Caption Challenge: Playing Hooky

"Do I really have to wear this?" Keith complained to his mom as he straightened his tie.

She smiled at him as she dusted his shoulder, "Of course, sweetie! Why wouldn't you when you look so dashing?"

"Mooom!" Keith pouted.

"Oh, don't be so stubborn, dear, you look handsome."

"Yea, Keith, at least you're not wearing this." His sister, Lily, gestured to the uniform dress she was wearing, "It's cold out and I still have to wear a skirt; at least you get some fashionable pants. All I get is this plaid nightmare."

"Come now, you two, grab your lunches and head to school."

---

   Lily was over exaggerating about how cold it actually was. Sure, it was the beginning of fall, but the weather was still relatively warm. She was constantly rubbing her arms to keep warm, expecting Keith to hand her his jacket. After several attempts, she figured she may as well 'endure the cold' all the way to school.

"This is stupid; I don't want to go to school like this." Lily pointed at her uniform.

"Every girl is dressed like that there. You're not the only one."

"Yea, but you get pants! You know I don't like skirts."

"Well, I wouldn't know your pain because I'm not a girl."

"How selfish, Keith."

"What? I'm just saying you don't have to wear pants all the time. In fact, I'd rather wear a skirt on a summer day than pants."

Lily scoffed, "It's all about how you look. In this case, I'm hideous. You know what? I'm skipping. I'm just going to hang out at the cafe."

"You're going to miss the first day of school because of how you look."

She stopped for a second, holding a finger to her cheek, "Uhm... Yea! See ya!" With that, she skipped down the street and turned, disappearing from Keith's view.

   He stood there for several seconds, thinking if he should skip, too. Was it worth it? Did he really want to miss the first day? Of course! He was still quite tired and he did want to play games. He took a step forward and tripped on his shoelace, falling face first into a yard. A slight sting from his knee told him that he scraped it. He looked down at his khaki pants and noticed a tear and a small scrape. He looked to his right and noticed a rusted mailbox.

"Wow..." He said to himself, "Any closer and I would have gashed my knee!" He got up and dusted himself off, grabbing anything else he dropped and headed home.
~±~
By the time he got home, it had gotten colder and began to rain. The rain soon grew silent as snow fell in its place. He opened the door and found his mom sitting in front of the TV, drinking coffee, "Keith, what are you doing home early?"

"Uh... School's... Cancelled."

"Keith, don't lie to me. I know you're skipping and you shouldn't do--" She was interrupted when the news came on TV and reported that a sudden winter storm that coated streets and houses. His mom looked outside and was greeted by a blinding white view of snow covering houses. She turned back to him, "Okay, you win this one. But, what happened to your pants?"

"I tripped on the way here. I almost fell onto a mailbox."

"Goodness, Keith! Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, it's just a scratch." He held his knee out.

"Let me get you a band-aid."

"It's fine, mom."

"No, it's not. That mailbox was probably rusty and you fell onto the ground. There's a lot of germs that lurk on the floor."

   His mom got a cotton swab of disinfectant and swiped his cut. Keith winced slightly at the unexpected sting of disinfectant. After she was done, she stuck a band-aid on the scrape.

"There we go!"

"I'm not a kid, mom, I could have done that myself."

"But, you're my baby and I want to cherish that for as long as I live." She kissed the band-aid and then his forehead, "I guess you can do whatever you'd like since you've no school. Lunch will be ready in a couple of hours."

   Keith headed upstairs and sat himself down on his bed, turning his TV on and grabbing his laptop and placing it on his stomach. He turned it on and browsed through the library of games he had and began to play while he watched TV. About half an hour later, however, he started to feel relatively warm, despite the winter weather coming through his window. He got up and opened the window a bit more, but, upon noticing his hands, they seemed a bit different. He assumed that it was the cold making his hands different, after all, they felt quite numb. He jumped back onto his bed and got back into his position, but, had to re-position himself several times to get back to his normal spot. He felt somewhat shorter, but ignored it and went back to his game.

   He still continued to get warmer and warmer to the point to where he was actually sweating. As he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, he came to an assumption that he became infected with some virus from the scratch, but, figured that it couldn't happen that fast. He got up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, or as least to grab a towel. He turned the light and splashed some water onto his face. As he looked up, he felt sicker. His stomach groaned loudly as the pain made him cringe. He opened the cupboard next to the mirror and grabbed some cold medicine. He took several gulps before putting it down and noticed that his hand wasn't his to claim anymore. He brought the small, petite hand to his face, examining the smaller details about it. He looked down at his arms and eventually his body and to the mirror, seeing that his entire body was changing before him.

   His hair was growing at alarming rate. His body compressed itself into a new body that he could easily see was turning feminine. Through his pants, he could see his hips expand and his waist pinching itself to create a familiar shape of a girl. A pressure on his chest and a engulfing feeling over his privates were completing his change. The last thing to change was his face. It felt fuzzy and his vision was blurred to the point of a blackout. He fell onto the floor and was out cold.
~±~
   Katie slowly woke up and stretched, feeling a lot better than she had earlier. She looked around and noticed that it was still morning. She looked at her clock: 8:43AM, an hour earlier than what she had experienced before she fell asleep. Quickly, she got up and dressed herself in her uniform, slipping her skirt on and buttoning her vest and almost tripping down the stairs.

As she placed her hand on the doorknob, her mom stopped her, "Where are you going, honey?"

"Uhm... Nowhere?"

"Why are you wearing your uniform? You don't have school today."

"Oh, I know, I was... Just wearing it because I like it."

"Ah... That's nice that you like it. Lunch will be ready in a couple of minutes, so, get out of that and into something more comfortable for your day off."

"Ok."

   Katie headed back upstairs, confused that her mom wasn't surprised to see a daughter instead of a son. She threw her backpack on her bed and looked in the mirror, looking at her new self.

She turned around and placed her hands on her hips, "Lily's right, I'm pretty cold with this on..."