Dinner was a quiet affair as we all sat at the dinner table, each thinking about what was going to happen tonight and what MIGHT happen to any of us. Neither of my parents was too worried since they’d each gone through it before, but so far, my sister Beth and I had been lucky enough to avoid being reassigned.

Dad was a large man with broad shoulders and the kind of solid build that suggested he worked with some kind of manual labor. However, he was actually a computer programmer, and until a couple years ago, he would have been called scrawny.

And then there was Mom, an attractive woman in her early forties, who was still wearing the professional outfit that she’d worn in court today. Mom was a lawyer, though until last Reassignment Night, she’d been the manager at a clothing store instead.

My eyes went to Beth, who was nineteen, two years older than me. Like me, she was still going to school, even if her school was the local college. She was pretty, though she tended to wear a lot of dark makeup and goth style clothes, which sometimes hid that a bit.

“Hey, Tyler,” Dad said. “Can you pass the potatoes?”

“Sure,” I responded as I handed the bowl over, not at all surprised to see Dad loading up on seconds. Ever since he’d been reassigned, he’d had a big appetite.

“So,” Mom started a few seconds later. “Does anyone have any resolutions for tonight?”

“Not really,” I answered with a shrug.

“My resolution is to get to the gym more often,” Dad answered. “I don’t want this to turn to flab.” He held up his arm and patted his bicep.

Beth snorted. “Does it even matter? We don’t get any say in reassignments.”

“You know, resolutions are about a lot more then reassignments,” Mom told her. “It’s symbolic. If you want to change something about yourself and your life, can you think of a better night to start?”

“She’s right,” Dad agreed. “When I was a kid, we used to make our resolutions on New Years instead, but we didn’t have the whole reassignment thing back then.”

“That did change everything,” Mom agreed wryly, clearly thinking of their reassignments.

I took a bite of my meatloaf, not saying anything as I considered the possibility of being reassigned myself. I was a pretty normal guy in high school, not especially popular but not any kind of an outcast or bully target either. I wasn’t really thrilled with my life, but I wasn’t particularly unhappy either. If anything, I was comfortable.

A lot of people looked forward to being reassigned, even praying for it, while others dreaded the very thought. I was curious about what I might end up with if I was reassigned, yet nervous about the idea as well. In the end, if I had a choice, I’d prefer not to be reassigned. After all, I was comfortable where I was.

Reassignment Night was…strange. Once a year, reality itself seemed to hiccup, or to ‘skip like a broken record’ according to my grandpa. What it meant was that once a year, something happened and about fifteen percent of all people suddenly changed in ways that should have been impossible.

No one knew why this happened or why some people changed while others didn’t. Of course, everyone had their theories. God was testing, punishing, or rewarding people. Reality had been damaged by some science experiment that had gone wrong. Or, the always popular ‘aliens’. What we did know was that a couple decades ago, back when my parents were around my age, people started changing without any explanation or say in the matter.

Once dinner was over, Dad announced, “Well, it should be starting anytime soon.”

“Assuming we even notice it happening,” Mom quickly reminded him. “Unless one of us gets reassigned, we probably won’t find out about any of the changes until tomorrow.”

“True,” Dad agreed pleasantly. Then he looked down at himself and added, “But sometimes, the changes are pretty damn obvious.”

I just looked at the clock and took note of the time. While we always knew which day Reassignment Night fell on, nobody knew exactly what time it would happen. The changes could hit nearly anytime between dusk and dawn.

Beth looked down at her cell phone and said, “None of my friends have seen anything yet.”

“Did any of them even look up from their phones?” I asked.

My sister sneered. “At least I have friends, loser.”

I just shrugged off the insult, being used to it. Beth seemed to think that part of her job description as my big sister was to tease me as much as possible.

After this, we all kind of went off to do our own thing. I returned to my bedroom and began playing one of my favorite video games, though I was careful not to get involved with anything too complicated. I was a little too distracted to give it all my attention and didn’t want to lose just because of that. That was also the excuse I used for not doing my math homework. I hated math, which was my least favorite subject.

A couple hours later, a bit more than an hour before midnight, I was getting tired and thinking about bed. More than likely, nothing would happen to me, and if any of my friends or family were reassigned, I’d find out in the morning.

But then I suddenly felt it, a tingling sensation that washed through my entire body. I let out a gasp of surprise…and of worry. I’d heard enough stories about reassignments that I immediately recognized the first symptom.

“Oh shit,” I gasped, right before my entire body began to change.

Every fiber of my body started to shift, all at once. Ever bone, muscle, and inch of skin. It was fast and smooth, without even a hint of jerkiness, and almost as easy as simply letting out a breath.

All the changes happened at the same time, making it difficult to make any sense of what was happening, beyond the fact that I was changing. Before I could even grasp one aspect of the transformation, it was already done and over with.

I sat in my computer chair, feeling dazed and confused. I felt different. Very different. It took me nearly a minute to collect myself enough to sit up and begin making sense of what I’d just gone through.

“I’ve been reassigned,” I whispered, noticing that my voice sounded odd to my ears.

For a brief moment, I wondered why I’d been reassigned and who had done it. Why did people even call it being reassigned when that suggested someone was actually controlling the changes? As far as I knew, it was all random

I took a deep breath and then looked down at myself, or at least tried to. Long blonde hair fell down in front of my face and blocked my view. I brushed my hair back, noting that it was soft and smooth. Then, I examined my body.

The first thing I notice are two bumps pushing out from my chest, ones which seem to confirm the suspicions I’d developed from the bombardment of sensations during my change. My clothes had changed as well, so the girl’s shirt with a hint of cleavage definitely added further evidence.

After taking a few seconds to just stare down at myself, I held out my hands and looked at them. Yep, they were still hands. Their proportions were a bit different than I was used to, and they looked a little smaller and more delicate. Most notably, my fingernails were longer and shaped into nice ovals, which were covered with pink polish. This was quite the change from my normally ragged and chewed off nails.

“Great,” I grumbled as I slowly stood up and took a better look at my body.

I was now wearing a pair of tight pants which showed off a tight and shapely butt, along with a pair of nice legs. The pants were tight enough that I could clearly see that there was no room in the front for even the small bulge that I used to have.

“So, I’m a girl” I muttered with a sigh.

This was surprising, but it wasn’t a complete shock to me. After all, this kind of thing was known to happen during reassignments. My Uncle Carl used to be my Aunt Carol, not that I really remember how he used to look. That reassignment happened a long time ago, back when I was just toddler.

I let out another sigh, then ran a hand through my hair. It was strange to suddenly have long hair, but no stranger than anything else about my new body.

A minute later, I cautiously stepped out of my room, hesitant to let anyone else see me like this. I bit my lip, feeling a little worried about being teased, especially by Beth. I had no doubt that she would tease me mercilessly about this. After all, that was part of an older siblings job.

Instead of heading to the living room, where I could hear my parents watching TV, I went to the bathroom. That was the one place I could count on finding a large enough mirror to get a good look at myself.

The girl in the mirror was very pretty. She…I looked a lot like Beth, just a little younger. I guessed that I was probably an inch or two shorter than my sister, and definitely shorter than I had been before. However, I guessed that I was probably a good cup size or so larger than my sister too. Beth had dark hair like our mom, while I seemed to have suddenly taken after our dad and had become blonde. It looked good on me.

“Not bad,” I said with a smile. If I was going to be a girl from now on, at least I was a pretty one.

I spent a couple minutes just looking myself over in the mirror, then I made sure the door was locked and looked over the rest of my body, without clothes. It was about what I expected, the same yet different.

I was definitely curious about things, but at the moment, I was just too tired to go any further. I let out a loud yawn, reminded that it was pretty late for a school night. However, I’d stayed up later than this plenty of times and never had a problem, at least not this early.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I found myself facing a little girl, who stood there with hands on her hips and an impatient look on her face. I was startled at the sight of Beth, who now looked to be about eight-years-old. There was no sign of her usual makeup or goth fashion, as she was wearing a shirt with a unicorn instead.

“It looks like I’m the big sister now,” I teased her before letting out another yawn.

Beth stared up at me with a scowl before shaking her head and exclaiming, “This is so not fair.”

“No one ever said Reassignment Nights are fair,” Mom announced as she came up.

Mom stared at me and then Beth, looking a little hesitant. “Tyler?” Mom asked me carefully.

“Yeah,” I agreed with a sigh. “But I’ll probably need a new name now.”

“Probably,” Mom agreed.

I stepped out of the way so that Beth could get past and check her reflection in the mirror. For a moment, I was tempted to ask if she needed the step stool, but I refrained. Teasing a younger sibling might be part of the job description as a newly minted older brother…sister, but I knew not to push it quite so soon, especially not with Mom standing right there.

Mom and I went back to the living room where Dad was still waiting. He looked up at me and chuckled. “New fashion style, Beth?”

“Not Beth,” I responded wryly.

Dad looked surprised, then sympathetic. “Sorry about that.”

“Beth was reassigned too,” Mom told him.

Dad gave another look of surprise. “Both of them?”

Mom nodded. “We should probably buy a lottery ticket…if we haven’t already used up all the luck.”

“Good luck or bad?” I asked with a frown.

She laughed lightly at that. “That depends entirely on your perspective.”

“Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view,” Dad announced as he dispensed his words of wisdom, though he had a faint smirk as he did so.

Beth came out and joined us a few minutes later, not looking any happier. In fact, with her now younger face, she looked more like she was pouting.

“This is NOT fair,” Beth grumbled.

Then, as if to echo what Mom had previously said, Dad responded, “Life isn’t fair, but it is what it is.”

Beth glared at him, then paused to let out a loud yawn. I echoed her by yawning myself.

“You two should go to bed,” Mom told us.

“I don’t think I can sleep,” Beth grumbled.

“Oh, you won’t have any trouble getting to sleep,” Dad assured her with a sigh. “It’s part and parcel of being reassigned.” He hesitated for a moment, then gestured at us. “Think of your reassignment as being like a computer update. The update has already been downloaded, but the computer needs to restart before it really takes effect. Now, you’re both about to go through a forced restart.”

“Everyone goes through it,” Mom added with a sigh. “At least, everyone who gets reassigned.”

“What are my friends going to think?” Beth whined. Then her eyes widened in horror as she added, “I was supposed to go on a date this weekend…”

“Sorry about that,” Dad told her sympathetically. “But these things happen. We don’t have any control over how we’re changed, only how we deal with it afterwards.”

“Easy for you to say,” Beth grumbled. “You didn’t be become a kid.”

Dad looked a little chagrined at that. “I did get a bit lucky with mine,” he admitted. Then he looked at Mom and added, “We both did.”

I let out a sigh and shook my head. I wanted to complain about being turned into a girl, but Beth had pretty much said everything that I wanted to. It wasn’t fair. However, I didn’t want to come off as whining about it too. So instead, I excused myself and went back to my bedroom so I could go to bed.

By the time I was undressed and ready to crawl under the covers, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. I looked around my room, noting that things had already changed. Several stuffed animals sat in the corner, when they hadn’t been there before. And as I watched, the beige curtains shifted and turned pink.

“Pink,” I muttered in disgust. With that, I climbed into bed, closed my eyes, and decided that I’d worry about this in the morning.

--------------------

When I woke up in the morning, I found my entire bedroom had changed. There was a new paint color, with girly decorations and lots of pink and violet. My room was completely different, but at the same time, it felt familiar and comfortable.

My body hadn’t changed any more, but something was different. I felt…comfortable. Normal. My body no longer felt strange or even new. A large part of me felt like this was the way I’d always been.

I didn’t spend much time dwelling on how strangely normal this all felt. It was a little surprising, but not much. I’d already known that things would change, having seen it before, though this was the first time I’d actually been the one changed.

When my dad had gone through his reassignment a couple years ago, a workout bench and weight set had suddenly appeared in the garage, with everything around it reorganized as if it had always been there. And last year, when Mom went through hers, she’d woken up with all the memories and skills of having attended law school, and a home office had appeared in the house, with her diploma hanging on the wall.

It was a school morning, and as much as I’d always thought that the day after Reassignment Night should be a holiday, it wasn’t. So, I turned my attention to getting ready for school.

My closet was full of new clothes, ones that were a perfect match for my new body, and which were a lot more stylish than my old ones had ever been. As with my room and body, the clothes felt familiar, as though I’d worn them countless times before. I could almost remember buying them.

Once I was ready, I sat down and began putting on some makeup, keeping it light and tasteful. The only time that Tyler had ever worn makeup was the time he’d lost a bet to Beth, but Taylor, the person I was now, wore it all the time. This was just part of my normal daily routine.

“Weird now normal this all is,” I mused once again.

I smiled wryly, then looked my reflection over in the mirror, making sure that I was presentable for school. Once I was satisfied, I decided that it was time to go face my family.

Beth…Lizzie was already at the breakfast table with a bowl of cereal in front of her. “Hey, short stuff,” I teased, knowing that she would have done the same to me.

“Bite me,” Lizzie responded.

“Language,” Mom warned her, before looking at me and adding, “Stop teasing your sister.”

I just smiled innocently at that. While Beth had been my big sister, I could now sort of remember Lizzie as having always been my little sister. Those strange double memories were a bit weird.

“I can’t believe I have to go back to elementary,” Lizzie complained. “I’m a big girl… I mean, I’m a college student…” She didn’t sound very certain of that.

“You were,” Mom reminded her gently. “Maybe if you do good enough in school, you can get skipped ahead.”

“You should remember most of your old life,” Dad added as he came into the room. “But some of it will fade over time, especially the parts that aren’t really relevant anymore.”

“Like college classes?” I asked as innocently as I could, only to be glared at by my little sister.

“This is going to take a bit to get used to,” Dad mused with a chuckle. “I might have to get a boy dog, just so I’m not the only guy around here.”

Lizzie smirked at that. “Yeah, we’re all girls here. Maybe you can get reassigned as one next year.”

“I hope not,” Mom responded with a frown. Then she gave Dad an appreciative look. “I like your father just the way he is.”

“And I like you too,” he responded with a suggestive wink.

Lizzie just scrunched up her nose and pretended to gag. “Ewww.”

“Such a kid,” I teased her.

As the older sibling, teasing her was part of my job description. I know that Beth used to take that part of her job seriously, so it was only fair that I returned the favor.

“Well, I have to get to the office,” Mom announced. “I have to meet with a client.”

“And I’ll be a little late getting home tonight,” I offer. “I have cheerleading practice.”

I paused at that, just a little surprised at what I’d just said and the realization that I was a cheerleader now. That was different. But like everything else, it also felt like it was a normal part of my life. I could sort of remember cheering at some game recently, and knew that those memories would probably become a little sharper over time.

--------------------

“Taylor,” someone greeted me as I walked through the school hallway.

Ever since I’d arrived at school a little bit ago, I’d noticed how differently people treated me. There were friendly nods and smiles, guys stepping out of my way, and lots of attention. That was quite a bit different from what the old Tyler was used to. In fact, the Tyler part of me was a bit uncomfortable with all the attention, while the Taylor part just accepted it as normal.

“Hey, Bree,” I respond to the girl who’d greeted me.

Bree was one of the more popular girls around the school, though not one I’d really talked to before now. Now, we were both cheerleaders and I had vague memories of being friends.

The other girl stared at me for a moment with a vaguely confused look, before she cautiously asked, “New reassignment?”

I nod at that. “Yep.”

“Good,” she responded with a sigh of relief. “That explains it.” At my questioning look, she explained, “I don’t really know you, but at the same time, I know that you’re on the team and are one of my friends.”

“I have the same reaction to you,” I admitted.

Bree chuckled at that. “Yeah, I know how it is. A couple years ago, I went through my own reassignment, and it was quite a change. I mean, I went from being pretty nerdy to suddenly being popular and having everyone know who I was.”

“How many of the other cheerleaders have been reassigned?” I asked curiously.

Bree considered that for a moment. “Two… Three, now.”

“Well, I’ve got to get to class,” I told her a few seconds later. “We’ll talk later.”

“I’ll see you at practice,” Bree replied with a smile.

After saying goodbye to Bree, I went to my first period classroom, which was math. My least favorite class of the day.

I stepped into the classroom, almost immediately getting a wolf-whistle from one of the boys, who was quickly punched by another girl. I smiled faintly at that as I looked around the room.

I quickly spotted two other people who’d been reassigned as well. Our teacher, Mrs. Rawlins, who was…or had been an elderly dark-skinned woman. She’d lost about thirty years of age and at least that many pounds of weight, making her look much younger and thinner than she had before. And then there was one boy, who appeared to have gained at least that much weight.

“Poor guy,” I mused with a sympathetic wince.

In addition to the two other reassignees, I noticed that a couple of my other classmates had changed as well, just in more subtle ways. One girl was dressed up nicer than usual, having changed her fashion style overnight. I didn’t have any new memories of her, which made me sure that her changes were the more natural kind, perhaps the result of a resolution to change her life. That kind of thing was pretty common after Reassignment Night.

“It looks like someone was reassigned,” the boy who sat next to me said. He gave me a curious look, and one that was also a bit appreciative.

“Me and my sister both,” I told him with a smile. “I think I ended up with the better reassignment.”

A few seconds later, Mrs. Rawlins called for everyone’s attention as the class officially started. I let out a faint groan at that, dreading the upcoming lecture on mathematics. Some things never changed.

The End