Who she is, and who she was

And there she was, the star of the show, the whole reason you came...raunchy, hairy, and owning every bit of it. Everyone cheered. It was her confidence and attitude that made her attractive, regardless of her looks. So clearly comfortable in her own skin, as she strode through the choreographed routine, shaking her tits, her hips, her ass...

She was glorious, which was what left you so conflicted.

Most people couldn't have known that she hadn't always been a rat...you remembered when she was that shy girl you had a crush on all throughout school. Quiet, a little weird, a target of bullying...nice enough girl, though. You never had the courage to ask her out, not because you were afraid of rejection, but what others might think of you for dating the weirdo. You'd been a dumb kid, and it had been a mistake...she'd needed someone to accept her for who she was, and without finding that someone, she concluded she needed to be someone else.

When you reconnected at the pharmacy, she only seemed resigned and a bit embarrassed. It wasn't your place or your job to try to talk people out of their prescriptions...someone had approved her for a Ratozemin treatment, and that's what you rang up for her. Week after week, you watched the medication take effect, bottle by bottle...at first she wore baggy hoodies to hide her growing ears and tail, eventually abandoning them, no longer caring who saw the rat freak out in public. As she slowly became unrecognizable in both body and demeanor, you noted that she'd started making other purchases too...some from the cosmetics aisle...occasionally, Plan B...

One day she'd looked at you with renewed interest, her rodent eyes shining. It wasn't a look of recognition...you weren't sure she even remembered having gone to school with you at this point. "Has anyone ever told you how cute you are?" she purred with a smirk. You weren't sure how to respond. As she paid in crumpled bills, she also passed you a card...the address of the club where she danced. "Hope to see you there," she called as she sauntered out with a deliberate, pointed gait.

So you came...here you were, seeing more of her than you'd ever thought possible. She seemed happy, powerful, in control...but some part of you mourned the girl you once knew. The rat on stage made another circuit, blowing you a kiss...or was it to the guy behind you? She probably couldn't even see you, with all the lights...