My Life as a Teenaged Were-Dragon
Part 1: The Vaccine

The doctor's office was pretty bland. The walls were painted a dull beige, and the furniture was numerous shades of grey. The lights were bright, giving everything a sterile look. Yet for how bland it all was, everything appeared to be brand new. Even the five-year old magazines were suspiciously glossy and crisp.

However, Jenny didn’t notice. She was too busy looking at memes on Ristibam. She sat in the chair closest to the exit, as if she hoped she could somehow sneak out when no one was looking. She wore a red top and dark blue jeans, with bracelets that shined in the light of the room. She was obviously dressed for a day out on the town, but she was stuck here instead.

“Who knew they would come up with a vaccine for the common cold? You would think there would have been more press on the matter. I guess the media isn’t focused on things like this unless it's something life threatening, like AIDs or HIV.” Jenny’s mother said with an excited expression on her face. This wasn’t something that came about every day. She was astounded by the great advances in medical science that let the most annoyingly common disease be eradicated.

“AIDs and HIV are the same thing, mom,” Jenny said as she rolled her eyes. She just wanted to get the vaccine over with. While she was stuck in this boring waiting room, her friends were out watching the latest superhero movie that had just released. The studios had hit it big with them, as the many mutant outbreaks that had happened in the past years gave them plenty of material to work with.

“Oh, really?” she said, her excitement dimming for only a moment. “Aren’t you excited to never come down with a cold ever again? You sure are lucky. If I was eligible to get this vaccine, I’d probably be the first one here!”

“We are the first ones here” she said as she looked around the empty room. Her mother had forced her in the car as soon as she learned the news. Jenny quietly cursed the mailman. She wished that he had come down with the flu, or had a death in the family so that he couldn’t drop the stupid flyer in their mailbox. She gave an annoyed sigh; at least she had her phone.

“Next?” A call came from the door across the room as a man dressed in a plain lab coat, a dress shirt and khakis walked into the waiting room. Jenny thought it was funny he used the word “‘next”, considering the office had only opened fifteen minutes ago. Jenny’s mother looked at her with a large grin on her face. “I think you are up.” she said as she eyed Jenny to go on ahead. Jenny Sighed, and slowly go up to walk to the doctor. He smiled as she lumbered into the office.

“So, you ready to be rid of the common cold forever?” The doctor said with a stitched smile. Jenny barely noticed, and simply responded with a faint “Yeah sure” as she continued to look at her phone.

They walked into a small room with a single chair and a small desk with a few syringes laid about. The rest of the room was barren; not a single poster or chart in sight. The cabinets were also empty, save for a box or two of extra syringes. It all hardly looked professional, but again, Jenny didn’t take much note. She just wanted to get it over with. She plopped down and laid her arm out on the table, her fingers still tapping away on her phone.

“Oh, I see. You want to get straight to it!” the doctor said rather excitedly. “Smart girl,” he muttered as he grabbed one of the syringes off the desk. He rubbed Jenny’s Arm with an alcohol swab he had in his pocket, and then quickly stabbed the vaccine into Jenny’s Arm.

“Ouch, hey!” Jenny whined. “Not so rough!” The strange purple liquid drained from the shot, and into her arm. It felt oddly warm as it flowed through her veins. The doctor wiped her arm again with the same alcohol swab, and quickly slapped a dinosaur themed bandage over top the puncture spot. With everything happening so quickly, Jenny felt like he was trying to rush the procedure, but frankly she was happy for it to be over.

“Thank you for stopping by. Have a good day now!” The doctor said as he opened the door for her, giving her the signal she could leave. It was odd he didn’t want to talk to her mother, or even get payment for the visit, but Jenny didn’t really care. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Jenny walked into the waiting room and signaled her mother to leave with her. Her mother looked up from the magazine with a puzzled look on her face. “Where is the doctor?” she asked.

“He said we could go,” Jenny said with a shrug. Without another word, she walked out of the office, leaving her mother alone in the waiting room. Her mother glanced at the door to the back rooms. She heard a faint laugh from the back room.

“That doc must be passionate about his work.” she chuckled as she walked out the office to catch up with Jenny.

---

Jenny walked into her room and sat on the bed, ready to relax to some soothing pop music. After the the appointment, her mother had dragged her out for a day of shopping and fun, or so she said. She called it “mother-daughter bonding time”, though Jenny spent most of the day cringing at her mother's attempts to be “hip and cool”. The whole day was nothing but forced slang and dated references, and it made the whole experience feel like an eternity.

It didn’t help Jenny felt rather antsy ever since the appointment. Maybe the vaccine didn’t sit well with her, or had some side effects. She just felt off ever since the injection, but now that she was finally home she could relax and rest.

She was about to lay back on her bed when a sudden tingling sensation at the bottom of her spine caught her attention. She rubbed her lower back, and felt an odd lump. She stood up from her bed to see an odd growth forming just above her bottom.

“What the hell!?” she yelped. She watched in horror as the growth grew down into her pants, and around her leg. It was almost like it was becoming a…!

The sound of ripping directed her attention to her chest. She looked down to see that her body had begun to grow larger. Red scales began to race up her hands and feet. Her breast had begun shrinking, being absorbed into her body. Jenny was taken back by the sudden changes. She watched wide-eyed as her perspective began to change, quite literally. She noticed that the room suddenly felt a lot smaller. She looked down to see her neck had extended, red and beige scales eating away at her skin. Her nose extended into her vision, dragging her jaw with it as it formed a reptilian muzzle. A warm feeling began to form in her chest. It became hotter and hotter, till she couldn’t take it any more. She opened her mouth as a burst of fire erupted from her mouth! At the same time, the growth on her back pushed through the back of her jeans, and swung out like the tail it finally revealed itself to be.

Jenny was freaking out. Whatever was in that vaccine, it certainly wasn’t just a cure for the common cold! Jenny began to hunch over as her legs changed shape to one clearly not meant for a biped. She fell over onto her hands as her torso twisted and elongated. Her hands became claws, and her body continued to grow. The whole transformation felt very odd. It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good either. It felt as if some force was molding her body like a piece of clay, contorting her body in uncomfortable ways.

Scales continued to spread along her body. Her peachy skin disappeared under the wave of scales with only small patches of flesh still visible on her back. Her arms and shoulders settled into their new positions, locking her into a quadruped stance. She looked back at her now inhuman body, realizing what she was becoming. She watched as the last bit of skin were covered by scales, and the final changes to her anatomy finished.

She marveled her body one last time before sitting down. She was speechless. She didn’t know what to think, let alone do. Just moments ago she was her normal teenaged self. Now she was a-.

“Dragon.” She muttered. “I am a dragon now.”

“Jenny?!” her mom called out from behind the door. “It’s time for dinner.”

“Uhh,” Jenny’s voice quivered as she tried to think of something to say. She couldn’t tell her mom she just changed into some mutant freak. What would she say? How would she act? What if other people found out?

“Yeah mom. I’m fine. I-,” She hesitated for a bit, trying to come up with a good excuse. Jenny didn’t know how she would deal with her new body. How she would be able to live a normal life, if she even could. She was having trouble processing it all. She just needed to think a bit. Figure something out. She was smart, right? She could figure something out; she just needed to buy some time. A slapdash excuse struck Jenny:

“I’m kinda tired. I think I’m gonna head to bed early tonight. I might have come down with something”