“Well, Jake, since you didn’t respond, you get both,” Kyle said on the other end of the line.
“Whatever man, the curse isn’t real,” Jake said, trying to hide his nervousness and failing miserably. Just because he didn’t believe in the curse doesn’t mean he wasn’t wary of it.
“We’ll just have to see then, won’t we?” Kyle said, undoubtedly grinning. “First off, for your dare, you will be unable to tell people who cursed you. The only people who will know that things are different are you and I. The thing is though is that you will be unaware of your curse for a little bit. Specifically, you won’t remember that you have been cursed at all and will accept your transformation as normal until the second time you sneeze.”
“Second time I sneeze?” Jake asked.
“Oh yes, Jake,” Kyle replied. “For your transformation, you will come down with a cold. This will be no normal cold. You see, with this cold, every time you sneeze, something happens to the people around you. Anyone within 20 feet of you and in the same room as you will be affected by your sneeze. You will also be affected. The effect of your sneeze is written down on the piece of paper I have in my hand right now. So you won’t even know exactly what it is. You’ll have to figure it out on your own. And you will be sneezing quite a bit each day. And just with normal colds, it’s contagious.”
“Geez, look man,” Jake said, unconsciously sniffing. “Sorry that my friends did that to you the other day. I didn’t want them to do it. I even told them not to repeatedly. Did you wonder why it wasn’t done in the middle of the hallway? I was able to convince them to at least get you to a bathroom.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Kyle slowly said, “You do realize that they took me into the girls bathroom, right?”
“Yes,” Jake said. “I know that. Look, they almost turned on me and did the same to me. I’m a junior, they’re seniors. I tried, man. I’m sorry.”
Kyle was still silent. “Well,” he said very slowly. “I wasn’t expecting this. Then, to modify your curse a little, once you remember that you were cursed after your second sneeze, you will begin to enjoy it. Your friends, the ones that almost turned on you, will be extra sensitive to your sneezes and will quickly catch your cold themselves. And they will hate it when they get it.”
“Dude! Why are you still cursing me?” Jake asked.
“Look, at least you’ll begin to enjoy it,” Kyle said. “Have fun today.” With that, Kyle hung up.
Jake nervously began to pace. But soon, the conversation on the phone drifted away from his mind. He found the rest of his clothes and got ready to leave. He grabbed a pack of tissues on his way out of his house; he must have come down with a cold or something.
Kyle, just down the street from Jake, stared at the writing on the piece of paper in his hand. The words detailing the effect of Jake’s sneezes, which read: