Cory had no way to know if what he had heard from the Chronivac had been just a dream or the real deal. Regardless, he breathed a sigh of relief when he woke up the next morning looking like his regular self. No way he was gonna let himself transform again after what happened yesterday, he had really feared losing his body for ever.
Sure, he was an androgynous boy, not exactly muscular or with the perfect equipment hanging between his legs, but it beat being an inanimate doll and his short experience has a girl had been too weird and scary.
The first thing he did in the morning was to hide the toasted remains of the Chronivac under his bed. No way he was messing with that crazy thing again.
“Cory, hurry up or you’ll be late for class!” His mother called from downstairs. Cory could smell the nice scent of sausages and fried eggs from the kitchen, so he dressed up in a flash and stormed down the stairs ready to have breakfast.
His mother let out a chuckle as she watched his son scarfing down his food eagerly. “Oh my, someone’s woken up hungry today! Make sure you chew it all down!”
Cory wasn’t that hungry actually, but he was desperate to gain some mass. No matter how much he ate, he always looked slender and skinny, and his experience of the day before just reinforced his wish to look more masculine.
“By the way, Cory-dolly,” his mother said, and Cory suddenly realized he hated that nickname. “Your friend called earlier. He said he wanted to talk to you before class.”
“My friend?” Cory wondered. “You mean Max?”
“No, the redheaded one, Charles.” His mother said with a smile.
Oh, shit. His mother wasn’t aware of this, but Charles had been bullying Cory for some time. Last Friday, he had coerced Cory into doing his English Lit assignment for him “unless he wanted his girly ass handed to him”, as the brute boy had said.
Of course with all the, uhm, “excitement” from using the Chronivac yesterday Cory had forgotten all about this ordeal.
Cory tried to convince his mother that he wasn’t feeling that well and that he should stay home today, but his mother saw right through his lie.
So, reluctant with fear, Cory headed towards the dreaded high school. Not long after he entered the building, he spotted Charles. The redheaded and muscular boy looked fierce patrolling the hallways, probably wondering why that pussy boy hadn’t shown up yet.
Cory attempted going past this monster of a guy in stealth mode, but...
“There he is, Charles!” One of Charles’ friends, or more appropriately, goons, spotted him as he was sneaking through them.
“Oh, crap!” Yelled Cory. The androgynous boy ran as fast as he could towards the closest door, which lead into one of the male restrooms.
“Come back here you pussy! I’ll cut your pathetic balls off!” Roared the animalistic bully.
Cory slammed the door shut, grabbed a plunger from the corner of the restroom and placed it’s wooden end in the door’s handle. It wasn’t a very convincing lock, but it’d buy him some time.
“I know you are in there, pussy!” Cory heard the bully say. Charles punched and fidgeted with the door, the plunger about to fall off the handle at any moment.
“Oh, shit, oh shit, oh shit...” Thought Cory. “This is unfair, why am I being picked on? I didn’t do anything to him!” The boy looked at his feeble form reflected on the dirty mirror, the restroom completely empty apart from him and a few flies looking for something to feast on. “Why do I have to look like this? Why can’t I just be like the other boys...?” Cory began to cry.
“You can’t hide forever!” Screamed the bully.
“Well, I wish could somehow!” Cory thought while looking at his face on the mirror, wishing it looked like something else entirely.
Just then, he saw a bluish sparkle coming out from his eyes for half a second.
“AN EXTERNAL AGENT WASN’T FOUND. ERROR(NoAgent). SEARCHING AGAIN FOR TRIGGER IN 30 SECONDS...” Said a low mechanical voice inside Cory’s head.
“What the...?” Cory exclaimed in surprise. That voice...It sounded like the one from the dream...Could it be...?
The door began shaking more fiercely than before.
Cory pondered. If the Chronivac was really inside him, he could use it to escape from the bullies, or maybe hide somehow... Wait, what was he thinking? He could even get revenge on them! But Cory wasn’t that fierce, he wouldn’t use the Chronivac for harm...Damn, why was he such a pussy?!
Sweating and in a panic, Cory ultimately decided to...