Geraldine

Gerard woke up on a Saturday morning feeling the same as he always did. The sun was streaming in through his open window the way it always did. The birds outside were chirping the way they always chirped. Everything was the same. Or at least, it seemed the same.

Gerard sat up in his bed; "Woah." The bar that held up the curtain around his bed must've fallen down in the night. It hung at an odd angle from the ceiling and if Gerard had pushed himself up with any more force than he had, he would've hit his head on the metal pole.

He pushed the duvet away, swung his legs over his bed and lifted his eyelids to check himself out in the mirror, just like he normally did every single morning. However, Gerard didn't look as... Gerard-ish as he did on every other morning.

"Holy shit!"

Mikey was enjoying his routine Saturday morning lie-in, during which he daydreamt about girls, one day being a rockstar, breaking the world record for eating the world's largest baguette and girls. No one ever interrupted Mikey's Saturday morning lie-in because they were usually busy having their own Saturday morning lie-in.

A yell from the floor above made Mikey abruptly sit up and look around his room in surprise. He was on his way out of his bed when the door to his room flew open and he found himself staring at a topless girl wearing boxer shorts. She looked a little familiar Mikey thought but then he was sure he'd never seen her in his life. She was probably his older brother's girlfriend of the week.

"I have boobs!" She screamed rushing into the middle of the room and staring at her breasts in the mirror mounted on Mikey's wall. "Oh crap, Mikey, I have boobs!"

"Oo-er... uh... well, I -"

"And no dick too! What the fuck?" The girl spun around to face Mikey, who was staring at her with nothing short of absolute shock.

Mikey backed away slowly, eventually falling onto his bed. Undoubtedly there was something familiar about the girl standing in his bedroom but he'd never seen her before. His brain suddenly kicked in.

"Sssh! You'll wake up my mom and dad!" And then he muttered to himself, "Where's Gerard? He doesn't normally go for the loony types... although there was that one girl - Shawna... she was pretty insane... but this chick..."

It finally became apparent to Gerard that his brother had no idea who he was. He looked down at himself and imagined the scene from Mikey's point of view. A topless girl was standing in the middle of his bedroom, wearing boxer shorts, screaming about her lack of a penis.

"Mikey," he whispered, crossing the room and putting his hands on his brother's shoulders. "Mikey, it's me. Gerard."

Mikey shook his head. "You're definitely insane. I'm going to go upstairs and get my brother. Stay here. It won't be good for anyone if my mom sees you."

"Mikey..." but his brother was away, out of the open door and running up the stairs as quietly as he could in his worried state. Gerard waited a few moments and then heard his brother running back down the stairs.

Mikey leaned against the doorframe and said between pants, "Okay, my brother's not here. I'll call him on his cell phone. He keeps them in his boxers so he'll pick up wherever he is. You should uhm... you should probably put a top on."

"It's so hard to get my own brother to believe I'm his brother but in a girl's body! Can't you tell it's me, Mikes? I'm Gerard. In a girl's body. And I don't want to put a top on. I like my naked lady body. I've got great boobs."

Fourteen-year-old Mikey had never had a panic attack before and he wasn't sure what it was like to have one but he was sure that if the girl in front him said another word, he was going to have to be rushed to the nearest medical facility.

"You... you can't be my brother. My brother's... he's my brother! He's a guy!"

Gerard blinked. "Holy fuck! I'm a girl! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

"Are you really Gerard?"

"Uh... I think so... I don't know... I must be... I don't know! Why am I a girl, Mikes?"

"I - I don't know."

Cue the awkward silence. The idea of a topless woman in his bedroom seemed a lot less alluring to Mikey now that he knew (or was quite sure) that the topless girl in his bedroom was in fact his brother. In a girl's body. How weird was that?

"Gerard, Mikey? What's all that noise about?" The voice of Donna Way floated throughout the house, followed by footsteps.

The Way brothers stared at each other. After a moment's thought they came to a silent agreement. Gerard threw himself at Mikey's wardrobe, pulled open the first drawer his hands reached and began throwing on clothes. Mikey raced out of his room and up the stairs again.

He ripped off his pyjamas and shoved them underneath his brother's duvet, arranging them so it sort of looked like his brother was curled up underneath the covers.

"Oh, hi Mom." Donna Way stood in the doorway, staring at her youngest son.

"Morning Mikey. You're up early. Is your brother asleep? I was going to ask him to unload the dishwasher."

"I'lldoit." Mikey said quickly, his words running into each other. He grabbed his mother's hand on his way out of the door, dragging her down the stairs with him. "I was wondering..." he peered around the corner into his bedroom only to find that it was empty. Gerard must've been in hiding. "...if I could have some money to go shopping. I've got this friend and it's his... I mean, it's her birthday on Monday and I haven't got him, I mean her, a present. So, can I?"

They stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"I guess so," said Donna, eyeing her son, "let me just get my purse, Honey..."

Mikey waited until his mother had turned the corner and he heard the door of her study shut. Then he scanned the apparently empty hallway and whispered, "Gerard?"

The girl Mikey had seen earlier tumbled out of the hallway closet and Mikey was glad to see that she was now dressed in a pair of his oldest jeans, some of his thick grey socks and one of his black polo t-shirts.

"Mom's going to give me some shopping money, then we can go buy you... girl clothes." Mikey paused. "Are you really Gerard?"

"Yes."

"Prove it then."

"Erm..." Gerard searched his mind for something that would prove he was who he said he was. "That time you wet yourself last year (Mikey turned magenta). I swore I'd never tell anyone because if I did, you'd tell the love of my life, Isabelle Ross, that I watch her get dressed. Proof enough?"

Mikey nodded, his face still a sickly shade of pink.