While looking around for a new target, Jason browsed through the app. He noticed the previous changes had been done with the "Self Aware" option active but the "Target Aware" and "World Aware" options inactive. That made sense; the man (now woman) behind the counter hadn't seemed to notice anything. Jason wondered what would happen if he turned "World Aware" on but left "Target Aware" off. Would other people eventually convince the target of the truth, or would he or she stubbornly refuse to believe?
Jason brought up the targeting portion of the app again. He saw another guy sitting on a bench outside a clothing store, clearly waiting for a girl - possibly his girlfriend - to finish her shopping. Trying to act casual, Jason sat on the other end of the bench so he could have an up close look. The guy barely glanced up from his phone, where he was playing some sort of game. Of course, he had no idea what power Jason now wielded. Tapping his own phone, Jason clicked on the bench area and a sentence returned.
"A bored young man plays with an app on his phone."
Jason thought to himself. Flipping back to the awareness settings, Jason made sure the "Target Aware" was off while the other two were turned on. Then he went back to the sentence and changed "man" to "woman". Looking up at the guy, Jason waited.
After a moment, Jen blinked. Nothing had happened. She frowned down at her screen, wondering if she hadn't changed it correctly, but the sentence had disappeared already.
"Whoa!" The loud exclamation startled Jen and made her look up. "Dude, you're a chick!" The guy on the bench was staring at Jen, seemingly surprised that she was a girl.
"Uh, duh," she said, irritated at the app not working. She wondered if she should just try again.
"But you were just a dude like ten seconds ago," the guy said, sounding puzzled. "Is this some kind of prank?"
He looked around as if searching for another person, and Jen quickly pulled up the targeting portion of the app. Her heart dropped when she saw that her own figure was highlighted. But she knew she couldn't have done anything to herself. She had always been a girl . . . hadn't she? Besides, the "Self Aware" had been turned on, so if she had been changed by the app she would know. Unless . . . maybe the "Target Aware" setting overrode "Self Aware"?
"Hey, are you okay?" the guy asked. "You look a little sick or something." Jen definitely felt a little sick. The evidence pointed to her being changed by the app, but she couldn't remember ever being a guy. She remembered growing up playing with dolls and dresses, going through puberty and suddenly getting noticed by all the guys, finally agreeing to go out with Will . . . what was she supposed to do?