"Pick up, pick up..." Levi muttered under his breath as the cell phone rang in his ear. Finally, he heard the click of someone picking up.
"Mmph...yeah...." a drowsy voice murmured.
"Eric! Wake up! I need your help right now!" Levi hissed into the phone, careful to keep his voice low enough that it wouldn't be heard outside his room.
"Lisa?" In an instant, Eric was alert. "Or is it Levi?" Eric grinned into his cell phone, sitting up in bed.
"There's no time for joking!" Levi growled. "I need you to change me back right now!"
"Wait, why?" Eric asked as he got up and walked over to turn on the computer. "What happened? Is something wrong? Are you okay?" The concern in Eric's voice helped calm the panicking Levi a bit.
"I'm fine, it's just that I have to go to the beach with my family tomorrow. They'll be in for a rather rude surprise if I show up as...well, as this!" Levi explained. "You gotta change me back for now, then afterwards we can try this again."
Eric pulled up the Chronivac program and opened the file with Lisa's - now Levi's - alterations. Scrolling down, he clicked on the "Revert" button. And waited. However, the screen remained the same, and the button did not indicate that it had been pushed. Moreover, the image of Levi did not change.
"Uh, did anything happen?" Eric asked nervously.
"No..." Levi replied uncertainly. A bit anxious, Eric began to try to change other options, such as gender, or height, or hair color, but nothing would allow him to click on it. Scrolling down, Eric saw the timer running, but it was what he saw underneath that made his gut clench.
"Um....it says, 'Subject out of range,'" Eric stuttered into the phone, and only received Levi's panicky breathing in response.
"I can't get over there tonight! And we're leaving early in the morning!" Levi sputtered.
"Just hang on, I'll think of something!" Eric tried to reassure Levi. Opening different menus and scanning the "Help" tools, Eric feverishly tried to find a solution, but to no avail. He felt guilty for getting Levi into this mess; after all, Lisa had always been the more careful and cleverer one. Finally he minimized the file with Levi's image, ready to give up. However, behind Levi's file was one other file. Desperate to fix the problem, a Eric came up with a crazy idea.
"I think I know what to do. Look, tomorrow, just go to the beach looking exactly like Lisa, but don't wear your bathing suit, tell your parents you want to change at the beach. Around 10, go to the restrooms over by the parking lot and bring your bathing suit as if you're gonna change, okay? It'll be fine, I promise," Eric hurriedly stated.
"How is that going to be fine?" Levi yelped.
"Just trust me, I've got it figured out!" Eric asserted, then hung up. Levi looked at his cell phone and wanted to curse, but Eric did say to trust him, so he grumbled instead and went ahead with packing up his bathing suit.
After a very nervous ride to the beach in the morning, Levi hovered around the beach towels and umbrellas.
"Why don't you go change, honey? The water's great right now," Levi's father asked as he slogged his way up the beach from the water, grabbing a bottle of juice from the icebox.
"Yeah, in a bit, Dad," Levi responded edgily, trying to keep his voice in the feminine range. Finally, at 10 AM, Levi grabbed the bag with his bathing suit and headed for the restrooms. Not sure what to expect, he stood just outside looking around.
"You look even cuter in shorts!" a voice chuckled, as Levi whipped around to face the speaker.