Cealeste Academy || BL

Chapter Fifteen|| Dysphoria

They made their way back towards the cafeteria. "How are you doing?" Zake asked, a little worried. "I'm fine. I think." He sighed. Zake squeezed his hand a bit. "It's only twelve hours." He tried to reassure him. "Yeah.."

"Hey, William, there you are!-" Zodes ran up to him. "Wh- who are you?" Zake asked, confused. "It's me. Zodes. I don't look that different." He said back, slightly irritated. "You look... better?" Zake shrugged. "Not really," Zodes said back.

"What are you doing here?" William asked. "I wanted to talk to you if that's alright?" zodes explained. "About what?" William looked back confused. "About all of this." He said, looking down at his body

"I mean - sure." William shrugged. Zake looks from Zodes to William, "Should I leave you guys alone then?" He asked. William. "Yeah, thanks." He said, letting go of Zake's hand. Zake smiled and walked off.

"Maybe we should go sit somewhere else." Zodes suggests. William nods before following Zodes. They both head back towards the clubs. Heading towards the indoor pool room.

They sit down next to the water. "So what's bothering you?" William asked. Zodes took a deep breath. "I hate all of this, I am a man, not a woman. Can't this all just stop." He said in one breath.

William let out a laugh, looking down into the water. "This really isn't funny, dude," Zodes said back, kicking his feet in the water. "No, sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just know how it feels, is all." William explained, looking back at Zodes.

"How would you know how it feels? Your necklace was broken, after all," Zodes asked. William shrugged. "I don't need a necklace to know how it feels." He said, how the smile was fading. He dropped his feet into the water as well, trying to stay calm.

Zodes stayed quiet, waiting for William to continue. "The necklace wasn't broken either. There was just already magic like that working in my body." He admitted.

"So, you're... trans?" Zodes asked. William nodded. "Yeah." He turned to Zodes. "But please, don't tell anyone," he asked. "I get it." Zodes nods.

"There's some good news, though," William smirks, lighting the conversation. "Like what?" Zodes asked, looking up. "The spell will wear off in twelve hours, so you won't be a woman forever." He explained. "Shouldn't you just say that first?" he asked, annoyed. William shrugged, letting out a laugh.

Zodes gets up from the pool, looking down. "Thanks for listening, bro." He smiled, patting William on the shoulder. "No problem." He smiled. Zodes let go of William and left the room. "See you later," he said before disappearing.

William took a deep breath, trying his best not to cry. This wasn't something he wanted to tell anyone this soon, if ever. Especially not because of such a stupid reason as magic gone wrong.

It wasn't helping that he still wasn't fully himself. Not the him he wanted to be least. He lifted his hands to hide his face, even though there was no one around to see him. He leaned down, not being able to hold back all the tears.

He took a few deep breaths before wiping the tears away. He started down in the water. It was dark enough that he could just make out his reflection. It felt a little better to know nothing else changed.

Suddenly, the pool lights turned on, and William looked around confused, trying to find the person responsible. "Who's here? The pool is closed for today -" a voice sounded through the room. William looked up to the door behind them.

Not too far from him was yet another complicated feeling, Korbin. "I- I'm sorry I just." William, Got up quickly, maybe too quickly.

As soon as he stood up, he slipped, falling back into the pool. Don't get me wrong, he loves swimming, but only if he does it was by choice. He quickly swam back up. When he was back above water, Korbin was looking down into the water. "Are you okay?" he asked, reaching out to help William. William smiled awkwardly as he grabbed his hand. Korbin pulled him back up.

Korbin sat down, looking back at William Worried as he wiped the water from his eyes."I'm fine." William smiled. "Why do you look so worried, you know I can swim?" He let out a laugh. Korbin's face flushed as he looked down. "I- sorry." He said before looking away.

William let out an awkward laugh, his face turning red as well as he sat up, leaning away from Korbin. "What were you doing here anyway? You're not supposed to be out.'' Korbin said, trying to change the subject. "I know, there was just something more important."  Korbin let it go and stood up. Once again, helping William stand up. "Thanks." He smiled.

"You should probably go back to your room and change," Korbin said, looking down at Williams' shirt. He was soaked. Jumping into a pool fully clothed isn't always a good idea.

"Right, yeah, I should..." William said. "But?" Korbin asked curiously. "Things are going on in my room, so I'm not sure going there is a good idea right now," William explained as he wrung out his shirt with his hands. "What's going on?"

"Well, that's a long story. But it's fine." He shrugged. "I'll just go to Zake." He shrugged.

Korbin nodded. There it was again, that weird feeling he felt before, a feeling he wasn't sure what it was. But he hated it.

William was about to leave when Korbin stopped him. "Or - you can come with me?" He suggested. He looked down, trying to hide his expression. "With.. you?" William asked even though it didn't look like it. Inside, he was freaking out.

"Yeah, if your room is a problem- I might even have some spare clothes you could borrow," Korbin said, scratching the back of his neck. "I thought you didn't live on campus?" William asked.

"No, but it's not far," he said. "But if you don't want to you -"

"No, i'll go.." William smiled, his heart beating faster than he'd ever felt it beat before. "Great-" Korbin turned around, heading back to the door, William following behind him. But he stopped before he went out of the hallway. "Wait before we go outside -" Korbin reached into his bag, "Take this, you might get sick if you go out like that." He handed William a cloak.

William wrapped it around him. It was clear it didn't fit him properly. William is a good few inches taller than Korbin. "Are you sure? It might get wet." William asked, closing the button at the top. "Yeah.." Korbin smiled.

William headed out the door as Korbin turned the lights back off and closed the door behind him.