I somehow do not receive any side-effects!

“You’re the implant specialist. How does this side-effect thing work?” I ask Angela.

Nervously, she replies, “Well, let me get myself straight here. I, by no means, know how the implant works. I do not know the intricacies of the programming worked into the implant’s electronics nor do I know what formula of the X-Change that is contained within.”

Ms. Stephens adds, “Those are closely-monitored trade secrets of the X-Change Corporation, Miss Eliza.”

“For all I know, these side-effects are basically the binary code in the programming. And each tick is the implant turning a side-effect on or off. What we can figure is when a side-effect is turned on, I can pinpoint the address, if I can call it that, that coincides with a certain side-effect. And mind you, there are about five side-effects that we can actively turn on and off,” Angela adds.

I find the explanations, which are shoddy at best, are enough to quell the doubt that was brewing in my heart. “Alright, so what does the implant say I have?” I ask.

The implant specialist places her device on my implant and I hear a sound that resembles a cat’s purr. She does it once, then twice, and three times. “Strange. I… I don’t know what to tell you, but… from what I can see, you don’t have any side effects, Eliza.”

“Really?” Ms. Stephens asks, bewildered by the news. She walks around to see the monitor that the implant specialist sees. “Well, I don’t believe it. You’re just like me.” The redheaded liaison walks back in front of me and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I want to ask why I’m just like her, but I keep my mouth closed.

“Alright. I guess you don’t want anything else from me, Eliza?” Angela asks, walking out from behind me and holding a card in her hands. “Then, as a disclaimer, please note, while no side effects have been identified as part of your initial transition, side-effects may present at a later time. Side-effect severity may vary from individual to individual. How a side-effect presents for the same individual may vary from situation to situation. Side-effects may be more or less severe than how they may be described to you if and when they are identified. Multiple side-effects may interact in unforeseen ways. Please use caution until you understand how your individual side-effect or side-effects impact you." Angela puts down the card. "Sorry, I had to read that part. But I'm sure you'll be fine, Eliza."

The liaison presents me with some clothes: a pair of panties and a sports bra, a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt. “Here are some temporary clothes for you to wear. The ones you have on can stay here with your luggage. You may bring back anything that isn’t entirely gender-specific. Though, it may be best if you give me your government-issued identification card or driver’s license. You will be given a temporary one now and get a real card with your new identity in a couple days. Once you’re dressed, you may return to the previous room so you can get to know the other girls who are done with their implants,” Ms. Stephens says.

I undress out of my old, oversized clothes. The T-shirt is now like a dress and my jeans only fall to the floor and bunch up around my ankles. The liaison and the implant specialist move behind a partition, to give me privacy as I change into the clothes provided. Once changed, I only take my backpack back to the previous room, where a single woman is waiting. She has tan skin and long brown hair that seems to stop around her waist. When she sees me return, she stands, giving me an idea of how tall she is compared to my height. In comparison, she is about an inch taller than I am.

“You were Emilio, right?” I ask.

“Si,” the young woman confirms using her native language. I did not detect much of an accent when Emilio introduced himself earlier. “I’m Amelia now. And you?” Amelia’s accent does show up in her higher-pitched voice a bit.

“I’ll be calling myself Eliza from now on,” I tell her. We sit down and get to talking and getting to know each other. Like me, she had good grades in high school and thus was preselected for the Natural Woman Package. For birth control, she has opted to take the daily pill. She comes across as somewhat shy, but I wonder if it’s because, like me, she has withheld telling her parents about her participation in the Student X-Change Program.

Soon after, another girl joins us, named Charlotte, who used to be Charles. She’s an Asian young woman, who had selected a custom setup for her implant. She chose the petite body and added the additional feature of no body hair and reduced sleep, saying she would need it to study and get the highest marks in class. Charlotte had confessed to the two of us that she used to be a delinquent in high school, often cutting class and getting suspended. She had to take summer school classes and during her senior year, she details that she had barely made it to graduation. She was so close to having her father kick her out of the house, but it was the Student X-Change Program that saved her. She was able to go to the university in her hometown and seemingly on a free ride, which her father didn’t believe at first, until Charlotte, or Charles really, told him once he got his acceptance letter. Charlotte’s father had worked with the Program to preselect features that would help Charlotte in her studies. The reason why her father preselected the Petite Package for Charlotte is because as a small, insignificant figure, men would not be attracted to her. Still, just in case, it was Charlotte’s idea to get the experimental birth control, the older version anyway.

The last girl, named Olivia, was an inch taller than Amelia, thus making her the tallest of the four of us freshly-minted girls. She says that she had selected the Student Athlete Package, and therefore received an athletic body. She didn’t detail any side-effects, though, and mostly kept any additional features and her past history as a guy, to herself.

Ms. Stephens returns to the room and we all take a seat and listen to what she has to say. “Alright, we’re going to plug you all into the computer so it can match you up with roommates for the upcoming year. We’ll have temporary ID’s printed out for each of you. Your official ID cards which you will use not just on campus, but off-campus as well, will come to you in a couple days. For now, take your things and your temporary ID’s and get into the shuttle, which will take you to your Freshman Orientation. We’ll meet back up there and tell you about your dorms and who you’ll be sharing them with.”

The four of us file out of the room, taking any bags or items that are not gender-specific. I know I have a backpack that actually points to my past as a skateboarder, but inside is just my phone and my laptop. Oh, plus the journal that Mrs. Ramirez told me to update regularly. We take our things into the college shuttle and it takes us to UC Santa Barbara.

Once we arrive, we are escorted to a building that is holding the Freshman Orientation. An upperclassman named Melanie, a blonde girl who appears to be a cheerleader, approaches our group. I wonder if she already knows that we weren’t born female. She gives each of us materials that will help us navigate not only the large suburban campus of UC Santa Barbara, but also the services offered to students who enroll here. We’re given papers and flyers in various bright colors, informing us of upcoming events, which is also marked on a calendar given to us, plus the day when classes actually start. When we give our names to another upperclassmen, a guy with glasses sitting behind a laptop, he looks up our profiles in the school database and prints out our class schedules, as well as our housing assignment.

A group of five girls, most likely upperclassmen as well, enter the room and stand off to the side, waiting until it is time for them to present whatever they have for us. They each have something different about them, like the way they dress and how they choose to convey themselves in public. A guy enters in after them and pulls one of the girls aside, clearly not embarrassed that he is displaying public acts of affection towards the girl he pulls out.

Melanie and the laptop guy drift off to another side of the room, leaving us with the four women who had entered moments earlier. “Good afternoon ladies. We are your welcoming committee,” one of the girls says, causing the other girls to giggle with her. “Now, we are here to go over where you’ll be staying your first year here. All freshmen stay on-campus in dormitories, so that makes it simpler.”

Another girl speaks up, “Specifically, your dorms will be in the San Rafael Residence Building, located on the west end of campus.” She takes one of our campus maps and marks the location with a circle. “Our dorm rooms are all mixed-gender suites. You’ll be sharing a bedroom with another female student, one of us. She’ll be your mentor. She has years of experience living with a female body and will be able to help you with any day-to-day difficulties your new body may present for you.”

Another girl adds, “Next door will be a different bedroom with two male students. They won’t be aware of your participation in the Student X-Change Program, unless you choose to tell them. The four of you will all share a common living room and bathroom.”

A fourth girl has a clipboard with her. She calls out to us, “When you hear your name, come on up and meet your mentor. We’ll give the two of you some time to get to know each other.” She pauses to look at her colleagues and then turns back to her clipboard.