Sophie: A Story of Change

Plans of Action

"Nah, it's fine, I can't blame you for wanting to be outside on a day like this. What are you up to?"

"Well, I've discovered something kind of weird, I think."

"Oh?"

Thomas quickly filled her in on the day's earlier incident.

"Wait, you helped a Heather? Why?"

"Look, it just kind of happened, and that's besides the point. You know what? Let me just show you. Stand back a bit."

Thomas picked up another handful of stones, closed his eyes and tossed them upwards.

One. Two. Three. Four. He caught almost all of them — the fifth rock grazed the side of his hand and landed in the grass. He wasn't quite fast enough

Chloe stood, mouth agape, for a few seconds before speaking.

"Holy crap. I mean, I always knew you had freaky-fast reaction times, but this is like full-on Spider-Sense. Have you been bitten by anything radioactive lately?"

Thomas chuckled. "Not that I know of, no."

"So, I mean, how do you do that, exactly?"

Thomas shrugged. "It's like ... I can see things a few seconds before they happen. And sometimes I can see how things will turn out, depending on what I do. And other times it's not even something I see, it's just a vague impression, of what's going to happen — like pin pricks on the back of my neck. I've been able to sense it as long as I can remember, but I never realized it was something I had conscious control over until now.

"Man, what I would do to have you on my team."

"I think the whole me-being-a-guy might present a slight complication with that."

"Hey, I don't know about that — I mean, our captain from a few years back ended up transitioning and now plays baseball in college, so anything's possible!" Suddenly her eyes widened as she was clearly daydreaming. "I can see it now, 'Now up to bat, Tammy Swan—'"

Thomas made a face.

"What, don't like Tammy?" Chloe replied, her eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Nah, just doesn't fit. Tammy's like the girl who had blonde highlights and won't stop babbling about her boyfriend." Chloe's expression soured at this.

"Crap — sorry, that kind of sexist, wasn't it?"

"A little, maybe. But you're right — thinking about it now, Tammy doesn't suit you. Hmmm, well, do you know what your mom would've called you if you'd been born a girl?" Thomas faltered at this, and looked towards the ground.

"No clue. Never asked, I guess." Thomas replied with a tinge of nervousness; Chloe responded by giving him an odd look.

"Huh, well, now I'm curious. Anyway, I agree, whatever's going on with you is pretty weird. I guess try to use powers for good and not for evil?"

Thomas chuckled at that, "I'll try my best. We should probably get to studying, though."

They both turned to walk inside the Swan family's modest, unassuming two story domicile. Once indoors, Chloe made a beeline for the fridge to grab some snacks while Thomas trotted upstairs to his room to grab his textbook and notes. As an afterthought, he also quickly threw the t-shirt that was on his bed in the closet. He wasn't expecting to wind up there with Chloe today, but if on the off chance they did, he didn't want to have to explain why he owned a girl's fitted t-shirt — especially since he himself couldn't explain what exactly had motivated him to buy it from the thrift store down street in the first place. He sighed as he thought to himself, Why am I like this?