"Have you ever seen me wear anything like that before that day or after? Nope."
"Fine," Rebekah said, deciding to play along, "Prove it."
Samuel opened the web browser on his phone. "Sure. I've been researching this all year trying to find out what the hell happened. I looked into everything. For a while I thought I'd been abducted by aliens or something, I dunno. I've been freaking the hell out. I know exactly what you're looking for."
Samuel had several tabs ready on his browser with what appeared to be reports from somewhat credible local news sources mixed with conspiracy sites. In truth, it was a jailbroken phone that he set up to return phony results even if Rebekah tried searching on his own. Rebekah didn't, fearing he was short on time, but he still wasn't entirely convinced.
"Everybody would know about this if it was true. They would teach it in school. Boys can't turn into girls. It makes no sense."
"They keep it secret on purpose," Samuel said.
"'They' who?" Rebekah said, rolling his eyes.
"Girls, women, the boys that know."
"Nobody can keep a conspiracy of billions of people."
"Sure they can. It's like Santa or the Tooth Fairy. Everybody finds out eventually when the time is right. All the clues are there. It's obvious if you bother to look...but you're kind of an asshole if you go around shouting about it. Girls don't tell anyone, they just try and help the new girls get through it."
"What? Why?"
"Well for some people it would be like Christmas. Think about it, if you were a transgender girl wouldn't you love for it to happen to you?"
"So why don't they tell everyone?"
"It's just super, super, super rare. They don't want to scare boys with something that's less likely than being struck by lightning. They don't want to give transgender girls false hope before they're old enough to understand this doesn't happen for everyone and some of them might need surgery for their condition."
"But why even bother with hormones and surgery and all that if this is possible?"
"Dude, I just told you. It's super rare. You can't force it. What you can do, is make it a little more likely to happen."
"How?" Rebekah asked, still in an eye rolling mood.
"Isn't it obvious? Look, when transgender people go to the doctor the first thing the doctors tell them to try is to start living and presenting as the opposite gender full time. Sometimes they say you have to do it for a full year. They'll recommend it before hormones or surgery. But why? Rebekah, are you a boy?"
Rebekah crossed his arms and frowned, "Yes, you asshole."
"I'm not fuc-king with you! Of course you are. And how long have you known that?"
"I've always been a boy."
"Right, duh, it's obvious. People know what they are. So why bother telling transgender people to start living as the opposite gender before starting hormone treatment? They already know what their gender is no matter what clothes they wear just like you do. The doctors recommend it because it can work. They don't just waste people's time. It can solve the entire problem if you try it first. Super rare cases sure, but why not try it just in case? There's no harm in it and then you might avoid a lot of needless hormones and surgery. Something subconscious in the brain senses you acting like the opposite gender and so your DNA starts changing to adapt. It's evolution I guess. In a situation where there weren't enough men or women some great, great, great, great, grandmofather of mine must have changed sex to keep the tribe going or something and passed down the ability."
"Okay, Samuel. Okay. I totally believe you," Rebekah said in a deadpan suggestive of sarcasm. "I do have one question though."
"Okay," Samuel said. "Shoot, Deputy."
Rebekah's face scrunched up in annoyance but he went on, "Well, dumbass, we go to the same school and I've seen you at the urinal so I'm pretty sure you're not a girl, dipshit."
"Watching me at the urinal, huh?" he asked.
"Stop joking around, Samuel!"
Samuel's waved it off and his face fell, "You don't get it! We're running out of time. Look, it doesn't have to be permanent. You change back eventually unless you do a few things. That's another reason they keep it secret. They don't want to embarrass boys like me by having everybody know we were girls for a while. Are you listening? Don't tell me I didn't warn you if it does happen. There's nothing you can do about the first one so you better get ready for it.
"The first thing is peeing like a girl. As soon as you do you'll feel yourself becoming more girly. I bet you're thinking wearing a diaper and standing will help, but trust me it won't. Wetting your pants as a girl is totally different than doing it as a boy. You should just sit down and get it over with if you do turn into a girl. Don't ever pee sitting down if you don't though. Don't let your sister force you. Acting like a girl is how you make this more likely to happen. That's why I made sure to get to you before your sister did. You're lucky June owed me. She wants this to happen as much as your sister does.
"The other stuff you can avoid though. Don't become best friends with a girl. Don't kiss a boy on the lips or fall in love. Don't start thinking that you want to have babies."
He sat back down and before Rebekah could protest took Rebekah's gloved hands in his own and held them tightly in seeming desperation, "Look, I know you don't believe me, but listen to me. Please, take this seriously. This is the most important thing and it may be the hardest. I know it's going to be the absolute first thing you want to do. But whatever happens, if you do turn into a girl...never, ever, ever, ever touch your girl parts down there. Not once. Every single report I found where it was permanent said that it happened right after they touched it. It'll be little messy when you go sit to pee if you don't wipe so you will have to be careful, but trust me, don't touch it. I didn't touch mine and I turned right back into a boy."
Rebekah rolled his eyes yet again, "Okay, Samuel, I'll remember."
"Now about that favor," Samuel replied.
"Like I'm doing anything for you after all that bull. You said I didn't have to so I won't. How about that?"
"Okay. But all the favor involves is coming to my house to help me get ready for a test tomorrow after school. Wouldn't you like to get away from your sister for a while?"
Rebekah considered it. Rebekah would be a terrible tutor even if he was a grade ahead but he could let Samuel find that out on his own. "Fine," Rebekah said suspiciously, "If Wendy says it's okay," he was forced to add humiliatingly.
Samuel smiled at him oddly, "Sweet! Awesome," he said, unable to hide his happiness.
"One other question," Rebekah asked as he narrowed his eyes at the other boy, "Why would you want to help me now when you've been encouraging and laughing right along with them this whole time?"
Samuel smirked, letting go of Rebekah's hands. He stood and brushed back his wavy red hair, "You deserve to be punished and humiliated, don't get me wrong. You were such a piece of shit. But look, I just don't like girls. That's all. Especially not after what happened to me. I don't want you to turn into one for real."
"You're such a liar. You're friends with June and Abby and you hang out with them all the time. Stop messing with me!" Rebekah stood and petulantly waddle flounced from the room, leaving a laughing Samuel watching behind him.