"Although I'm not going to be any fun tonight," Jill added with a grimace, then brightened, her expression that of someone who's just had an idea. "You two could go to the reunion together, though. That way Kyle could go and still keep an eye on you."
Claire flushed, knowing Jill was playing matchmaker. Her friend had known about Claire's crush on Kyle for years and thought they would be perfect together. As far as Jill was concerned, the only thing keeping them apart was their own shyness. Claire didn't doubt for a minute that Jill was trying to push them together, and while she appreciated it, one glance at Kyle's reluctant expression told her it wasn't working.
"Well, I'm not certain it's a good idea to take Claire anywhere until we're sure she's okay," Kyle said slowly. Turning, he moved back up the hall toward the front door, saying, "Keep an eye on her while I go to the grocery store. Okay, Jill?"
"I won't take my eyes off her," Jill promised.
 
 
Chapter 2
 
"He is so not interested in me," Claire bemoaned as the door closed behind Kyle.
"Yes, he is," Jill said with exasperation. "I've been telling you that since we were all twelve. He's crazy about you, Claire."
"Yeah right," she snorted. "That's why he jumped at the chance to go to the reunion with me tonight."
Jill tsked with disgust and snapped the lid back on the container of Ben & Jerry's. "You two are so pathetic. Honestly. You've adored him for years, and he's been following you with calf eyes just as long, yet neither of you has the balls to do anything about it. When he comes back, you should just follow him into his room, jump his bones, and get it over with. I bet the two of you wouldn't surface until Monday… if then."
Claire imagined what would happen if she followed Jill's advice. She imagined Kyle coming home, putting away the groceries in the kitchen, then going to his room for something. She would follow, close the door, then… then…
Then what? Did she throw off her clothes and wait for him to do something? The only problem was, he'd likely assume her behavior was a result of being subjected to the destabilizer. Then he'd start checking her pulse and such.
What if she just walked in, closed the door, then kissed him? Claire bit her lip at the idea. He'd probably blame that on the destabilizer, too. He'd think her brain had been destabilized by the exposure. Blowing her breath out on a sigh, she shook her head. "If he were interested, he'd have done something about it."
"Like you have?" Jill asked archly, taking the ice cream with her as she stood up. "What makes you think he's any less shy than you are? Besides, he's in a much more delicate spot than you. He's your supervisor at the lab. Asking you out could be considered sexual harassment."
Claire frowned over that as Jill carried the ice cream out to the kitchen. She'd appreciated Kyle getting her the job at the lab. While he'd gotten his bachelor of science and continued on for his master's and doctorate, Claire — to avoid costing her parents too much money — had stopped with her bachelor's. Since then, she'd taken courses toward her own master's at night, while bouncing from contract position to contract position during the day to support herself and her further education. Then, last year, Kyle had gotten her a job in the lab where he was interning under Dr. Cohen. At the end of this year, she would have her master's and Kyle his doctorate. Now, Jill's comment made Claire wonder if she should have taken the position in the lab after all.
"The mail's here. God, they deliver later and later all the time."
Claire glanced toward Jill as she returned to the living room carrying a stack of mail.
"Bill, bill, bill," Jill muttered, leafing through the envelopes. She paused at a magazine, stared at the cover, then heaved a depressed sigh. "I bet Ted would have picked me for his wife if I looked like her."
"You're better off without him," Claire murmured.
"Yeah, but if I looked like her, I probably would have been the dumper rather than the dumpee," she pointed out, dropping the magazine on the coffee table. "It's always better to be the dumper."
Claire peered down at the magazine, noting who was on the cover. Brooke Jordan, one of the world's most popular — not to mention successful — models. Tall, leggy, slim, and gorgeous, the woman exuded both beauty and sex appeal in megawatts. Men all over the world would kill to be with her, and women all over the world would kill to be her. Apparently, that included Jill.
And me, Claire acknowledged to herself, then said aloud, "Well, I wish we both looked like her. Then you could dump Ted and maybe I could get Kyle. I bet he wouldn't be so shy if I looked like her."
Jill made a clucking sound and propped her hands on her hips as she glared down at her. "He likes you just the way you — "
Claire glanced up in question at the way Jill suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence. The blond appeared frozen, her mouth still open, and eyes wide with shock. Claire felt herself go stiff in reaction as concern welled up within her. "What is it?"
"Oh… my… God!" The words were drawn out and spaced apart for emphasis.
"What?" Claire asked, getting to her feet. She peered down at herself in a panic, afraid she'd suddenly taken on the paisley pattern of the couch, but her hands were still her hands. She peered back to Jill. "What?"
"You look like… her," Jill said faintly.
"What?" Claire asked, her heart beating wildly in her chest. "I look like who her?"
"Like what's-her-name. You look like that model, that — " Jill snatched up the magazine off the coffee table and shoved it in her face. "Her!"
Claire peered down and found herself staring at the photograph of Brooke Jordan. She shook her head slowly with disbelief. "I can't — I don't — "
"The hell you don't!" Jill grabbed Claire by the arm with her free hand to drag her across the living room. She was muttering the whole way. "I can't believe this. I just can't believe it. Oh my God, this is incredible. Do you realize how incredible this is?"
Claire just stumbled along behind her, anxiety and confusion rife in her head. She couldn't look like the model. It was impossible. Jill was playing a joke on her. That thought gave her some relief from the welter of emotions whirling through her head. Of course! That was it! Jill was playing a joke.
"Here!" Jill slammed through the bathroom door. She tossed the magazine on the counter, then shoved Claire in front of the mirror.
Claire stared at herself. And stared. Jill wasn't playing a joke. Claire was staring into the mirror, but the stunned face looking back was Brooke Jordan's. She tentatively touched her face. It felt normal, both in that her fingers felt like they were touching skin and her skin felt the fingers touching them, but it wasn't her face she was looking at and those gorgeous chestnut waves were not her hair, either. Claire was a natural redhead.
"You look exactly like her. Exactly," Jill breathed with awe. "Right down to her clothes."
Claire blinked, then switched her gaze to her body. At first, she didn't understand what Jill was talking about. She was still wearing the white smock and black pants she'd left work in. Then Claire noticed the pink collar of a T-shirt was visible under the open neckline of her white blouse and smock.
"What… ?" Bewildered, Claire stripped off the smock and unbuttoned several buttons of her white blouse. Underneath was the same pink T-shirt Brooke Jordan had been wearing on the magazine cover.
"Are you wearing her capri pants too?" Jill reached for the waist of her black dress pants, but Claire danced instinctively away, then paused and undid them herself.
"Holy Jeez," Jill breathed as baby blue linen was revealed poking up from under her white lace panties. "You're wearing her capri pants, too."
"I can't be," Claire said faintly, then finished stripping her own clothes away until she stood there in a pink T-shirt, blue capri pants and Brooke Jordan's face. She stared at herself in the mirror with bewilderment.
"You're a dead ringer."
"But how?" Claire asked faintly. "This doesn't make sense."
"Of course, it does. It makes perfect sense. It's the destabilizer," Jill said triumphantly, then tilted her head and asked, "Do you think Kyle would let me try it out? Just imagine what I could — "
"It can't be the destabilizer," Claire argued. "It's supposed to cause a chameleon effect. The ability to change skin tone, not shape."
Jill paused to consider that, then suggested, "Well maybe you haven't really changed shape. Maybe you're still under there and it's just like a painting over your skin."
Catching Claire by surprise, Jill suddenly reached out and began to feel her face. A frown immediately tugged at her lips. "This doesn't feel like your face."
"What do you mean?" Alarmed by the statement, Claire put her own hands to her face once more, but this time doing more than just touching her cheeks. She began to explore her face like a blind person examining features.
"Your nose should be turned up," Jill pointed out. "You have the cutest little turn at the end, but Brooke has a straight nose, kind of Roman. Your nose feels Roman now. I guess it isn't just a chameleonlike painting on your face."
Claire immediately shifted her fingers to her own nose. It didn't feel like her nose. It was too straight.
"You've actually changed shape," Jill said, then brightened. "Like a shape-shifter. The destabilizer made you a shape-shifter! How did you do it?"
"I didn't," Claire said faintly as she tried to absorb what had happened to her. "John did."
"Not that!" Jill said swiftly, then waved to her face and body. "This. How did you… you know… shift?"
"I don't know," Claire admitted, glancing down at herself with bewilderment. "I just stared at the picture thinking that Kyle might be more interested in me if I looked like her… and wishing that I did… look like her, I mean."
"I've told you and told you, Claire. Kyle likes you as you are," Jill insisted, then paused, frowned, and amended, "Well, he did like you… as you were."
Claire blinked at the correction, anxiety crowding in at what it suggested.
"Never mind." Jill waved the problem of Kyle away and snatched up the magazine she'd tossed on the counter. "Here, look at another model and see if you can do it again."
"I don't think I can," Claire admitted. "I don't know how I did it the first time."
"Just try," Jill insisted, leafing through several pages before settling on a short-haired blond. "Here. Do her."
"Jill, I — "
"Try," Jill ordered.
Claire hesitated, then peered down at the blond. She was beautiful, with full red lips and big green eyes. Claire took the magazine from Jill and concentrated on the picture, trying to put herself in the same frame of mind she'd been in earlier while looking at Brooke… Trying to drum up the same longing to be so beautiful and attractive to the opposite sex… To Kyle.
"Oh my Gawd!!" Jill squealed suddenly.
Concentration broken, Claire glanced up. "Did it work?"
Kyle's sister nodded dumbly.
Claire turned to the mirror and found herself staring at yet someone else's face; this time, the blond with short cropped hair and large red lips. Her body shape and clothing had also changed, her breasts appearing larger as they pushed up out of the strapless black blouse she was now wearing with black satin pants.
"How do you do the clothes?" Jill asked with amazement, reaching out to touch the pants.
"I don't know," Claire admitted. "It must be me. I mean the pink T-shirt and capri pants were under my own clothes."
"You mean… like this is you?" Jill asked, touching the satin. "Your cells?"
"It must be," Claire repeated faintly. It was the only thing that made sense. They weren't really clothes at all, just her body shifting and changing color to look like them. The chameleon effect was there after all. It just wasn't alone — the ability to shift her shape was there as well.
Jill nodded slowly, then stiffened and said, "Hang on!"
She glanced around with confusion as Jill rushed out of the bathroom. Claire had no idea where the other woman was going, but couldn't seem to care much at the moment. Her poor mind was struggling to accept her new abilities. She peered at herself in the mirror with fascination until she heard Jill cursing and the sound of thumping and drawers and door slamming in the room across the hall, Jill's bedroom.
Claire started out of the bathroom, then paused to snatch up her clothes. The last thing she needed was for Kyle to come home and stumble over her bra and panties in the bathroom.
"What on earth are you doing?" Claire asked with amazement as she entered Jill's room to find it in chaos. Jill was a whirlwind, rushing about her room, searching drawers and closets and tossing things willy-nilly. "What are you trying to find?"
"I had a magazine here," Jill explained, kneeling to look under her bed. "I know I put it — aha!"
Claire raised her eyebrows at this triumphant cry as Jill dragged a magazine out from under the bed and got back to her feet. It was a celebrity magazine, she saw as Jill began to leaf through it. Suddenly, her friend paused, folded the magazine over, and thrust it forward.
"Try this."
Claire tossed her clothes on the bed and took the magazine. She peered down at the picture it was open to and blinked, then glanced up, asking with disbelief, "Brad Cruise?"
Jill nodded. "Yes."
"But he's a guy," Claire protested, which was something of an understatement. Brad Cruise wasn't just a guy. He was the guy. He was the male equivalent of Brooke Jordan. He was also the biggest action movie star of their time, raking in double-digit millions for each role he took. The most familiar face in film, Brad Cruise was the man women lusted after and men would kill to be.
"No. Really? I hadn't noticed," Jill said sarcastically, then smacked her in the forehead and said, "Duh!"
Claire rolled her eyes and shoved the magazine back at her. "I can't do it."
"Oh, come on. How do you know until you try? You've changed into Brooke and the blond, you can do this," Jill said encouragingly.
"I shifted into Brooke and the blond by wanting to be them," Claire argued. "They're women; beautiful, successful women. Brad is a guy. G… U… Y. Guy. Male. A man. The opposite sex. I have no desire to be a man."
"Think Freud. Think penis envy," Jill said quickly.
"I don't have penis envy," Claire assured her.
"Oh, come on," Jill pleaded. "Just try. Just — imagine it. Being Brad Cruise; feted and adored by everyone. Rich beyond your wildest dreams. Just try. Please. For me."
Claire blew her breath out with exasperation, then sighed. "Fine. I'll try. For you."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jill gave her a quick hug, then stepped back, nodded, and said with excitement, "Go on… Do it."
Claire shook her head and peered down at the picture, sure she wouldn't be able to do it. For one brief moment, she'd had a real longing to look like Brooke. As for the blond, Claire had even managed a little excitement and interest in looking like her, but Brad Cruise… ? She just didn't really have any desire to become him, though she supposed it might be interesting. Sighing inwardly, she concentrated on the picture, noting the features, the shape, the…
"Holy shit."
Claire glanced up when Jill breathed those two words. One look at her wide, round eyes was enough to make Claire head back to the bathroom to peer at herself in the mirror.
"Wow," Claire breathed as she stared at Brad Cruise's reflection looking back at her. Rugged good looks, short, tousled light brown hair, and the same black suit the man had worn in the magazine photo. It was as if he'd stepped right out of the page and into the room. Only he hadn't. It wasn't Brad Cruise she was staring at, it was herself.
"Yeah." Jill sighed, following her into the bathroom. "Wow."
Claire's gaze narrowed at the sudden spark in her friend's eyes; a spark that was usually reserved for members of the opposite sex.
"Oh yeah." Jill walked around Claire, her eyes sweeping over her body in the suit. "This is incredible. You look just like him."
"Yeah," Claire agreed dryly. "I look like him, but it's still me in here."
Jill stopped behind her and peered at their reflection in the mirror. "Oh, wow, look!! It's me and Brad Cruise. I gotta get a picture of this. All those women at the reunion tonight would just eat their hearts out."
"I thought you weren't going," Claire reminded, then shook her head as Jill started out of the room, but her friend had barely taken a step into the hall before stopping abruptly and whirling back.
"What?" Claire asked warily.
"I have an idea," Jill said slowly.
Claire noted the mounting excitement on her face and began to shake her head. Excitement and ideas were a bad mix with Jill. "No."
"You don't even know what it is," Jill protested.
"I don't need to, Jill. I know that look. It's the look that always got me in trouble when we were teenagers," Claire said. Her mouth tightened when Jill's shoulders drooped and her face took on a pathetic, dejected cast. It was the look that always got her. Knowing she would regret it, Claire sighed and asked, "What is it?"
Jill hesitated, then blurted, "Be my date for the reunion tonight?"
Claire blinked. "What?"
"Be my date. Like that," Jill explained, gesturing to her Brad Cruise guise.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no," Claire said, shaking her head.
"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," Jill countered quickly, then clapped her hands together as if in prayer and begged, "Please? Please Claire? It could be fun."
"Fun?" she echoed with disbelief.
"Yes, fun. Just think about it," Jill said. "Magda the bitch would eat her heart out. For once in life, we would have it over her."
Claire grimaced at the idea of Magda the bitch. A Barbie doll look-alike with blond hair and boobs, she'd had everything… Except personality, compassion, and heart. Magda had been a devoted subscriber to the belief that when you looked as good as she did, you just didn't have to be nice. More than that, she'd gone out of her way to be cutting and cruel to anyone she'd felt beneath her on the food chain… which had been everyone in the school who wasn't male and on the football team. Claire seriously doubted the woman had improved with age. The idea of Magda's distress if Jill walked into the reunion on the arm of Brad Cruise really had some charm to it.
"And then there's Ted," Jill said, adding to her argument. "He'd eat his heart out, too."
"Ted?" Claire asked with confusion. "He didn't even go to our high school. Why would he be there?"
"He'll be there with Magda. It's why he had to end it today rather than wait until the very last minute, like the day of the wedding… or maybe months after," she added.
"Magda won the 'Ted's wife lotto'?" Claire asked with horror. "She was the other finalist?"
Jill nodded, stone-faced. "After he told me he was dumping me, I was foolish enough to ask if he couldn't at least attend the reunion with me tonight and he told me about Magda."
"I can't believe he told you about Magda," Claire gaped. "He's got some balls, that guy. What if you tell her everything tonight?"
Jill snorted. "He knows I won't. Magda would just sneer and point out that she — of course — won him from me and I was a loser… again."
Magda had made something of a hobby of stealing other girls' boyfriends in school. She'd stolen Jill's prom date a week before the prom, then gone on to steal Claire's prom date on the actual night of the prom after he and Magda were crowned Prom King and Queen.
Claire pressed her lips together, then nodded. "Okay. We'll do it. We'll go to the reunion and rub Magda and Ted's face in it. But only because I love you like a sister, and only this once."
"Only this once," Jill agreed, then squealed and hugged her. "Oh, you're the greatest."
Claire smiled wryly as she patted Jill's back. "Yeah, yeah. Now, we have another problem."
"What's that?" Jill asked, pulling back to peer at her.
"How do I change back into myself?" Claire asked quietly.
Jill stared at her blankly, then frowned. "You… well… " She brightened suddenly. "I have tons of pictures of you. You can look at one and turn back."
Jill rushed out of the room, leaving Claire to turn and survey herself in the mirror. In the picture of Brad Cruise, he'd had a serious case of five o'clock shadow going on. Claire now had that case herself. Curious, she lifted a hand and ran it over her cheek and chin, grimacing at the scrape of short hair against her fingers. Man, this was so weird… but kind of cool.
"Here." Jill hurried back in and started to hold out a picture, then pulled it back. "Wait, first try to do it without the picture."
"Without it?" Claire asked with surprise.
"Well, sure. I mean it is your body. Just close your eyes and concentrate on being you again. Just think 'I want to be me,'" Jill suggested.
"Isn't that a song?" Claire asked with amusement.
"Will you concentrate," Jill said with irritation. "Just try to change."
Sighing, Claire closed her eyes and concentrated on being herself. She didn't have a picture to think of; she didn't need one. She had lived with her face and body for years.
"Ooops."
Claire blinked her eyes open as she felt a soft towel being wrapped around her.
"I guess the clothes you were wearing really were you," Jill said with a shrug, holding the towel together until Claire reached up to take over the task.
Jill had wrapped a bath towel around her shoulders. Claire shifted it under her arms and wrapped it around herself sarong style. She was completely and utterly nude under the towel, which meant that the pink T-shirt and blue capri pants, the black satin dressy outfit, and the man's black suit had been purely her. That seemed kind of weird.
Both women stiffened at the sound of the front door opening.
"I'm back! Claire? Jill?"
Claire was the first to break out of her surprise. Suddenly aware of her nudity, she quickly pushed the bathroom door closed.
"Hello?" Kyle apparently heard the door close, his voice now came from somewhere in the hall.
"Yes?" Claire called. "Hello."
"Claire?" Kyle asked, his voice now right outside the door.
"Yes."
"Are you okay? What are you doing?"
Hearing the worry in his voice, she said quickly, "I'm fine. I'm… I'm in the bath."
When Jill's eyebrows rose at her choice of activity, Claire gestured to her attire. She was in a towel and her clothes were in Jill's bedroom, Claire could hardly tell Kyle she was just using the loo. He might wait in the hall until she came out so that he could see for himself that she was okay. He seemed terribly worried about her, and had every right to be. The destabilizer had affected her after all.
"Bath?" Kyle sounded surprised, then asked, "Where's Jill?"
Claire's eyes widened on her friend.
"She's… er… "
"At the store," Jill suggested in a whisper.
"She's at the store," Claire said dutifully.
"Damn it. She was supposed to watch you," Kyle sounded irritated. "What if something had happened?"
"She only went a minute ago… to the corner store. She'll be right back," Claire assured him. "She could hardly watch me in the bath any more than you would."
"Right."
Claire heard Kyle's sigh through the door. Silence followed, then he cleared his throat and said, "Maybe that's for the best. I wanted to ask you something."
Claire and Jill raised their eyebrows at each other.
There was more throat-clearing, then Kyle said, "I was wondering… "
"Yes?" Claire prompted when he hesitated, and found herself taking a step closer to the door as she waited.
"Look," he said abruptly. "Would you go to the reunion with me tonight?"
Claire froze, sure her heart briefly stopped, then she swallowed and asked, "So you can watch me? Or as your date?"
There was a moment of silence, then Kyle asked, "Would you be interested in being my date?"
Claire hesitated, afraid to say yes and then learn that it wasn't what he'd intended.
"You don't have to answer that. It isn't fair when I haven't given you any indication of my feelings," he said before she could decide how to answer him. "Look, I really suck at this kind of thing. I'm great with beakers and bunnies, but personal relationships are just kind of beyond me in some ways… But… Claire, I like you. I've liked you for the longest time. Since we were twelve years old and you were pestering me about the science kit my parents bought me for Christmas. I even almost asked you out in high school, but you were dating that football guy."
"Jack," Claire murmured, thinking she would have dumped Jack in a heartbeat if Kyle had said a word. Especially since he was the one who had abandoned her for Magda on prom night.
"Yeah, Jack," Kyle muttered, sounding jealous even now.
Claire smiled and lifted a hand to the door, running her finger lightly over the wooden surface and wishing it was he.
"Then… " Kyle paused before offering a vague "Well, something happened that made me wait."
"What?" Claire asked curiously.
"I'll tell you another time," Kyle promised. He cleared his throat. "So, to answer your question, what I'm interested in here is a date."
Claire sucked in her breath, hardly able to believe he'd said it.
"Claire?"
"Yes," she breathed.
"Yes?"
Claire could hear the grin in his voice and found herself smiling, too, until movement made her glance toward Jill. The blond was shaking her head frantically in a definite negative gesture.
"No?" Claire asked Jill with bewilderment.
"No?" Kyle said sharply through the door, obviously having heard her speak.
"No!" Claire cried. She hadn't meant the word for him at all. "I mean yes."
"Which is it?"
"Yes to going to the reunion, and no I wasn't talking to you when I said no," Claire explained.
"Who were you talking to then?" She could hear the frown in his voice and scrambled to think of an excuse.
"I — myself," she said quickly, then added, "I saw I had a broken nail and… er… said no because… well, because I didn't want it to be broken," Claire finished lamely.
"Oh… I see." It didn't sound like he saw. It sounded like he thought her a fruitcake.
Claire frowned over the possibility. She didn't want him to think she was a fruitcake. Or a freak, she added unhappily as she considered what she could now do. Kyle might not think it as cool as she and Jill did. He would probably find it exciting, scientifically. He'd want to study her and test her and… She'd become a lab animal to him instead of a prospective girlfriend.
"Well, I'll let you get back to your bath," Kyle said, interrupting her grim thoughts, then he offered, "We'll go over to your place after you're done your bath to pick up some clothes, if you like?"
"Okay," Claire said quickly, shrugging her worries away. She wouldn't tell him about the destabilizer's effect. At least, not until she saw how this date went. If it went well… well, she might wait a couple months. If it went badly, she might wait forever. Claire had no desire to become a lab rat.
"Okay," Kyle said. There was silence for a minute, then Claire heard his footsteps moving away. Once the sound had faded, Claire turned away with a little sigh. She was going on a date with Kyle. Finally, after all these years, she —
"You can't go with him."
Claire blinked and peered at Jill blankly. "What? Why?"
"You promised to be my date."
 
 
Chapter 3
 
"Kyle Lockhart and Claire Beckett!" Maureen Brighton beamed as they approached the registration table at the entrance to the reunion. "Wow, you both look great."
"So do you, Maureen," Claire said with a smile as Kyle accepted the blank name tags the brunette held out. While he bent to write their names on them, she chatted with Maureen. The brunette had been one of the nicer girls on the cheerleading squad with Claire, Magda and her crew being the not so nice ones.
When another couple came up to the table, Claire stepped away to make room for them and peered curiously around. The reunion was being held in Murphy High School's smaller gymnasium. A suitable spot, Claire supposed as she glanced over all the well-dressed people maneuvering around under the streamers and decorations inside. She didn't care where it was held, Claire was just glad to be here.
At last, Claire Beckett was having her first date with Kyle Lockhart. There were several points this afternoon and evening when she hadn't thought it would happen. Jill had been the first stumbling block with her determination to hold Claire to her promise to be her date as Brad Cruise. Fortunately, after several moments of Claire pathetically pleading to be free of her promise so she could go with Kyle, Jill had come up with an alternative they could both live with. She'd proposed that Claire keep both dates; with Jill as Brad Cruise and with Kyle as herself. First, she would enter on Kyle's arm as herself, then after half an hour, she would excuse herself to use the ladies' room and slip out to the parking lot, where Jill would be waiting. She would change into Brad in the car, then reenter the reunion with Jill. Claire was to switch back and forth all night. Simple.
"Yeah right," Claire muttered to herself unhappily. This was going to be the date from hell… or the double date from hell.
"Did you say something?" Kyle asked, catching her comment as he finished at the registration table and joined her.
Claire forced a smile, but shook her head as she reached for the name tag he was holding out. She accepted it, then froze as she saw it was a pin-on name tag.
Oh, this was bad, Claire thought faintly. In order to do the quick change between herself and Brad Cruise, Claire had borrowed a black satin strapless gown from Jill. However, she wasn't wearing it now. She'd showered, done her hair and makeup, then donned the gown only to have Jill take a picture with her digital camera. They'd printed it, then Claire had used it to shape-shift into herself. That had been Jill's idea and Claire had thought it brilliant at the time. It saved her having to worry about stashing her dress somewhere while she was Brad. Unfortunately, it also meant that Claire had nowhere to pin her name tag. There was no way she was poking it through her, her skin or her cells or whatever. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but it was part of her and she so wasn't harpooning herself with a name tag.
"Do you need a hand? Shall I put it on for you?" Kyle asked, noting that she was still just staring at the pin.
"No," Claire said sharply, then forced another smile and said more calmly, "No, I don't want to put holes in Jill's satin gown. Do they have stick-on name tags?"
"Oh, I don't know." He turned to the table to ask Maureen, swiveling back a moment later to say, "Apparently if you slide the label out of the clear casing, the label itself peels off its backing."
"Oh, good," Claire breathed and set to work taking the label apart.
"There we are." Kyle smiled as she finished with the pin and slapped the label onto the black satin of her chest, which really was her chest, Claire realized, and hoped it wouldn't hurt to peel it off.
"Shall we?"
Shrugging off the concern of removing the name tag, Claire smiled. She placed her hand on the arm he offered and allowed him to lead her into the reunion. Once through the doors, Claire peered around at the tables set everywhere. They were covered with maroon-colored tablecloths and had silver and maroon centerpieces. These were the school colors, and most of the decorations carried them. With the lighting low as it was and all the decorations hanging about, it was easy to forget it was a gymnasium. Someone had decorated it with the same moonlight, stars, and heavenly aspect theme as at their prom some ten years ago.
"It feels strange to be back here, doesn't it?" Kyle said with a wry smile.
"Yes," Claire agreed and gave a small shake of her head as she peered over the people milling about, wondering who they all were. "I'm torn between feeling old because I don't recognize anyone, and yet feeling like a teenager again. I'd almost expect old Mr. Hardwick to come marching up and ask for my book report."
Kyle chuckled at her words, but frowned slightly as he peered around. "Everyone looks so different. Surely we haven't changed as much as everyone else appears to have?"
"Maybe," Claire said, peering at him. Kyle had aged well, growing into his looks and his body. He'd been much thinner when he was young, almost gawky. As had she, Claire supposed, but merely said, "Do you recognize anyone?"
"Not really. But there were a lot of — Oh, I spoke too soon. I do recognize someone."
"Who?" Claire asked curiously, following his gaze.
"Magda Richardson at two o'clock and closing in on us like a shark," he announced, then added, "I apologize in advance for any nastiness she may spew our way."
"Why should you apologize?" Claire asked with surprise.
"Because Magda has gone out of her way to be rude to me and anyone I was with since she cornered me in the science lab in grade twelve and tried to trade kisses for help with homework. I refused."
"Magda hit on you in high school?" Claire asked with shock.
"Yeah. But I think she just wanted help with her science project. Still, she wasn't too pleased when I said, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' The few times I've run into her over the last ten years, she's been sure to be rude." He frowned. "Is that Ted with her? I thought he broke up with Jill because he was marrying some — "
"Magda was the 'Ted's wife lotto' winner," Claire informed him dryly as she noted the smug look on the man's handsome face as they approached. Kyle, of course, hadn't been privy to the news when Jill had shared it with her.
"You're joking," Kyle said, half with disgust and half with disbelief.
"I wish I were," Claire muttered under her breath as the other couple reached them.
"Well, if it isn't Murphy High's very own science geeks," Magda drawled, looking down her nose at them. "So you two twits finally got together."
"Magda," Kyle greeted her dryly. "Charming as ever, I see."
"Charm is overrated, Kyle," Magda informed him sweetly. "Honesty is in now." She tightened her hold on Ted's arm and dragged him forward. "I should introduce my fiancé, Ted Leacock. He's an important business owner here in town."
"Important?" Kyle asked dryly, not bothering to extend his hand in greeting. "As it happens, Ted and I are well acquainted."
"You are?" Magda didn't look pleased at this news, but Ted Claire was more interested in watching. The man with incredible balls had lost his smug look and was starting to appear a tad nervous. It seemed while he'd been sure Jill would keep their relationship quiet, he hadn't considered Kyle in the equation.
"Yes. We've met at least once a week for the last six months when he came to pick up my sister for dates, or weekends away," Kyle announced calmly, then smiled at Magda. "Of course, they're broken up now. I guess that means you're marrying Jill's castoff."
Dead silence fell between the four of them, during which Magda's face flushed with a mounting fury. When Ted's mouth began to work silently like a fish out of water, Kyle took Claire's arm and said, "We should circulate, but it was so nice seeing you. I do hope the two of you are as happy as you deserve to be."
Claire bit her lip at the double-edged comment as Kyle led her away. A glance over her shoulder showed Magda had turned furiously on Ted and was now berating him something fierce. If he wasn't such a jerk, Claire might almost have felt sorry for the man.
Shaking her head, she turned to Kyle and murmured, "You handled that beautifully. Ted lost his smug look in a hurry."
"Yes, but Jill will be upset with me, I suppose," he said on a sigh.
"I don't think she will. You put both of them in their place with the 'Jill's castoff' crack," Claire said with amusement. "Besides, she has a special date herself tonight, one that should finish setting Magda and Ted on their ears."
"Really?" Kyle asked with interest. "Who?"
Claire bit her lip and hesitated, unsure how to answer. He was going to be shocked enough when he saw Jill enter — seemingly on the arm of Brad Cruise. In the end, Claire decided to let Jill deal with it and shook her head. "You'll see soon enough."
Kyle peered at her closely. For a minute, she feared he might press the issue, but he apparently decided to let it go. He merely asked if she'd care for a drink, then moved toward the bar.
Claire peered around at the other attendees as she waited. At least half the tables were filled. No doubt most of the attendees would show up over the next half hour before she slipped out to the parking lot. Jill and her "date" would probably be nearly the last, if not the last people to arrive, which was just as Jill wanted it. If everyone was seated for the meal when they entered, it meant absolutely everyone would see who — or who they would believe — was on her arm as she sashayed in.
Claire took a deep breath and tried not to let panic overwhelm her as she thought about what was to come. She and Jill had discussed it in detail before she'd left with Kyle for the reunion, trying to cover every possible problem with their plan. The first issue to crop up was her voice. While Claire could make herself look like Brad Cruise, nothing she could do would make her sound like the man. They had decided she wasn't to talk. Jill would claim she — he, Claire corrected herself, he — Brad Cruise — had a bad case of laryngitis. Claire had also insisted on no autographs; it was one thing to pretend to be Brad Cruise at a school reunion, and quite another to indulge in forgery by signing his autograph for a couple hundred people.
"They didn't have Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so I got you Montepulciano."
Claire glanced up and smiled as Kyle offered her a glass of wine. "Thank you."
Kyle nodded, his eyes moving over her solemnly as he took a sip of his own drink. Lowering the glass, he asked, "How do you feel? Any ill effects from this afternoon?"
Claire shook her head quickly and told herself she wasn't lying as she took a sip of wine. After all, being able to shape-shift wasn't necessarily an "ill effect," was it? Sighing, she lowered her glass and glanced around. The tables had been set up around the outside of the large room, leaving a wide space to dance in, and couples were out there now sweeping along to a ten-year-old love song.
"Would you like to dance?" Kyle asked, following her gaze.
Claire hesitated and nearly said no, but it would have been a lie. She really would like to dance, she was just afraid of stumbling and making a fool of herself. Deciding to be brave, she nodded.
Kyle took her wine and set it on a table next to them. He then took Claire's arm and led her out onto the center of the floor.
Claire was as tense and sweaty as a teenager as Kyle took her in his arms. She hadn't been this nervous with a man in a long time, but then none of the men she'd dated had meant as much to her as Kyle did. She was so wired up it took a moment for her to notice that they fit perfectly together, her body matching itself to his as if fitting into a puzzle slot.
"We fit together perfectly," Kyle whispered by her ear.
Claire stiffened in surprise at his verbalizing her thoughts, then lifted her head to peer at him. He stared back, his gaze traveling over her face in a caress that she could almost feel. Her lips parted slightly of their own accord when his eyes settled there and Claire felt her breathing become more swift and shallow with anticipation. She was finally, finally going to be kissed by Kyle Lockhart, Claire thought, almost faint at the prospect. But, rather than kiss her, Kyle used a hand to urge her head back to his chest.
Claire sighed and tried to relax against him, but her mind was on the fact that he'd passed up the perfect opportunity to kiss her.
Why? She wondered. What was wrong with her? Was it her figure? Perhaps if she had larger breasts…
Claire stumbled in the dance and blinked in surprise as her neck was suddenly forced to bend farther forward to keep her head on Kyle's chest. For a moment she didn't understand what had happened, then she realized her breasts had suddenly grown between them, like two balloons inflating.
"Er… Claire?" Kyle said uncertainly, apparently noticing something was amiss.
"Oh God," Claire breathed and squeezed her eyes closed, thinking Go away, go away, go away.
"Claire?" Kyle pulled back and she forced her eyes open, relieved to find her chest normal-sized again.
"Yes?" She raised her head to his, but Kyle was peering at her cleavage with confusion.
After a moment, he shook his head. "I thought — "
"Kyle! Is that you?"
Claire and Kyle broke apart to peer at the excited man suddenly standing beside them.
"It is you!" the man said. He had boyish good looks and a full head of dark hair, but was almost painfully short at a couple of inches less than five feet. It was his height that helped Claire to recognize him right away.
"Bobby Loth," she said, happy for the distraction.
"Claire! You remember me!" he said with surprised pleasure.
"Of course, I do." Claire smiled. Bobby had been in the science club with them; intelligent and good-humored, he'd been a good friend in high school.
"Who could forget you, Bobby?" Kyle asked lightly. "How are you, old friend."
"Good." Bobby beamed as they shook hands, then stepped back to catch the arm of a petite brunette waiting shyly a step behind him. "This is my wife, Meredith. Meredith, this is Kyle and Claire."
Claire and Kyle smiled and said hello. The four of them stood talking on the dance floor for several minutes, before moving to collect their drinks and settle at a table together. The conversation continued, but Claire was slightly distracted as she kept one eye on the wire-covered clock on the wall. As pleasant as she found the interlude with Bobby and his wife, Claire just couldn't relax. It was almost a relief when it was time to leave. At least it meant an end to her tense waiting.
Excusing herself — ostensibly to visit the ladies' room — Claire slipped from the table and made her escape.
"Right on time," Jill said cheerfully as Claire slid into the front passenger seat of her car a moment later. She was obviously looking forward to what was to come. Claire wasn't. There were too many things that could go wrong.
"Thanks," she murmured as Jill handed her the photos. She handed back the snapshot of herself, then took the picture of Brad Cruise they'd ripped out of the magazine and hesitated as she squinted at it in the dark. "I don't suppose you brought a flashlight or something?"
"No, I didn't think of it. Just a minute." Jill dug through her purse briefly, then held out a small item.
"A lighter?" Claire asked with surprise as she took it. "You don't smoke."
"Ted smoked cigars once in a while and always forgot his lighter."
"Oh." Claire glanced around nervously, but the parking lot appeared empty. She flicked the lighter on and concentrated on the picture once more.
"Perfect."
The one word from Jill a moment later told Claire she'd finished the change. She let the lighter go out with relief. It had started to get warm under her thumb, distracting her, but she'd feared letting it go out before she was done.
"Okay?" Claire asked, lifting her head.
Jill flicked the interior car light on just long enough to look her over, then flicked it back off to avoid attracting attention.
"As I said, perfect," she assured her. "Come on."
Sighing, Claire slid out of the car and walked around to meet her, then handed back the magazine photo for her to put away.
"Take my arm, like a gentleman," Jill instructed as they started toward the entrance to the school.
Claire took her arm, and mentally reminded herself that she was now a man, so she should pull out chairs, take Jill's arm, and all those other little courtesies.
"What are you doing?"
Claire glanced at Jill with surprise. "What do you mean?"
"You're swaying your hips."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. You're walking like a girl."
"I am a girl," Claire said with irritation.
"Not tonight you're not," Jill said firmly. "Think manly, try to swagger. And don't talk."
"Anything else?" Claire asked dryly.
"Yes." Jill patted her hand and said, "Thank you… By the way, how is the date with Kyle going?"
"Good… until I had to come out here," Claire said, then recalled the incident with Magda and Ted and quickly related it to Jill who — fortunately — wasn't upset.
The registration table was empty when they reached the gym. They truly were going to be the last to enter. Jill paused outside the closed gym doors, took a deep breath, then glanced at her and said, "Show time. Just smile and nod and agree with anything I say. Okay?"
Against her better judgment, Claire nodded her agreement, then added, "Just don't leave me alone."
"Like I'd abandon Brad Cruise in the same room with a bimbo like Magda on the loose," Jill said dryly, then pushed through the door. Still holding her arm, Claire pushed her own door open and entered with her, noting that everyone was now seated and servers were moving through the tables delivering the first entrée.
"Perfect," Jill whispered, pausing just inside the doors to peer around. Their entrance had not gone unnoticed. Several people had turned their way to see who had entered, then more people looked toward them as the first people nudged those next to them. A loud whispering began to move through the crowd, most of it made up of the name "Brad Cruise."
Claire forced herself to keep her head upright and not flinch and shrink behind Jill. She couldn't have anyway; Jill was now sailing forward, forcing Claire to accompany her.
"Where are we going to sit?" Claire asked, bending her head to Jill's ear so she wasn't overheard.
"We're sitting with Kyle."
"What?" Claire's eyes widened in horror. "But — "
"That way we can distract him from noticing you're gone, so you don't have to turn back so soon."
Claire thought this was a very bad idea, but it was too late to stop it; they were already halfway to the table where Kyle sat gaping at their approach. And no wonder, she supposed. It must be a bit disconcerting to see your sister enter the reunion on the arm of the biggest film star in the world.
"Where are Magda and Ted?" Jill asked as they neared the table where Kyle, Bobby, and Meredith sat in a frozen tableau.
"I don't know," Claire murmured, her gaze swiveling to the right, then pausing as she found the pair several tables over from their own. The couple were gaping openmouthed, but then everyone was, Claire thought as she whispered to Jill to look to their right. When she did, Jill's shoulders straightened and a look of satisfaction crossed her face that made Claire glad she'd agreed to this. She just hoped she still felt that way at the end of the night.
"Magda is ready to shriek and Ted looks like he just ate his shorts," Jill said, glancing at Claire with amusement. The amusement vanished abruptly, and she forced them to a halt not three feet from the table.
"What is it?" Claire hissed urgently as she noted the alarm on her friend's face.
Jill hesitated, then turned to fully face her. She put one hand on Claire's chest and leaned up as if to kiss her. Claire instinctively turned her head to the side to avoid the kiss and hissed, "No kissing. I'm still Claire."
"Right," Jill murmured, then Claire gasped as Jill took her hand away, ripping the Claire name tag away with it, as she added wryly, "No need to advertise it though."
The name tag had remained when she had changed. It was little things like this that were likely to catch them up in this charade, Claire thought grimly, but merely caught Jill's arm in her hand as the blond continued on to the table.
"Sorry we're late," Jill sang gaily as Kyle got to his feet.
"Jill," Kyle greeted, but his gaze was locked on Claire… or "Brad" really, she supposed. His expression was a combination of confusion and suspicion, then he turned his gaze to his sister to say, "I didn't think you were coming tonight."
"Brad changed my mind," she said lightly.
"Jill, is that you?" Bobby Loth got to his feet as well to greet her, and Claire had no doubt Jill was grateful for the distraction. The blond turned quickly to greet the man and be introduced to Meredith, which — unfortunately — left Claire alone to face Kyle.
"Kyle Lockhart," he introduced himself and held out his hand.
Claire automatically put her hand in it, forgetting that she was supposed to be a guy and should be giving a firm handshake. She barely held back her wince as his hand squeezed her own.
"And you are?" Kyle asked when she kept her mouth shut.
Much to Claire's relief, Jill had been paying attention and suddenly whirled back saying, "Oh Kyle, you know who this is. Unfortunately Brad has a bad case of laryngitis, which is why I wasn't sure I would be coming after all when Ted bowed out, but Brad bravely agreed to accompany me."
Claire blinked as Jill pressed a kiss to her cheek, then allowed her to urge her to a seat at the table. Jill had the good sense to seat her between herself and Meredith, keeping her away from Kyle and his questions. Claire felt herself relax a little as Meredith offered her a shy smile, until she quietly asked if "Brad" could sign her table napkin. Before Claire could panic too much, Jill leaned around Claire/Brad to say, "I'm sorry, Meredith. The one promise I had to make to get Brad here was that he wouldn't have to sign autographs. He hurt his wrist on set a couple weeks ago and he's trying to rest it up before he starts a new movie next week."
"Oh, I think I heard something about that," Meredith said with understanding. "Didn't you fall off a horse while filming your last movie and land badly on your wrist?"
Claire turned blankly to Jill, who nodded solemnly and told Meredith, "He was lucky it was just a sprain and he didn't break it."
Claire inwardly shook her head as Meredith cooed sympathetically. Honestly, where did they find out all this stuff? And why waste their time on it? The only thing she knew about Brad Cruise was that he was rich, good-looking, and an actor. Jill and Meredith seemed to know all sorts of details about him.
"You don't have name tags."
Claire stiffened at Kyle's sharp comment, but Jill merely turned to smile at her brother. "The registration table was empty when we got here. I guess we were a bit late."
Kyle nodded and Claire was just starting to relax again when he said, "But it looked like it was a name tag you ripped off… Brad's chest as you approached the table."
Claire felt her eyes widen in alarm. They hadn't been far from the table when Jill had noted the Claire name tag and ripped it off. Had Kyle seen and been able to read it before his sister could take it away?
"Brad was at a press conference before picking me up and still had his star pass on," Jill lied glibly. "I removed it."
"Hmmm." Kyle was silent for a minute, then glanced to the side. "I wonder what's holding Claire up?"
"Oh, you know women's washrooms, they always have a terrible line. She's probably still waiting to get into a stall."
Kyle turned his head slowly back and Claire felt the hair rise on the back of her neck at the look in his eyes. She'd seen it before. It was his "aha!" look and she nearly closed her eyes with a groan when he said, "Did I mention she'd gone to the ladies' room?"
Jill looked taken aback for a minute, then improvised with "I just assumed. Where else would she be?"
Much to Claire's relief, Bobby leaned toward Kyle then, claiming his attention, but she was tense now and impatient to get to the bathroom and return as Claire. They had agreed that she would stay through the entrée as Brad, then Jill would remind him he had to make a phone call and she could escape to change back. The entrée couldn't come quick enough for her.
Claire only grew more impatient to escape as the next twenty minutes passed. A few of their braver ex-classmates began to approach the table, eager to tell "Brad" how much they enjoyed his movies and requesting autographs. Jill did an excellent job of fending them off for her, but it was disconcerting to have people — mostly women — gushing to her about how "wonderful" he was. It was a great relief when Jill finally said, "Oh Brad, you were supposed to call your agent. Maybe you should do it now before the main course arrives."
"How can he make a phone call? I thought he had laryngitis," Kyle commented.
Claire had just closed her hand around the pictures Jill had passed to her under the table and started to get to her feet, but froze like a deer in headlights at this comment.
"Yes, of course. I'd better go with him then, hadn't I?" Jill said sweetly.
"He knows," Claire hissed as they headed for the exit at the back of the gymnasium, knowing the washrooms were in the side hall.
"No he doesn't," Jill assured her. "How could he? Kyle doesn't have any idea the destabilizer can do this. It's only supposed to cause a chameleonlike effect, remember? He's just freaked out that I have a date with a big star."
Claire was about to remind her that she didn't really have a date with a big star, when Jill suddenly cursed and began to urge her to move faster.
"Ted and Magda are closing in," she hissed.
"Great," Claire muttered as they hurried out of the gym. They hadn't gone far when Ted called out after them.
Gritting her teeth, Jill gave her a push. "Go on, I'll handle them."
Hand tightening on the pictures she still clutched, Claire hurried for the bathrooms, slowly becoming aware of the tap of high-heeled shoes following her. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to find Jill had only paused long enough to make some quick excuse, then had followed, but instead, found that Jill had been stopped in the hall by Ted and it was Magda trailing after her.
The Barbie doll look-alike gave her a sultry smile and picked up speed in an effort to catch up. Claire just panicked. Her heart lodged itself in her throat, and she broke into a run for the last few feet, and sped into the bathroom. Relaxing a little once the door swung shut behind her, Claire slowed to a walk and glanced around, relieved to find the bathroom was empty.
She walked into the first empty booth, and started to close the stall door, then heard the bathroom door open again. Surprised, Claire paused, blinking at Magda as the woman hurried into the bathroom. The blond's steps didn't even slow; Magda rushed forward and straight into the booth, placing one hand on Claire's chest and forcing her back against the stall wall as she closed and locked the stall door with her other hand.
 
 
Chapter 4
 
"Oh Brad."
Claire stared in horror as Magda pressed eagerly up against her.
"I saw you notice me when you came in with Jill, and felt sure you'd want me. How clever of you to lead me to the ladies' room."
Oh dear, Claire thought faintly. She'd unthinkingly entered the ladies' room rather than the men's room and Magda was taking that as a come-on. And she couldn't talk to explain otherwise.
Catching at Magda's hands as they wandered over her wide "Brad Cruise" chest, Claire used the only avenue of communication she had open to her and shook her head firmly. She then tried to slip past her to unbolt the door and get out; however, Magda wasn't cooperating.
Laughing as if she thought "Brad" was playing games, Magda shook her hands free to again run them over "Brad's" body. "Don't worry. Ted will keep Jill busy. He's been steaming ever since we saw you arrive. Let them have their fun. We can have our own. I promise I'll show you a better time than that homely little wannabe ever could."
Claire stiffened, indignant on her friend's behalf. Magda was a cow, a man-stealing cow, she decided grimly, then found her ability to think buried under an avalanche of shock as Magda suddenly kissed her. For one moment, Claire was so stupefied she couldn't think. When her brain did manage to function again, the only thing it spat out was the fact that in high school, the boys had all claimed Magda was an awesome kisser. Claire was no expert, but to her, Magda's kiss was limp and sloppy. Wait till Jill heard, she thought, then regained enough sense to begin to struggle.
Claire didn't have to struggle hard this time. While she had been distracted by Magda's kiss, the other woman had slid her hand down to where Brad's groin should have been… and got the surprise of her life.
Breaking the kiss, Magda said with shock, "You don't have a penis!"
"Yeah, well you're a rotten kisser," Claire growled in as manly a voice as she could manage. She then shoved her away, pushing her in the only direction available to her, toward the toilet. Unfortunately for the blond, it had obviously been cleaned recently and the toilet seat had been left up. Magda shrieked as she landed with a splash, then began to thrash and struggle to get out.
Claire didn't wait to see if she did. Unbolting the door, she hurried from the stall and straight out of the bathroom. She didn't hesitate or glance around, but charged straight out of the women's washroom and across the hall into the men's room, then into the first open stall she saw.
Slamming the booth door closed, Claire leaned her forehead against it and took several deep breaths, then groaned. This was bad. Magda would go out and tell everyone that Brad didn't have a penis and Jill would be upset and —
"Claire? Brad?"
Stilling at the sound of Jill's voice, Claire unbolted the door, opened it, and dragged Jill inside. "We have a problem."
"What happened?" Jill asked anxiously as she relocked the stall door. "I saw Magda follow you into the ladies' room."
"She kissed me," Claire blurted with disgust, then added, "And she is a really bad kisser. All those guys in high school must have been lying their heads off. They probably hadn't even kissed her, because there is no way they would have thought what she gave me was a good kiss."
Jill stared at her blankly and then burst out laughing.
"Go on, laugh," Claire muttered. "But you won't be laughing when you hear the rest."
Jill stopped at once, her eyes narrowing warily. "What?"
"She grabbed me, only there was nothing to grab."
Jill blinked, slow to comprehend. "You mean… " Her gaze dropped to "Brad's" groin.
"Yes."
Jill frowned. "You mean, you don't have a 'package'?"
"Was there a package in the picture?" Claire asked dryly, then answered herself, "No. There were pants. I have pants. No package."
"Oh, that's just wrong," Jill said unhappily and then dug around in her purse, coming up with a black marker. "Give me the picture."
Perplexed, Claire handed over the pictures she'd been clutching through all this and watched in amazement as Jill put a noticeable bump in Brad's pants in the magazine photo. "What are you — ?"
"There! Now concentrate on the picture and give yourself a package."
"I'm supposed to be turning back to myself, Jill. I'm here with Kyle tonight, too."
"Not till we clear this matter up," she said firmly. When Claire opened her mouth to argue, Jill added, "You agreed to be my date first."
Sighing, Claire lowered her head and concentrated on the picture, giving herself a definite bump where Brad's package should have been.
"Nice," Jill said with approval, then turned to unlock the stall door. "Now we'd better get out of here before another guy comes in and sees us. Everyone would think we were having sex or something."
Jill had opened the stall door, but now paused as if reconsidering how bad an idea it would be for everyone to think she was having sex in the bathroom with Brad Cruise. Claire gave her a determined push forward. She just wanted to get this over with so she could get back to her date.
"What is it?" Jill asked as they left the men's room.
Claire followed her gaze to her new bump and shrugged. "A bump. Just a bump."
"Yeah, but what's it look like under there?" Jill reached for the zipper of her trousers, but Claire knocked her hand away.
"There is no under there. Under there is me, remember? This is me. There are no clothes. It's really all just me."
"Right," Jill said slowly and gave an abrupt nod. "We need to find a picture of Brad naked."
"What?" Claire asked with disbelief and then snapped, "Do not even think it."
"Oh please," Jill pleaded. "Just once. You could keep your mouth shut and I could have my fantasy night. You'd never have to buy me a birthday gift or Christmas present ever again." She tried the pitiful expression that always worked on Claire, but this time she wasn't falling for it. This whole Brad nonsense was ruining her date with Kyle, a date she'd waited forever for. She was all out of sympathy.
"You've lost your mind," Claire snapped impatiently. "These are my lips, my eyes looking out, and my brain. I am not Brad Cruise and neither am I a lesbian, and I am so not having sex with you."
Jill sighed, giving up the attempt to talk her into it. "Yeah… I get it. Too bad though." She suddenly reached out to poke at the lump. "Where does it feel like I'm poking you?"
"My leg," Claire answered.
"Really?" She poked some more. "That's kind of weird, isn't it? I guess it means that leg cells were used to make up the lump and — "
"Jill! Magda was just telling Maureen and me — "
Claire and Jill glanced over with surprise as Meredith rushed out of the women's room with Maureen on her heels. Her words had died abruptly and she gaped as she spotted Jill standing there with her hand on "Brad's package."
"What?" Maureen peered over Meredith's shoulder with curiosity at her sudden silence, then said, "Oh," as she took in what appeared to be Jill caught feeling up the superstar.
"Sorry," Jill said, retracting her hand as Claire flushed with embarrassment. "I was… er… talking to Brad. What is it Magda was saying?"
Meredith hesitated, exchanging a glance with Maureen, then she grabbed Jill's arm and pulled her several feet away. The three women went into a huddle and began to whisper in earnest.
Claire shook her head, wondering if this night would ever end. As abruptly as it had started, the huddle broke apart. Meredith and Maureen threw Claire/Brad almost leering smiles as they rushed off back toward the gymnasium.
"Well?" Claire asked as Jill returned to her side. "What did they say?"
"That Magda kissed you in the women's washroom and felt you up and you had no package."
"Shoot. I was afraid of that." Claire sighed. "What did you say?"
"That Magda was just jealous. That she dragged you into the bathroom, threw herself at you, kissed you and you said she was a lousy kisser and gave her the brush off and she's jealous so she's spreading false stories."
"Smart," Claire said with a smile.
"Yeah. It helps that Brad Cruise did that full frontal nudity scene in the British movie he did last year. There was a definite package there."
Claire blinked. "That was like a split second on the screen, too fast to see anything."
"You've never heard of pause?" Jill asked, arching one eyebrow.
"You paused it to see him nude?" she asked with disbelief.
"Me and twenty million other women. Why do you think the DVD sold so well?"
"Dear God," Claire muttered. "I am so seeing a side of you I didn't know about."
"Sure you knew about it," Jill countered. "You know me better than anyone. Maybe it's just different because you're a guy now. Kind of."
"Could be." Claire sighed and promised herself she would never again slag men for being pigs. Women could be just as bad. "Now that the crisis is handled, can I change back into me?"
"Yeah, go on."
Claire turned back to the men's room with relief, only to stiffen as she noted the door was cracked open. As she stared, it opened the rest of the way, revealing the man who had been listening to everything.
"Kyle!" Claire squawked and then covered her mouth with horror at having given the gig away.
Kyle arched his eyebrows sternly, but merely said, "I find it hard to believe that neither of you thought to check to see if you were alone in the bathroom before talking so freely. Anyone might have heard you."
"But how did you get here?" Jill asked with dismay. "We left you at the table."
"I followed."
"When? I didn't see you," Jill said with bewilderment.
"You were busy talking to Ted when I slipped by. Telling him you weren't interested in his offer to start dating again," he added dryly.
"He had the balls to ask you out again?" Claire asked with amazement, then smiled. "So you got to be the dumper after all."
"It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be," Jill told her morosely. "Really, he turned out to be a major greaseball."
Claire started to pat her back in sympathy, then gave a startled bleat as Kyle suddenly tugged her into the men's room.
"Hey!" Jill followed them, but Kyle just dragged Claire into a booth and slammed the door in his sister's face.
"Would you care to explain?" he asked as he bolted the door.
Claire opened her mouth, but he forestalled her by saying, "On second thought, don't bother. I heard enough to understand. I gather the destabilizer had an effect after all?"
"Did it!" Jill snorted from outside the booth even as Claire nodded.
Kyle tossed a glare toward the door, but merely asked, "More than the chameleon effect?"
"Yes," Claire said reluctantly. "I can shape-shift."
"I take it you discovered this while I was at the grocery store?"
Claire nodded again.
"And you didn't tell me when I came back."
Claire eyed him warily. Kyle's expression was blank; no emotion showing at all, but there was something in his voice that suggested he wasn't at all happy.
"Why?" he finally asked, allowing his anger to now show.
"Because she didn't want you to see her as a lab rat," Jill answered from outside the booth when Claire hesitated.
"A lab rat?" Kyle unlocked the door and jerked it open to glare at his sister.
Jill immediately squeezed inside, forcing Claire to move between the toilet and one wall of the booth.
Kyle hesitated, then pushed the stall door closed and bolted it again. "What do you mean she didn't want me to see her as a lab rat?"
"Well, you're a scientist," Jill pointed out with a shrug, as if that said it all. Then she added, "And you'd finally just asked her out after the two of you have mooned over each other for years. Claire didn't want to spoil it by telling you what had happened. She was afraid the scientist in you would start to see her as an experimental subject rather than a date."
Kyle hesitated for a moment, then opened the door again and pushed his sister out.
"Hey! You can't leave me out here," Jill protested as he locked the door again. "What if someone comes in?"
"Then get out of the men's room," Kyle suggested.
There was a moment of silence, then the tap of Jill's high heels moved into the booth on their right as she said, "Not on your life, brother. This is partially my fault and I am not leaving you two alone to screw things up."
Kyle rolled his eyes and sighed, but turned to Claire and said, "I may be a scientist, Claire, but I could never see you as just an experiment. I am a man, too."
A snort came from overhead, drawing their attention to the fact that Jill had apparently mounted the toilet to look over the top of the stall.
"Will you leave us alone?" Kyle asked with exasperation.
"Not till I straighten this out," Jill insisted. "I love you two too much to see you ruin this chance."
Kyle opened his mouth to snap at her, then seemed to change his mind. "Okay, say what you have to say and then go."
Jill nodded her satisfaction, and turned to Claire. "See, he isn't as stupid as most men. He knows women are better at communication and lets me talk."
Claire bit her lip to keep back a laugh and nodded solemnly.
"So, Kyle," Jill turned her attention to her brother. "Claire's liked you forever. I've listened to her moan over you since we were twelve, and if you think it's easy hearing someone rhapsodize over your brother, think again. But she was my friend and she liked you, so I put up with it. And Claire." She turned to Claire now. "Kyle has been secretly lusting after you for just as long. He's had a snapshot of you in his wallet since he started carrying a wallet, and he has another bigger picture of you hidden in his top drawer at home."
"How did you know — " Kyle began, but Jill cut him off.
"Today, you" — she glared at her brother — "finally had the nerve to ask her out, and Claire accepted. Unfortunately, she'd already agreed to help me out tonight. The only fair solution was to do both. She didn't want to," Jill added. "She just wanted to go out with you, but I blackmailed her into it by threatening to tell you about her new… er… abilities. Okay? Now kiss and make up."
There was a moment of silence as Kyle surveyed Claire/Brad, then he raised his eyes to his sister and said succinctly, "Out."
Jill opened her mouth as if to protest, then seemed to think better of it and shrugged. "I'll be waiting in the hall."
She disappeared from the top of the booth and they heard the tap of her heels as she exited the stall and left the men's room.
Kyle sighed with relief and turned to Claire.
She stared up at him wide-eyed, her palms suddenly sweaty at the idea of his finally kissing her, but after a hesitation, Kyle cleared his throat and shook his head. "I know it's you in there, but do you think you could change back to yourself now? I really don't want to kiss you as Brad."
"Oh." Claire jerked up the pictures she still held in her hand and switched the snapshot of her to the top. She hesitated, suddenly shy, but then bowed her head and concentrated on the picture.
"Wow," Kyle breathed and Claire relaxed and peered down at herself to see she was back in the black satin dress. She was herself again. Claire glanced up.
"There you are," he said gently and lifted his hand to caress one cheek, then before she was quite ready, his mouth dropped to cover hers.
Claire stilled, her heart thumping in her chest as Kyle kissed her, then she released a little moan and relaxed against him. For one moment, she'd feared what would happen. What if his kiss wasn't all she'd imagined it would be? Reality would be hard pressed to compare to more than ten years of fantasy, but there was nothing to fear. Unlike Magda, Kyle knew how to kiss. His mouth was firm on hers, slanting over her own and sending her pulse racing as he slid his tongue out to urge her mouth open.
She opened for him, welcoming him in with an excited gasp that died abruptly as the bathroom door opened outside the stall. They both stood frozen, listening for Jill's tapping shoes, but there was no tapping.
Releasing her, Kyle moved to the door and peered out at the room beyond through the crack between door and stall. Claire guessed by his frown, and the fact that he didn't berate Jill, that someone else had entered the bathroom. A man, she presumed since it was a men's room.
Kyle turned back and raised a finger to his lips to warn her to silence, then a stall door farther down the row squeaked as it was opened. Kyle waited until it had closed, then unlocked their door, and led her quickly out of the stall.
"You changed back!" Jill cried on spotting them.
"Of course, she did," Kyle said with irritation. "She's my date too."
"Yes, but — " Jill said, then hesitated, her expression calculating before she said, "I'll make a deal with you. She changes back to Brad so that we can leave together, then she's all yours for the rest of the night."
Claire's eyes widened with surprise. "You don't want me to continue being your date too?"
"No. There's no need to carry on the charade. Everyone's seen me with Brad Cruise. That's all I wanted. Besides, it's ruining your date." She glanced from Claire to Kyle. "And it's not like you can talk anyway. So it's like a serious instance of show and tell. Well I've shown, and told them enough. I can go home happy now."
Claire felt Kyle relax beside her and knew he was feeling the same relief now coursing through her.
"Then, too," Jill added with an evil grin, "they'll all just think I went home to have hot monkey sex with Brad Cruise anyway. And if they don't, I'll be sure to spread the rumor myself."
"Hot monkey sex?" Claire echoed with disbelief. "I've got news for you, Jill, I've seen two monkeys have sex and it's not pretty."
"She's right," Kyle informed his sister. "Not pretty at all."
"Oh God!" Jill shook her head with despair. "Honestly, the pair of you deserve each other. You're both pathetic. Sex between any species is not pretty. It's not supposed to be. It's — " She stopped abruptly, then said, "Eww! You mean like you two have stood there and watched monkeys have sex? That's sick!"
Claire and Kyle exchanged glances, but Kyle spoke first. "I saw them at University when I was working as a T.A. in the lab. I didn't stand there and watch, but I saw enough."
"Well, I did watch," Claire admitted with a bit of embarrassment. "But it was part of my job at the time, we were studying… " She paused and shook her head. "Never mind. Let's get me changed and get you and Brad out of here, so Kyle and I can have our date."
"Good idea." Jill led her into the empty women's washroom, and into a stall.
"Hey!" she protested when Kyle squeezed in with them.
"I want to see," Kyle said.
"Well, get up on the toilet seat then," Jill ordered after a hesitation. "That way if anyone enters and peers under the stall door it won't look so weird. They'll just see that two women are in here."
"And that's not weird?" Kyle asked with disbelief.
"Not as weird as two women and a man," she pointed out dryly. "We could just be gossiping, or comforting one another over something. Just get on the toilet," she finished when he stared in doubt.
Shrugging, Kyle carefully maneuvered himself to stand on the toilet seat and Jill relaxed and turned to Claire. "Okay, go for it."
Claire lifted the pictures and switched her own to the bottom so that Brad Cruise smiled back at her. She cast an almost apologetic glance Kyle's way, then turned her attention to the picture. Claire had barely begun to concentrate on the magazine photo when the outer bathroom door opened. Jill half jerked around toward the stall door at the sound, bumping Claire's hand. She gasped with alarm as the pictures slipped from her fingers. They shot down like paper airplanes, curving to the side on a draft and sliding under the divider between the stalls.
Instinct made Claire bend to grab for them, but then she froze as the door to the neighboring stall suddenly opened. Hissing with alarm, Jill caught at her arm to bring her upright even as Claire saw that she was now wearing the black blazer of Brad Cruise. It seemed she'd managed to change into Brad that quickly. Amazing, she thought, retracting her suit-covered arm before it could be seen. Claire straightened once more and the three of them exchanged slightly embarrassed grimaces as they waited for the woman to finish her business and leave.
All three breathed a sigh of relief when the toilet next door finally flushed and the door opened. Claire immediately bent and peered at the floor in the next stall, frowning when she saw that there was only one picture there now. It was the snapshot, she saw, and it had come to rest near the opposite side of the next stall, too far away for her to reach it at the moment.
"Where's the other one? Where's Brad?" Jill asked in a bare whisper against her ear and Claire shrugged her confusion.
"What is it?" Kyle hissed from his perch on the toilet. They straightened and whispered the explanation to him. All three stared at each other blankly, each trying to sort out where the picture might have gone as they listened to the sound of water running in the sinks in the main part of the bathroom, then Jill's eyes widened. Lifting her eyebrows in question, she jerked a thumb toward the door.
Claire stared at her, taking a minute to realize she was suggesting the woman who had entered must have picked it up. Frowning over the possibility, Claire moved to press her face to the crack on one side of the door. Jill promptly crowded up next to her to peer out the crack on the other side.
Claire had a pretty good view of the girl through the crack as she turned off the taps and walked over to the hand drier, good enough to see that she wasn't carrying any pictures in her hand. There didn't appear to be any pockets in the form-fitting black dress the woman was wearing either, she noted.
Claire was about to pull away from the crack and kneel to give the floor of the next booth a more thorough look over, when Kyle gave a "psst." Both she and Jill glanced over their shoulders to find he'd stood up on the toilet to look out at the room. Obviously he'd seen something they'd missed, for he was gesturing down toward his feet. Claire glanced down, didn't see anything and glanced back up to find Kyle pointing toward the door.
Claire turned back to her crack and peered out, this time focusing on the woman's legs, then feet. At first she didn't see anything, then as the girl finished at the hand drier and turned to walk out of the room, her eyes widened incredulously at the sight of the folded magazine photo stuck to the bottom of one high-heeled shoe.
 
 
Chapter 5
 
"That is so me," Claire muttered as the door closed behind the girl with the picture-bearing shoe.
"What do you mean?" Kyle asked, stepping off the toilet. It left him standing behind her, his chest against her back in the small space.
"I'm usually the girl with the toilet paper trailing behind her on her way out of the bathroom," Claire explained with a wry twist of her lips.
"Yeah well, she's walking out with my date under her heel," Jill said with disgust. "Kind of like Magda with Ted under her thumb."
"Maybe," Kyle commented. "But I can't think of a guy more deserving of Magda than Ted. God, what an arrogant ass he turned out to be."
"Yeah," Claire agreed. "And I thought I had bad taste."
"Thank you very much," Kyle said with amusement and Claire flushed.
"I meant other than you, of course," she amended. "Most of the guys I've dated — aside from you — have been total turds like Ted."
"Thank you very much for pointing out what bad taste I have," Jill said shortly.
"Oh, that's not what I meant," Claire said quickly.
"Yeah. He had me fooled, too, Jill," Kyle assured her.
Slightly mollified, Jill sighed and gestured Claire out of the way. "Back up. I'll go get the other picture. God! Why couldn't it have been your picture she walked out with?"
"Well I'm glad it was Brad," Claire countered, backing into the small bit of space between the toilet and the side wall to leave room for Kyle and Jill to juggle around and get the stall door open. "I'm already Brad Cruise."
"Hardly," Jill snorted, managing to struggle her way out of the booth.
Claire frowned as the stall door swung closed on her back, then turned to Kyle to ask, "What does she mean, 'hardly'?"
Kyle hesitated, his expression pained.
Jill's voice came from the stall next door. "You're only half changed."
Claire's head jerked sideways at the announcement and then she tugged the stall door open and hurried to the mirror over the sink to peer at her reflection.
"Oh my God," Claire breathed with horror. Some of the features staring back at her were her own. She was looking at her green eyes and her little turned-up nose, but they rested above Brad Cruise's mouth and chin with the five o'clock shadow. Her hair was a strange mix of short light brown hair and long red waves, and her body… well… it was a mishmash of Brad and Claire. She had the jacket and pants from his suit, but the pants ended above her knees and she also had boobs. They didn't go well with the bulge between her legs that was his "package."
"This is a nightmare," she breathed, no longer caring which picture it was so long as it was a whole somebody. She could not leave the bathroom looking like this, and while she could turn back to herself without a picture, she would be naked.
"It's all right," Kyle murmured, slipping out of the stall to pat her back as he met her gaze in the mirror. "We'll fix it with the other picture."
"Oh dear."
Claire turned sharply toward the stalls as Jill came out with the remaining picture in hand. "Oh dear, what?"
"Nothing. It'll be fine," Jill said quickly, suddenly picking at the picture, then she paused and said, "Oh no."
"Oh no? Don't say 'oh no.'" Claire started forward to take the picture, but Jill suddenly frowned at her as if just realizing she was out of the stall.
"What are you doing?" she cried. "Get back in the stall! Someone could see you." Holding the picture out of Claire's reach, she grabbed her with her free hand and wrestled her into the stall, then slammed the door behind them and sighed.
"Jill?" Kyle asked from the other side of the door and she grimaced, then opened the door again and waved him in. She waited until they were all situated in their original places again before locking the stall door once more.
"Tell me," Claire ordered grimly.
Jill sighed, then held out the snapshot. Claire snatched it from her hand, peered down and nearly bit off her own tongue. The picture had landed facedown on a wad of gum. The girl who had used the stall must have stepped on it because it had really been worked into the picture. When Jill had tried to pick it away, the image itself had ripped off the photo backing.
"Hell," Kyle muttered.
"It will be all right," Jill assured them both as she turned to the door. "Wait here."
"Wait here?" Claire grabbed at her arm with alarm. "Where are you going?"
"The corner store is only a couple minutes away. I'll get a fan magazine with a picture of Brad in it and be right back," she assured her.
"Brad? What about her? Do you have another picture of her?" Kyle asked with concern.
"No. Unfortunately, we only took the one snapshot," Jill admitted and Kyle turned back to Claire.
"Can you do it without the picture?"
"No," she said on a sigh.
"Have you tried?" Kyle asked and Claire smiled faintly, thinking he sounded just like his sister earlier that day when she'd been coaxing her to be Brad Cruise.
"She can turn back into herself, but she'll end up naked without a picture to look at," Jill announced.
"Naked?" Kyle's gaze flickered over her in such a way she thought he might be picturing her that way. And might not necessarily think it was a bad thing.
"What time is it?" Claire asked suddenly.
"I don't know. Why?" Jill asked with confusion.
"I was just wondering how much of this double date from hell I've spent in the bathroom," she admitted, and Kyle, who had glanced at his wristwatch, now let it drop to his side without telling the time. That long, she thought with a sigh.
"Look, you two wait here and I'll go get a magazine at the store," Jill repeated.
"No. Enough of this nonsense," Kyle said. "She's not turning back into Brad. She's supposed to be Claire now."
"Well she isn't Claire now, and surely a full Brad is better than a Brad with boobs for getting her out of here?" Jill pointed out. "We can leave, then I'll take her home and she can change into herself and put on the dress and come back to finish the date with you."
While the twins continued to argue, Claire peered down at herself with a frown, recalling the incident on the dance floor when she'd accidentally made her boobs grow and then shrink. Could she do it again? Squeezing her eyes closed, she concentrated on making them go away and leaving her flat-chested.
"Oh man that is so awesome!"
Claire blinked her eyes open at Jill's words and peered down to find her chest flat.
"Can you make them grow?" Jill asked curiously.
"I believe she did on the dance floor tonight," Kyle said dryly, and Claire felt herself flush.
"It was an accident," she admitted.
"Do you know how cool this is?" Jill asked with disbelief. "A boob job without silicone or surgery. Oh Kyle, can I get zapped, too?"
"Jill!" Claire cried, staring at her with disbelief.
"No," Kyle said firmly at the same time.
Jill chose to respond to Kyle's answer, asking a plaintive "Why not?"
"We don't know what side effects there are," he said as if explaining things to a child. "There could be all sorts of repercussions to this kind of molecular alteration. Her cells are now unstable, they might — "
When he paused abruptly, Claire finished what he was reluctant to say. "They might yet break apart altogether and leave me a puddle of goo."
They were all silent for a minute, then Jill asked, "You're kidding, right?"
Kyle reached out to caress Claire's cheek, then cleared his throat and changed the subject. "You did that without a picture. Do you think you could change yourself back to yourself in a dress without a picture?"
Claire hesitated, not at all certain she could manage the trick. Her boobs were… well… her boobs. But he was talking about the whole body.
"Never mind," Kyle said suddenly. "I don't want you to do too much shifting until we're sure that it doesn't cause the cells to destabilize further."
"You mean her switching back and forth tonight might have been dangerous?" Jill asked with dismay.
Claire frowned at the possibility. It was something she hadn't considered.
"I don't know," Kyle admitted. "This is all new ground and I'm not sure what could happen. Nothing has happened to the animals so far, but they've only been changing color, not shifting their shapes."
Jill looked briefly stricken that this favor Claire had done her might have been dangerous and harmful, then she shook her head. "That's it then, switch back to yourself."
"I'll be naked," Claire pointed out with alarm.
"You can wear Kyle's suit jacket," Jill suggested.
"I am not walking out of here wearing nothing but Kyle's suit jacket," Claire said emphatically.
Kyle cleared his throat and said, "I'm afraid there are only two choices here… No, three," he corrected himself.
"Which are?" Claire asked warily, sure she wouldn't like any of them.
"One: you and I can stay here and wait while Jill drives home and fetches you some clothes."
Claire grimaced at the suggestion. Too many embarrassing situations could come out of that. They were two men in a women's washroom, after all. Well, one and a half men, she supposed.
"Two: you can leave here as you are," Kyle continued, but his expression suggested this wasn't really an option at all. Having seen herself, Claire had to agree, so she didn't even bother to comment. Instead, she prompted, "Or?"
"Or, three: you can change back to yourself and leave here naked with my jacket on," he finished with a shrug.
"No offense," Claire said unhappily. "But those options all suck."
Turning away, she leaned her head against the cool metal of the stall wall and tried to think of something herself.
"What?" Jill asked when Claire suddenly stiffened. "You have an idea?"
"Maybe. What if you went and got one of the phoebuses and I shifted into one of the teachers. I could leave here, then we could go get another present-day photo of me and — " She paused at the thunderous expressions on the faces of both Lockharts. They looked furious that she would even suggest the extra shift. "Never mind. Okay, Kyle give me your jacket."
All three of them were forced to shift and bend and juggle about to allow him to remove the suit coat, and then to do so again as she donned it. They were all hot and sweaty and relieved when it was done.
"Okay, shift," Jill instructed once Claire had the jacket on over her Brad/Claire body.
Claire closed her eyes and concentrated on being herself.
"Honest to God, Claire. You're the only woman I know who could make a man's jacket look sexy."
Claire blinked her eyes open at Jill's words.
"Am I me?" she asked, glancing down at herself, eyebrows rising at just how short the jacket was on her. Dear God, she wasn't going to be bending over any time soon.
"Oh yeah, you're you," Kyle said huskily, and Claire flushed under his admiring glance.
"Oh please," Jill said. "Let's get out of here. I can smell the hormones starting to ooze out of the two of you. And while I love you both, I'd rather not think of either of you naked doing the wild thing, especially not together." She ended her comment with a delicate little shudder of distaste that made both Claire and Kyle grimace.
"Go check and be sure the hall is empty first, Jill," Kyle suggested.
"Oh right. Be right back." She had barely slid from the stall when Kyle turned Claire into his arms and covered her mouth with his.
Claire gasped in surprise at the abrupt action and Kyle took advantage of her open mouth and thrust his tongue inside.
"Oh God!" Jill's exclamation drew them apart. "Can't you at least wait until you get her to the car?"
Claire flushed as they turned to face Kyle's sister, and Jill shook her head.
"The coast is clear if you want to leave. Or the two of you could just do it right here in the girls' bathroom and get it over with. Honestly!" Turning, she stomped back to the door muttering, "He waits forever to finally ask her out, then he's all over her. Mr. Octopus. Hands everywhere. It really is the quiet ones you have to watch."
Biting her lip, Claire hurried after Jill, aware that Kyle was at her back. She could feel his gaze traveling over the back of her bare legs and was grateful the jacket covered at least her behind.
"Damn," Kyle muttered several moments later as they stared at the third exit door they'd approached since leaving the washroom. This, like the two before it, was chained shut.
"The door by the gymnasium must be the only one they left open tonight," Jill suggested.
"They should have a second door unlocked in case of fire," Kyle said with a frown.
"Maybe they do, on the other side of the gym," Claire suggested.
Both Kyle and Jill peered at her, their gazes sliding over her skimpy wear. They had managed to avoid being seen so far. The first door they had tried had been the only one with any real risk of being seen. The last two were down halls no one had any real business being down, including themselves under normal circumstances.
"The gym bisects this end of the school," Kyle pointed out. "The only way to get to the other side is through the gym."
"Or across the stage," Claire said.
Kyle blinked. "I forgot about the stage," he acknowledged. The small gymnasium was used for plays as well as sports, or had been when they'd attended Murphy High.
"It's curtained off tonight." Jill began to grin. "We can sneak across it to the other side and slip out unseen."
"Okay." Kyle took an arm of each of them and turned back the way they'd come.
Luck seemed to be on their side, and they reached the door to the back of the stage unseen. All three of them sighed with relief as they slipped into the dark alcove at the foot of the stairs leading onstage… until the door closed, leaving them in utter blackness.
"I can't see a thing," Jill complained in a whisper, her hand grabbing at Claire's arm.
"Just wait here a minute until our eyes adjust," Kyle suggested. They waited several minutes, listening to someone giving a speech in the gymnasium itself. From the alcove, the voice was really just a low incomprehensible drone occasionally punctuated by clapping or laughter from the reunion attendees, but it was soothing in its tenor.
"Okay," Kyle said after several useless moments had passed and their vision didn't improve. "I guess this is as good as it gets. I'll lead the way. Claire, you take my hand. Jill, you hold on to Claire."
Claire almost protested that she couldn't hold the jacket closed if both her hands were occupied, but then let the matter drop. After all, it was so dark, no one would be able to see if the coat hung open. She'd just retrieve her hand before they slipped out through the door on the opposite side.
Kyle moved very slowly up the stairs to the stage. Claire followed just as slowly, carefully feeling out each step as she drew Jill behind her. Once on the stage itself, it was less difficult; the flat floor was easier to negotiate. It was also easier to hear the speech being given on the other side of the curtain up here, though Claire was too tense to listen as she blindly followed Kyle's firm hand.
Claire never considered that there might be anything on the stage itself to trip them up. Presumably, Kyle didn't either, for he moved a bit more quickly as they crossed the floor, trading caution for speed. When he suddenly came to a halt with a grunt of surprise, Claire crashed into his back, then stumbled to the side, their handhold briefly broken. Before she could tumble to the stage floor to alert those beyond the curtains that someone was onstage, she crashed into Kyle and his hands closed around her waist, steadying her.
"Sorry," Claire whispered, relaxing against him.
"What happened?" Jill hissed, tightening her hold on her hand.
"We ran into something."
"What?"
"I don't know," Claire whispered.
"Who is that?" a baritone voice asked over her head and Claire stiffened. That wasn't Kyle's voice. The hands around her tightened as if sensing she would try to break free, and Claire began to struggle in earnest, then stilled and blinked as she realized it was growing lighter… Fast.
"I give you your Prom King and Prom Queen from 19 — " The voice died mid-year and Claire whirled around as the hands holding her suddenly dropped away.
"Oh God," Claire heard Jill breathe as the stage lights suddenly went on, blinding them to the sight of the people staring at them… but highlighting them on the stage.
"You're not Claire!"
Claire's hands had gone up to shield her eyes the minute the lights blinked on. Now she turned her head toward that startled comment from Kyle and saw him almost off the stage with Magda by the hand. The blond was wearing a long red robe over her dress and a tiara on her head. She also had a furious expression on her face that said she wasn't pleased.
"Claire?"
She glanced over her shoulder at the man who had caught her when she'd stumbled and found herself staring at Jack McCarthy, the football player she'd dated in high school. He, too, wore a robe over his suit, but his head was topped by a crown.
Prom King and Prom Queen, Claire recalled the speaker saying. Magda and Jack had been the Prom King and Prom Queen the year they'd all graduated. Obviously they'd been waiting back here in their robes and crowns to be presented to their cograduates. Kyle must have stumbled into one of them, and the moment their hands had broken apart, confusion had set in. He'd ended up dragging Magda offstage, and she'd ended in Jack's arms.
The silence that had gripped the gymnasium suddenly gave way to the roar of shouts and clapping. It was so loud, Claire almost didn't hear Jill's shout. She did however, notice the way she was trying to pull the lapels of Kyle's suit coat closed over her nakedness.
Squealing in horror, Claire finished the task herself and turned her back to the pandemonium in the gymnasium, only to find herself staring at a leering Jack.
"You aged well, babe. Are you still single?" Jack asked, reaching for her.
"No, she isn't," Kyle snarled, suddenly at their side. Snatching her hand, he dragged her quickly offstage, leaving Jill to rush along behind them.
"Well, I'd say that's a reunion no one will forget," Jill gasped as they ran out of the school and hurried across the parking lot.
Claire groaned and felt her already flushed face darken a bit more. She would really rather not think about what had just happened.
"Did you see Magda's face?" Jill added. "She was furious we stole her moment."
Claire groaned again, then sighed as they reached Kyle's car and leaned weakly against the side of it.
"Cheer up, Claire," Jill said, rubbing her back. "This might have been the double date from hell, but Magda had it worse."
"Worse?" Claire asked with disbelief.
"Well sure. First she finds out her fiancé's been cheating on her from Kyle and that she's dating my castoff, then Ted goes and asks me to see him again, then Brad Cruise says she's a lousy kisser and drops her in the toilet, then her crowning moment as the Prom Queen revisited is spoiled when she's dragged offstage. At least you got a standing ovation for your figure. You were a hit."
Claire groaned and dropped her head.
"I don't think that helped, Jill," Kyle said archly. "Get in the car."
"No thanks. You two go on. I'll wait for you at home," Jill announced.
"But — " Claire straightened abruptly, feeling as if she was being abandoned.
"I have my car here and you two need to talk," Jill said firmly as she moved off.
Claire blew a breath out and glanced at Kyle. He didn't say anything, but merely unlocked and opened the passenger door of his car for her to get in, then closed it behind her. Biting her lip, she watched him move around to the driver's side to slide behind the wheel.
A moment of silence filled the dark interior and then Kyle gave a short laugh.
"What?" Claire asked warily.
"I was just thinking that you were two-timing me tonight with my own sister."
Claire grimaced. "It was more like a double date where I was both Brad and Claire."
"This night would have gone much easier if you'd just told me what was going on," Kyle pointed out.
"I know." Claire bowed her head.
"But you didn't trust me not to immediately rush you back to the lab and treat you like Thumper," he said quietly.
"No," Claire said quickly. "I mean, not really. I was just afraid you'd think I was a freak, or that you'd… "
"See you as an experimental subject rather than as yourself," he finished quietly.
Claire sighed, unable to deny it.
"That would never happen, Claire," Kyle said solemnly. "We've known each other too long for me to think of you as anything but the beautiful, intelligent young woman you are."
Claire felt tears well in her eyes, but forced them away, and quickly changed the subject to one she'd been wondering about all night. "You said you'd tell me why you didn't ask me out when we were in high school," she reminded him.
Kyle grimaced, then admitted, "Actually, it's because your father had a talk with me and asked me not to."
"My father?" Claire asked with surprise.
Kyle nodded. "He said it was obvious the two of us liked each other and that we were very compatible and would probably make a good team, but he cautioned me that I might want to wait until we were both out of school to start up anything with you. That we already knew we liked each other, so if we found we had passion together, we might do something unfortunate and become pregnant, or marry impulsively and destroy the possibility of two promising careers. He also wanted you to gain some independence and learn you could stand on your own two feet rather than move from living with your parents to living with a husband."
"Daddy said that?" she asked with outrage. Claire couldn't believe her own father had interfered in her love life that way. She was definitely going to have a chat with the man.
"He was right, Claire," Kyle said quietly. "It was better this way. You'll have your master's soon and I my doctorate. You experienced independence and know that if you aren't happy, you can leave and take care of yourself. You've also dated other men and I've dated other women, so we'll never wonder what we were missing out on."
Claire blinked. "That sounds rather long-term, Kyle."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" He smiled wryly, then took her hands and said, "Look, Claire, I've known you since you were a skinny little twelve-year-old brat with braces. More than long enough to know I love you. I've always loved you."
"You love me?" Claire asked with pleased surprise.
"Yes."
"I love you, too," she said happily.
Kyle leaned forward and kissed her and Claire felt her heart thrill at the passion that again exploded between them. They definitely had some chemistry going on there, which was good to know, she thought, and then felt Kyle's hand slide beneath the jacket to find and cup one breast. Claire moaned and arched against him as his lips began to travel down her neck.
"Oh Kyle," she breathed, clutching at his shoulder with one hand as the other started doing a little traveling of its own.
"Oh Claire," he gasped, shifting around and trying to find a better position for them both without the stick shift and steering wheel to get in the way. They were both panting, half with excitement, half with frustration, when he reached past her and pulled the lever to let the upper part of her seat down.
Claire gasped as she suddenly slammed backward in the front seat and then simply began to crawl backward, leading him into the backseat where the steering wheel and stick shift wouldn't be a problem. Kyle growled and followed, tugging the sides of his jacket aside to leave her exposed to him as he joined her on the backseat. Then he paused, and glanced around, blinking at the sight of the already fogged window. He frowned and reluctantly offered, "We could go back to the house."
"Too far," Claire muttered, reaching for him. She then paused and smiled wryly as she realized they were so eager for each other that they were about to make love in the back of a car like a pair of teenagers. Shaking her head, she said, "Daddy was right."
"Oh yeah," Kyle admitted wryly, stretching himself so he lay half on her and half on the seat and then he kissed her again.
Shuddering and moaning, she arched against him again, then gasped with excitement as his hand found and cupped the center of him. Moaning into his mouth, she shifted her hips upward into the touch, then reached to find him as well, smiling against his mouth as he groaned in response to her own hand covering him.
He was already hard, but his erection was still growing and she blinked her eyes open in surprise as his more than healthy erection continued to grow under her hand. And grow. And grow.
Dear God, she thought faintly, she'd hit the jackpot. The man was really well endowed.
Kyle broke their kiss and moved his mouth to her ear to murmur, "Did I mention the destabilizer ray was still on when I ran into the experiment chamber to drag you out? I discovered the effect it'd had and my new abilities in the parking lot of the grocery store this afternoon when I went to get groceries."
Claire's eyes widened at this news. "You mean you're doing this? You're shifting to make it bigger?"
He nodded, then caught the lobe of her ear in his teeth and sucked lightly. "Anything for my lady's pleasure."
"But Kyle," she cried. "You shouldn't be shifting. What about the possibility of destabilizing the cells further, to the point of breakdown?"
Kyle straightened with a sigh. "I don't really think that's likely. Mostly I just didn't want to have to share you with Jill anymore tonight," he said, then added with a wry smile, "Getting you naked was also a consideration."
Claire narrowed her eyes on him. "Kyle, you may be able to fool Jill with that, but I'm as savvy on the experiment as you are. I know there is some worry that — "
"Some small worry," he acknowledged. "But very small, and you're worth the risk."
"Oh, Kyle," Claire breathed, pulling him back down toward her. "That's just the sweetest thing ever."
 
 
Epilogue
 
Five years later
"I can't believe Kyle agreed to babysit," Jill said as they got out of the car.
Claire laughed as she led the way around to the trunk to unload the goods they'd bought. "He knew I wanted a special dress for the graduation next week. I have to look good when I become Dr. Claire Lockhart."
Jill smiled faintly at her obvious pride in finally achieving her doctorate, but shook her head. "Still… "
"Oh, come on," Claire chided. "Kyle's a great dad. He loves little Beth."
Jill snorted. "He loses little Beth every time he babysits and it drives him wild."
Claire laughed again, the laugh of a wife and mother who was happy and satisfied. It was five years since their high school reunion and her first date with Kyle Lockhart. Four years since she'd become Mrs. Claire Lockhart, and two years since they'd had their first child. Claire was now three months pregnant with their second child and already couldn't wait for Beth's little brother or sister to be born. She was hoping for a boy. Nothing would make her happier than giving Kyle a son to go with his daughter.
"Kyle!" Claire yelled as she led Jill into the house. "We're back!"
A childish giggle answered her from the end of the hall and Claire started slowly forward, carefully scanning the floor as she moved toward the kitchen. She was nearly at the kitchen door when she stopped abruptly and shook her head.
"You little dickens," Claire chided. "Are you playing hide and seek with your daddy again?"
The uneven bit of floor she'd noted gave another little giggle and suddenly shifted into a naked baby girl with curly strawberry blond hair and big blue eyes.
"Claire!" Kyle came rushing down the stairs, his hair and clothes a tousled mess, his eyes slightly frantic and a diaper and pink dress in hand. "I can't find Beth. She shed her clothes and is hiding on me again. She — "
He paused, blinking abruptly as he noted the child standing, leaning against her mother's knee.
"Oh, Beth," Kyle breathed with relief, hurrying forward to scoop her up into his arms. "Naughty girl, scaring Daddy like that."
When his daughter's only response was to giggle, Kyle shook his head and bent to kiss Claire softly on the lips.
"I love you," he breathed by her ear before straightening.
"And I love you," Claire assured him.
She watched with a soft smile as Kyle moved off down the hall, reprimanding their daughter as he went.
Five years had passed since the day they'd both been exposed to the destabilizer. They'd managed to keep their secret and still see John Heathcliffe lose his position for his "attempt" to test the destabilizer on a human. And, so far — much to their relief since they'd passed their condition on to their child — there didn't appear to be any terrible side effects to the exposure to the destabilizer. If anything, it tended to make life more than a little interesting.
 
 
LYNSAY SANDS
 
LYNSAY SANDS is the national bestselling author of the popular Argeneau vampire series, including A Quick Bite. Known for her humorous edge, Lynsay delights fans everywhere with stories of the unexpected.
 
Visit her official website at www.lynsaysands.net.