A blue Ford Explorer drove down the road from the local tailor's. Erin rode in the back seat with her parents in awkward silence. Her mother, a lioness, tried to keep her mind off things, by focusing her all onto the road. Her father, a typical, well cut and well defined lion, simply sat in the passenger seat, in a stunned silence. Her little, brother 5 years her junior, whose mane had started to grow in, sat next to her- completely per-occupied with the latest game for his GSP to fully understand the matter at hand. Erin, for her part, buried herself into the latest book by her favorite author- in an attempt to hide her face from the situation she'd found herself in the middle of. Finally, Erin's brother, Hunter- without looking up from his game for even a second- innocently addressed the elephant in the room- or car.

So, he said, his thumbs mashing on his hand held device's buttons and D-Pad. Anyone want to tell me why we just bought my brother a dress to the harvest dance? 

The the rest of the family heaved a collective sigh- none more so than, Erin. It was true- under the borrowed blouse, and skirt, the teenage lioness was a lion. On their way home, the two parents explained for the umpteenth time his fifteen year old sibling's situation. Hearing her parents explain to her brother made that fateful day came flooding through her mind. 

Her story was a simple one. All throughout her life, she never felt in her own element with the boys. Their physical and rigid world felt forced upon her. She put on a brave face, and often got swept up in some of their antics-but at the end of the day, she felt a lot better alone with her own devices when with “the guys”. She would often hang out with the girl students, to the point that she was a fixture in their social circles. She always seemed to have a natural knack for knowing what piece of clothing went with another, or what color went with the other- something that she worked up enough courage to fully express. As long as she had say in how her hair was cut, her mane was always very low cut except for a small coif, which she had always kept dyed three varying colors, which changed at random each week. Of course, he'd been going by his birth name back then- Arron Sharpfang. 

The events that started Arron's self discovery started just a week after his eighteenth birthday. He woke up from the same dream- only it was a lot more vivid this time. He was stark naked, alone in a stage. His male parts were missing and before him were lines of the prettiest dresses anyone had ever seen. He could smell the perfumes that wafted off of each one. Behind each one, he saw a girl- a lioness, that looked like him. Each of them was naked as he was behind each dress- each naked as he was, but somehow remained covered and hidden behind their respective dress. All of them were happily chatting and laughing- a sound and sight that beckoned to him as if calling him to a long lost home. There was  one dress that wasn't hiding a girl- a beautiful flowing gown, with glitter sparkling in the weave. Its color was always different, but this time, it was the most surreal, vivid shade of purple he'd ever seen. He took a single step; suddenly, all the girls glanced at him, snatched their dresses and the vacant one, and ran away screaming from him. He looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in a sweaty male gym outfit set. As always, he chased after them. Usually, the fleeting girls and their dresses faded into a crowd of rowdy sweaty guys, lions that looked like overly buff versions of himself. Normally, he gets lost in the crowd, and wakes up, often in tears. This time, however was different; today, he finally clawed his way through the crowd, and made a dive for the dress- he grabbed hold of it. The next instant, he was standing behind the dress rack- his own, specifically. The girls had welcomed them with hugs, and open arms. He felt as he'd found a place he never knew he was looking for-  a place he was meant to be. Looking back- he didn't see the crowd of buff guys anymore- just a lonely abandoned sweat drenched T-shirt, and and sweat shorts. He was in the middle of a warm, heartfelt full body embrace when his alarm went off, jarring him out of sleep, and off the side of his bed.

Looking down at his naked body- covered by the sheets he rolled himself into, he saw his male parts still there- just as they had always been, but now more than ever, they felt alien to him. He stood up and looked himself in a mirror, shaken and confused. He reminded himself that he had to get dressed for school.  He threw on a long nightie shirt and rushed to the bathroom, knocking his little brother out of the way.  A good while later- and some complaining later, he was freshly washed- and hair dyed. He walked out dressed in his favorite outfit. A pair of form fitting blue jeans, and a short pink shirt with black detached sleeves on his arms. He wore a light shade of eyeshadow, and lip gloss. 

Avoiding a lengthy breakfast with his family, he threw his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed a piece of toast- and ran out the door before anyone could say anything. His parents looked at each other, worried and confused. He started avoiding them for about a month, now- but he'd always shouted a word or two, before running out. This was the first time that he didn't even say anything to them. They knew they had to talk to their son as soon as they got home. 

Arron grabbed his bike, and pedaled his way to his high school, in which he was a freshman. Once there, he locked his bike on the bike rack, and and was greeted by a wolf, dressed in a fishnet shirt T- shirt, and just that. He kept his fur so that it covered his male bits. He wore black, spiked cuffs around his wrists, and one around his neck. His best friend with benefits- Lance Mauler. 

“Hey there, beauty queen,”
 Lance smiled, but, his smile faded when he saw that he was a bit shaken. “You okay?” Beauty Queen was Arron's nickname- one he'd managed to earn with only a few months in school. For some reason, it stuck.

“Hey, Lance,” Arron sighed. “I dunno. I had The Dream, again, but it was different.”

“How so,” Lance asked.

Arron explained how it ended differently, and how it felt. He blathered endlessly, it seemed, trying to form into words how at home- how right that moment felt. Lance merely nodded and listened.

“Well, even if you were a girl,” Lance said after some thought, “I would still love you the way I do right now.” He sealed his declaration with a kiss. 

LOVE!? With all of what he was dealing with, he found out that his best friend had those kinds of feeling for him. How on God's green earth was he supposed to deal with that. His emotions, reaching their boiling point, he pushed his way out of Lance's arms and ran into the school, wiping his eyes of the tears that flowed freely. Lance, however was left stupefied at what just happened. Of the girls that just happened to be passing by, some just glared and turned their nose up at Lance, while a few others, chased after him.

He was found in his normal hiding spot- the janitor's closet. He didn't know why he ran, but knew that he had to get away from there. From Lance. He knew it wasn't his fault though. But those words. “Even If you were a girl,” why did those words sting so much? He was a boy! Wasn't he? He didn't even know, anymore. His sobs could be heard from the hall. The girls standing by trying to lure him out. They were successful, but not before his make up started to run. Not understanding the situation themselves, they helped wipe his face and reapply his makeup. 

With the sound of the first bell, Arron started what was sure to be a very long and emotional day. Throughout the day, he avoided Lance, still overly emotional, and having no way of dealing with it. No sooner than he explained the dream he had to his gal pals, it was all over the girls' grapevine, Coach Clamshell, a river otter, included. She took a chance and pulled him out of the boys' locker room and decided to take a chance- one supported and begged for by her girls- on him, and let him change into a girl's gym set. The girls were somewhat wary at first, with a boy in the locker room with them, but quickly loosened up when they saw that he just chatted regularly with them, as if he was a girl like them. What was more, he seemed a lot more relaxed. The boys, for the most part,  were happy to have one less gay boner pointed at their butts- though the rest were understandably jealous of this new development. During sports, he was paired with the girls. To everyone, but the coach's, surprise, he seemed to blend right in- like he was a tall, flat chested girl. Even the after gym showers went by with no event. Just a bunch of girls showering off after school- just one had a different set of plumbing.

It wasn't long before this had spread throughout the entire school. He noticed how some students were avoiding him, and whispering rumors about him to each other. Some classes, seemed to go out of their way to team him up with a boy and a girl. As the teachers would later find out upon comparing notes, Arron seemed to blend in with the girls, but stood out against the guys- like a girl in a boy's locker room. Arron noticed this as well. While it did seem to make things clear, he was afraid of what that might mean, and what it would lead to.  

Through the rest of the day, he kept asking himself if this was how he felt. He remembered how he felt in the girl's gym clothes- as if he was supposed to be wearing those all the time. No matter how much he tried to convince himself this wasn't the case, he somehow kept coming to the conclusion that this was the case. He thought a bit, and the more he did, the more the whole thing started making sense. Arron sighed- he'd have to tell his parents, but wasn't sure how. After some later, he figured he may as well tell them directly.

At the end of the day, Arron pedaled home, and waited for his parents to come home. He had been rehearsing this over and over in his head. He remembered how his mom told him that, before he was born, his parents had chosen two names for her- Arron if he was born a boy, and Erin if he was born a girl.

When his parents came in with Hunter, they put their things away, sent Hunter up to get his brother while they put their things away, and sat down on the family couch to wait for him.

“Arron,” Hunter called on his way to his room. “Mom and Dad want to see you!”

“Where!?”

“Downstairs!”

Arron got up from his bed, and walked down the stairs. He saw his parents sitting there, waiting for him. He heaved a heavy sigh and walked over to them.

“Mom, Dad,” he said, his hands trembling, “There's something I need to talk to you about.”

“W-well, what ever it is, son,” Mr. Sharpclaw started.

“Just remember, Arron,” Mrs. Sharpclaw finished. “We'll love you no matter what.”

Yeah right, Arron thought- like he hadn't heard that before, but they'd accepted him up to this point, maybe they could be trusted.

“Mom, Dad,” Arron said, with emotional, fearful tears in is eyes. “I- I mean it's-” He couldn't finish without getting choked up.

“Arron, what is it,” his mother asked.

“It's Erin,” Arron quickly got out. 

What, Mr. Sharplclaw asked, confused.

“I want to be called Erin,” Arron clarified.

Mr. and Mrs. Sharpclaw looked at each other, shocked. “Why,” they asked.

“Because,” Erin answered, tearfully- there was no going back now. “You- you said you would name me Erin if I was a girl.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Sharplcaw  nodded, knowing where this was going.

“And I'm a girl!”