Five weeks later, Jeremy was looking through his closet, trying to decide what outfit to wear to school that day. The first few weeks after putting on his first pair of tights, he had worn tights at home and at dance class, but had continued wearing street clothes to school. But his desire to wear tights was overwhelming and gradually he started incorporating them into his regular wardrobe, and now he was wearing them all the time. He had spent a lot of time watching male dancers on YouTube, marveling at their abilities and their outfits. He tried to copy their dances, but he knew it would take a lot of hard work to dance as well as them. Even the boys his own age were much better dancers than him. But he could at least dress like them!
He had worked with his mother to recreate some of his favorite ballet costumes for himself. He decided today that he would wear his "man in black" outfit. This consisted of a pair of black tights, which went high up his upper body and had a pair of shoulder straps. He had cut the shoulder straps, shortened them, and, with his mother’s help, sewn them back together so they fit even tighter than intended, sinking deep into his butt cheeks. Over this he wore a black shirt with 3/4 sleeves, which his mom had cut and hemmed so it only went down to cover his chest. This really showed off his tights-covered butt. He buttoned only one button on the bottom of the shirt, so his collarbone could be seen.
They had some trouble finding the best shoes for him to wear. He accepted that he could not wear ballet shoes, which were not strong enough to wear off the dance floor, but he didn't want to wear sneakers, either, because he didn't think they looked good with tights. They eventually found a type of shoe he found suitable: motorsport shoes. Intended, they surmised, to be worn by the driver of an all-terrain vehicle,, they were light and form-fitting, and Jeremy found them to be an acceptable medium between ballet shoes and sneakers. His mom bought two pairs for him: one which they bleached white, and the other which they dyed black. It was the black pair, of course, that he would wear with his "man in black" outfit.
He was starting to get teased at school for the way he dressed, but the most common reaction from his peers was confusion. The other kids knew him as an athletic and rough boy and couldn't fail to notice the change in him.
"Why don't you come to soccer anymore?" asked his friend Jase.
"I don't have time. I have dance class." That was only partially true. He could have squeezed soccer into his schedule if he wanted to, but the truth was he had almost totally lost interest in it.
"What happened to you, man? You changed."
"I have not," Jeremy insisted, but he knew he had. He still had all his memories of playing soccer, roughhousing with the others and getting covered in mud, but it was like his memories weren't his anymore. They were the memories of some other boy, or memories of a movie he had seen and not particularly liked.
There was one thing he really missed about soccer, though, and that was the friends he had. By comparison, dance was rather lonely. Oh, he was popular with the girls at dance class, alright (although even they thought him strange for wearing tights all the time), but he would have liked to have maintained some of his male friends as well. But their interests no longer coincided.
He had asked his teacher if he could spend recess in the gym and practice dance. Mrs. Larson found it very strange, but she agreed. He brought his iPad with him. He set it on the floor and brought up a video with music on it. He played the video, stood up and danced when the music started. Though he lamented his limited talents, he didn't realize that he was actually progressing very rapidly in his dancing abilities. The nanites had not only made him love wearing tights and dancing, they had enhanced his ability to learn. His dance teacher was quite impressed at how well he was doing, especially for a boy who had never danced before. But still he wasn't satisfied and knew he had a lot of work to do.
When the music stopped, he bowed in the traditional way, and when he looked up, he saw that he had an audience. It was a kid named Kyle. Kyle was one year older than Jeremy and in a different grade, but he had heard of him and seen him in the hall. He used to be really lazy, hated school, frequently absent, until one day he came to school wearing a school uniform (the school did not have a uniform) and now he was the best student in sixth grade. He studied hard and was already planning what colleges he was going to apply to and what he was going to study for his master's degree. And there he stood, blocking the exit, wearing a suit jacket and a tie, gray short pants, gray knee socks and immaculately polished black shoes, looking like a miniature business man. He started walking towards Jeremy, his hands in his pockets.
"Did your mom buy you that outfit?"
Jeremy blushed. "I guess."
Kyle put his finger on his temple like he was thinking. "Wait, don't tell me. You'd never worn tights before, but your mom persuaded you to try a pair and now you can't have enough of them."
That wasn't exactly what happened, but it was eerily close. "How did you..." Jeremy started.
"I bet your first pair of tights was made by the BeC Clothing Line."
Jeremy stared at Kyle. He had no idea what company had manufactured his first pair of tights and hardly cared.
"You should find out. BeC clothing comes with mind-altering nano-bots. The first person who touches them will have their whole personality changed. Look at me. I didn't used to dress like this. But now I don't want to wear anything else. Sound familiar?"
Jeremy had to admit that what Kyle was saying made sense, sort of. "Aren't you mad?" he asked.
Kyle shrugged. "Nah, I think I'm better off his way. I'm doing a lot better in school. I might actually have a future now!"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Just thought you'd like to know." Kyle turned and walked out of the gym, leaving Jeremy alone.
When Jeremy got home that afternoon, he looked at his first pair of tights and did, indeed, find the "BeC" logo sewn into the waistband. He looked them up online and the website confirmed their purpose -- for parents to change their children's personalities in whatever way suited them. He wanted to be outraged, but he wasn't. He really liked dancing and wearing tights. What he didn't like was the teasing and ostracism he encountered at school, but he now thought there might be something he could do about that.
Ten days later, as school was getting out, Jase was walking out of the building when Jeremy walked up to him wearing a lycra unitard patterned with colorful diamonds in the style of a harlequin. He stopped Jase, held out a small plastic package and said, "Hey, Jase, feel this."
Without thinking, Jase put his hand on the soft fabric exposed by the hole cut in the plastic. Upon touching it, his disinterest immediately turned to curiosity. "What IS that?" he said.
Jeremy handed him the package. "Go ahead. You can keep it." Then he walked away in search of Frank, for whom he had another identical package.
Jeremy had used his mother's credit card to order the two pairs of ballet tights, hoping she wouldn't be too mad when she found out, but confident that it would be worth it in any case. Soon, he knew, he would have his friends back.