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"M-my name is Avis Mills. I'm seventeen." She paused to take another slow breath. "You know how they talk about all the changes a teen-ager goes through? Mix that with waking up one morning knowing it's gonna be the worst day ever and you're almost close to what I'm dealing with.

"I've never been very good socially but before, I could still hope that some hunk would fall for the quiet, mousy type. Heck, I'd've even settled for another nerd asking me out! I mean, I was a freak before with unruly hair and an antisocial nature. I... I don't know what I am now! Look at me!"

Avis shot up from her seat and pulled roughly at the new coat of green and purple swirled fur covering her entire body. It was no costume, no practical joke, and it wasn't coming off. It hurt to be pulled at. The fur was a part of her. As much a part of her as the new third eye on the back of her head, watching through her hair the cognizant prehensile tail trailing out from the base of her spine.

"I look like a purple and green monkey!!" she shouted.

The girl was nearly hysterical. "Calm down. You weren't the only one affected by the accident." The school shrink indicated her own altered form, unperturbed. "I like this look, quite a bit. It suits you."

Avis took a seat, unmollified. At least being a minotaur, people knew what you were. And Miss Mino had always seemed a little bovine to her anyway.

"Now, you simply have to adapt, Avis. It isn't what you are on the outside that counts but who you are on the inside."

Avis just stared at the shrink, probably looking as dumb as she felt. "What a load of crap!" was her final explosion. "My appearance when I looked human turned people away. My mom even calls me homely-- Oh my god... What am I gonna tell my parents?! They'll freak! They won't even recognize me..." She couldn't sit so she paced, the only other option in her head. But her feet locked in place at a horrible thought. "Will they even let me in the house?" she got out through a closing throat. The tears started.

"Your parents have already been phoned about the accident at the school. We haven't been told when they might arrive but I--"

"What?! I can't let them see me like this! Didn't you hear me before? My parents will disown me! They'll-- H-hey! Stop!"

Her tail, bearing a mind of its own and incredible strength, was pulling her toward the door, obviously in agreement with Avis about not sticking around.

"Avis Mills, we are not through discussing this. Come back this instant!"

"It--It's not me! I swear!!" the girl exclaimed, finding nothing to grab on to in order to stop or even slow her tail's pull.

The minotaur shrink clopped forward swiftly and made a grab for the tail. It evaded. Miss Mino grabbed Avis by the arms and tried tugging her back but met with equal resistance. Seeing her futility, the tail was quite unprepared for the minotaur woman to pull Avis downward and execute a perfect roundhouse across its 'face'. It was like watching The Matrix again. Avis stared with her third eye, from the obscured view of her hair, that her tail had flopped unconscious to the ground.

"Hm. Well. Now that that's settled." Miss Mino straitened her business suit and helped the girl to her feet.

She couldn't help it. She just burst into tears. Probably looked hysterical but she couldn't help it. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?

Miss Mino left her sobbing, promising to return with something from the school nurse to calm her down.

Odd, but it was the silence that calmed her. When her world was so upside-down, what right did the rest have to be so quiet? How could everything else turn a hushed eye on her plight?

Damn you, Fate! You ruined my life, again...

She glared at the world, swiping at tears stubbornly. She had to find a way out of here before Miss Mino got back. The last thing she needed right now was some valium.

Avis scanned the room's length and width. No other doors. The only thing bearing promise was the window. About shoulder-high to her seven-foot form, she'd be able to squeeze through. Ignoring the reminder that her hands were now furry, she yanked on the window's catch. And yanked again. And again, and again! Stuck?!... Or locked.

Avis looked back on her dragging, unconscious tail. She flopped onto the ground and grabbed it from between her legs, shaking the stupid thing with both hands.

"Wake up, darn it! The one time you can be useful and you're out of it! Wake up, you dumb, furry... thing!"

Her shaking grew desperate. She even slapped at the tip.

"Come on. Wake up!!"

The end moved of its own volition.

A sigh of relief escaped her. "Now, I need you to pry open that window so we can--"

The tail recovered fast. It skitted right under her in a blink and was dragging her to the window. She just couldn't keep up. Thank goodness no one could see her. She really didn't need the third eye to be able to imagine how ridiculous she looked.

The tail was definitely stronger than her. It popped whatever seal held the window and slid it open. Then proceeded to drag her backwards through it.

"Oh, no you don't! I can do that myself." With a hard yank, one that didn't feel to kosher on her end, she got the thing's attention and hefted herself through.

The thought that Miss Mino might send out a search party never crossed her mind. What occurred to her was that she had nowhere to go. Out the window and across the track field. She didn't know any good quiet spots or hiding places so she just stood, out in the open.

She saw it out the back of her head, the third eye proving to be as useful as it was unnerving. Just a little red... thing... hopping toward her. She watched it for some time, struggling to top the grass with each jump of its powerful hind legs. It was headed her way. Curious, she met it half-way.

Only three inches long and carrying the hugest eyes imaginable on insect antennae, she certainly didn't expect the miniature cat-grasshopper to speak.

"Avis!... Miss Mino's... looking... for you!." It jumped up to be heard each time, its voice too tiny for the distance.

She blinked, picking up the scaly furry. "You can tell her I don't want to see her. I don't wanna talk about it any more! I want someone to do something! Look at us!"

Whatever it was, it was most likely a fellow student. It turned both eye-stalks her way. "Yeah. Look at you. I was on the swim team. Now I can't get in water or I'll drown! But you. You can do anything you want. I put off a noxious smell when I'm scared. You just have purple and green fur. I've got these intense fears of being squashed at any second!! And you? You're just the same as before, Avis. Always thinking about yourself."

The cat-grasshopper, who's name she just couldn't recall, leaped away without a second look.

That pipsqueak called her self-centered. Right to her face. Yeah, she didn't have it that bad but... She wasn't that selfish. They didn't have any idea what it was like living with her parents. She could just imagine what they'd say to her...

What am I doing? The truth smacked her in the face. I am a 'me' person! I do always think of myself first...

"Fine." she muttered. "If I've always been self-centered, it was for self-preservation. I need it now more than ever. Who else is gonna look after me?"

She ignored the 'look' her tail was giving her as it snaked around to her front.

"What do you want? Are you gonna tell me to stop wallowing in self-pity, too?"

It, of course, gave no verbal reply but tackled her to the ground and gave no mercy in an assault of tickles. Somehow knowing exactly where she was most ticklish, she was in tears and out of breath, laughing, before it let her up again.

"What..." She had to catch her breath. "What was that for?"

It cocked to one side, definitely giving the impression of regarding her.

"Just trying to cheer me up?"

It did not answer in any way but lay instead across her lap.

"You know what I thought when I first saw you? 'My God! It's a tail!?!'. I wonder if you thought the same thing when you saw me."

It curled around her waist, a comforting gesture.

She may be self-centered but for some reason beyond the physicality, the tail seemed to be attached to her. It was as separate from her as the grass around them, yet it indicated a micron of care.

Reluctantly, she reached out to touch the sentient appendage. Even to her furry fingertips, it felt soft. Doubly weird, as she felt the touch and the touching. It curled about just a tad tighter in response. A reassurance.

She didn't accept her appearance, but... For now, she was tired of freaking out. She just wanted to sit on the grass and close all of her eyes and just be... Just be Avis Mills, High School Student. She could have that for right now, couldn't she? Was it really that selfish?