Cool

A soft hum of student voices vibrated through study room 203 on the university library’s third floor. In the corner by the window, a group of five was gathered around a long table buried under a landslide of notes, laptops, and disposable coffee cups. “Hey, has anyone heard from Faye?” Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow as she flipped through her notebook. “She hasn’t been back all week.” “I don’t know; she hasn’t answered my texts,” Dalton said, his expression clouded with worry. “I was thinking of stopping by her place this afternoon.” “Ha. Convenient,” Daphne said with a wry smile. Dalton fell silent, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. “Maybe she’s sick,” Lucas offered, without looking up. “Or maybe…” Daniel interjected, his tone dripping with drama, “She mutated.” “Don’t joke about that, idiot,” Andrea grumbled, nudging him with her elbow. “Not all mutations are cute or useful.” The sliding door hissed open. “Hellooooo! Did you miss me?” Everyone turned. Faye stood there, smiling with a blend of nervousness and pride. She wore a bulky, oversized jacket, absurd for the midday warmth, and the fabric seemed to shift and stir as if it had a life of its own. She walked confidently to the table. “Faye!” Daphne stood. “Are you okay? What happened?” “I’ve had… some changes. Nothing serious. But check this out,” she said, positioning herself before the group. With a dramatic flourish, she shrugged off the jacket and let it fall to the floor. A collective gasp filled the room. Faye wore a short, tight black sports top that left her midriff exposed. Just below her original arms, a second pair of limbs—slightly thinner, but clearly functional—emerged from her torso. They trembled faintly, as if still acclimating to existence. “What the hell…?!” Lucas breathed, stepping closer. “Ha! See? I was right,” Daniel crowed, though no one paid him any mind. “Faye, when did this happen?” Andrea asked, her voice laced with concern. “Three days ago! Aren’t they great? I can use four chopsticks at once,” she said with a forced laugh. “But… have you seen a doctor?” Daphne circled her, examining the new shoulders with a clinical eye. “Does it hurt? Have you been checked out?” Faye wrinkled her nose, her expectant smile fading. She’d hoped for laughter, maybe even admiration… not this suffocating blanket of worry. “I’m fine, really. Watch this,” she said, attempting to pick up a notebook with her new arms while her original ones twisted the cap off a water bottle. The result was a clumsy disaster: the new hands fumbled, sending the bottle tumbling onto the notebook. Both objects hit the floor, water soaking the pages. “Oh, come on! My notes!” Lucas complained. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Faye cried, using her new arms to scoop up the papers. But her lack of control made her pull the damp sheets in opposite directions, tearing the ones that were still dry. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to…” “Hey, maybe you should go get some rest,” Andrea suggested gently, touching her shoulder. “This seems… recent. And not very controlled.” “Yeah. Sorry to interrupt. I’ll… I’ll go,” Faye mumbled, snatching her jacket from the floor. She turned and hurried out. No one else spoke. Except for Dalton. He stood silently, avoiding everyone’s gaze, and followed her. Faye strode quickly down the second-floor hallway, her jacket tucked under one arm. She stopped at a vending machine, leaning her forehead against the cool glass with a sigh. “Faye?” Dalton’s voice made her jump. “Here to make sure the multi-armed monster doesn’t break anything else?” “No… I just wanted to see if you were okay.” She studied him for a moment. He wore that shy, genuine expression that had made her smile more than once in class. “I’m fine. Just disappointed,” she said, crossing her arms. “I thought having four arms would be… cool, you know? To draw, type, drink coffee, and scratch an itch all at once. But everyone acts like it’s a disease.” Dalton shrugged. “I think it’s really cool.” Faye looked at him, skeptical. “Really?” “Yeah. And you were already amazing before. Now… you’re just more Faye.” She finally laughed, her guard lowering a little. “Well, I still need practice. The new ones are so clumsy,” she said, attempting to scratch her head with a new hand, only to end up tugging her own hair. “Ow! See what I mean?” “Here, let me help,” Dalton said. He held his hands out in front of her. “Try to touch my fingertips with your new hands. Go slow.” Faye opened her new hands and focused, gently pressing the pads of her new fingers against his. “Okay, now press down a little with your right index finger,” Dalton instructed. With a bit of effort, she managed it. They moved through the other fingers as Faye worked on regulating the strength in her new limbs. Soon, they fell into a clumsy game of pat-a-cake, both of them laughing as Faye practiced. “Hey, that actually helped,” Faye said, smiling warmly at him. “I’m glad,” he replied, his cheeks flushing slightly. Faye tried to lay one of her new hands on Dalton’s chest, but misjudged the movement and gave him a light thump. “Oops! Sorry!” she exclaimed, laughing. “Don’t worry. It was like being hugged by a giant mantis. A less deadly one,” he joked. Faye laughed harder, but then she stopped abruptly. “What’s wrong?” Dalton asked. “It’s… hot,” she panted softly. “Or rather, I just started feeling really hot.” Dalton’s gaze dropped to her torso. Just below her breasts, two bulges began to rise and swell rapidly. Faye looked down and paled. “Oh, no…” With a visible tremor, the lumps resolved into two new breasts, identical to her first pair—round, firm, and positioned perfectly beneath them. The transformation finished as two pink nipples formed at their crests. Her sports top covered only her original breasts, leaving the new pair completely exposed. “Shit, Dalton! I’m still mutating!” Dalton instinctively spun around. “I’m not looking! I’m not looking!” he assured the wall. “A-are you okay? Does it hurt?” “They don’t hurt… just feel really tender… This is so embarrassing!” Gasping, she yanked her jacket on, wrapping it tightly around her torso and tying the sleeves in front as if her life depended on it. “I’m… fine,” she said finally. “I guess my mutation wasn’t over. Now I’m even more of a freak.” “Don’t say that. Faye… you look beautiful. With two arms, with four, with… well, with whatever comes next,” Dalton said, turning back slowly. She looked at him, her eyes wide. “Do you mean that?” “Yeah, I do. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it. It just… came out.” She smiled, a genuine, grateful smile this time. Her new arms relaxed beneath the bulky jacket. “I think I need to go home and change. Will you walk with me?” “Of course.” “Maybe we can keep practicing there. That was… really fun.” They walked together through the empty hallways. After a moment, Faye slipped her arm through his. He could see the two left hands at the end of her jacket sleeve as they took hold of his. It felt good. Better than good. Now more than ever, he thought Faye was pretty cool. And deep down, Faye was starting to believe it, too.