Next thing I know, I'm being shaken awake.
"Ender. Ender honey, time to wake up and go to school!"
I confusedly open my eyes, and see Liz's mom waking me up.
"Wha-what....where am I?" I ask as I look around at a strange bedroom. A familiar bedroom.
"Come on now, honey. Don't play dumb. It's time for you to go to school."
"School?" I ask.
"Yeah. Now get ready and don't dawdle!" she said as she turned to walk out the door.
"Huh?" I said in my now higher-pitched voice. More confused than ever as I sit up and look around.
"Huh?" I say again, as I recognize this bedroom. It was Ender's room at Liz's house, scrunching up my face in a little sneer.
"What the hell am I doing here?" Barely even noticing that my voice sounds different. Softer.
I sit all the way up, and the bed sheets slip down to my waist. I'm wearing a small white undershirt. I don't wear undershirts to bed. I don't even have any undershirts. Hell, I don't wear shorts to be at all.
I lift my arm up, and see that it's more than normal. And....HAIRLESS!
"What the HELL,!?" I say a second time as I look at my other arms and my hands. There....the hands and arms of a kid!
Next thing I notice, is that my chest is flat. I had really nice pecs, but now, I'm sporting the chest of a young boy!
I go lower, and fail to feel my 8 pack and I worked so hard and diligently for the past five years on!
"What the hell!?" I say for the third time. I throw the sheets off my lower body altogether, and am greeted with a pair of boxers that reach halfway down my thighs. My tanner, smaller thighs!
I gaze down at my now much shorter legs, with no hair on them whatsoever! Perfectly smooth! My calves have a nice little round shape to them.
My heart beating, I jump out of the bed; Ender's bed. And dash over to his closet where he has a full-length mirror hanging from it. Staring back at me, with a cute, shocked expression with wide puppy-dog eyes, is none other than Ender!
"What the fuck!?" I see the mirrored image of Ender mouth the words I had just spoken aloud at the exact same time.
I reached up, and felt my now-soft little 12 year old cheek. I then held out both of my hands in front of me. Turned them over back and forth. Such youthful hands! The long, skinny fingers of a child that has just lost their baby-fat less than a handful of years ago!
I then start feeling my skinny little chest and belly. I feel all around my torso. Then looked back up at the image of Ender's warm brown eyes staring back at me!
I step closer to the mirror to get an extra good look. I look very closely at the face. Perfectly smooth. Not a blemish on sight. The nose barely a bump in the middle of the face. Perfectly-sized. A slightly broad-shaped nose with a small rise off the cheeks.
I open my mouth, and see Ender's signature crooked tooth on the top row of teeth. The right inciser bends a bit backwards, behind the front teeth. All the teeth are perfectly white, and the front teeth that of a child's adult teeth that haven't even begun to wear down yet. In other words, they're big in his mouth. In....my?.... Mouth.
"Wtf?" I say again, silently, as I close my mouth and stare at Ender's cute little face, reflected back at me from his mirror.
I then hear knocking on the door. "Oooohhh ENDEEERRR!" I hear Liz's voice as she likes her head in the door. She sees me standing by the mirror, looking shocked.
She which walks into the room, and walks over to me. She towers over me! It was highly disconcerting, and a bit intimidating, to be looking UP .....Way up....at my girlfriend. Rather than looking DOWN at her.
"Hey there, ENDER," She said with a suspicious little giggle. "It's almost time for you to go to SIXTH GRADE today," emphasizing "6th grade."
"What the hell is this!?" I say in my new little boy's voice.
"Come on now, ENDER. You know you shouldn't swear," she says. Again, with a snicker.
I know she's mocking me, and that she has something to do with this!
I screw up my face, cock my head to the right a little bit to the right, and look defiantly at her. A mannerism of Ender's, and is always so endearing when he does that. Now I'M doing it!
"You! You had something to do with this, Liz!"
"With what?" She said with mock innocence.
"You know I'm not Ender!" I say forcefully. Well, as forcefully as my now 11 year old little voice could say anything.
Giving a couple of more chuckles, she bent down at her knees so she could be eye-level with me.
"Fine. I did it. I found this pair of socks you had lying on your coffee table at your place. I saw they claimed to be magic, and I brought them home. Long story short, I discovered they are, in fact, magic. All you have to do, is out then on, then wear a pair of shoes, and you'll turn into the person who wears those shoes."
"Nice try," i started to say. But as far-fetched as her story sounds, I AM her little 11 year old brother now! That's pretty far-fetched!
She laughed as she stood back up.
"Mom is going to start yelling at you if you don't start getting around for school," she said. I was left looking back up at her from my much short stature.
"She isn't my mom, and I don't go to school!" I said
"Oh, yes you are. You're going back to 6th grade."
"Says who? I ask, acting more like the 11 year old I now am.
"I do, unless you don't want to go back to being yourself."
"Well, you just told me me-"
"If you go to school today, I'll give you your socks back," she interrupted.
"But. Why?" I asked.
"This is April fool's. This is my prank on you. You'll spend the day as my little brother Ender."
"But. This is humiliating!" I said. "I don't need to go to 6th grade!"
"If you want to go back to being a college grad tomorrow, starting your new career in the fall you will."
I started to speak, but closed my mouth, seeing that she's veing serious. Or else, she's a damn good actor and I didn't know that.
"So, where are the socks?" I ask.
"Oh, don't worry about that. They're safe. Ender has them."
"Ender? And where is he!?"
"Hey, Lizzy" i hear a deeper man's voice. I then see....myself....!? Walk into my....I mean Ender"'s room.
"You-"
"Yup," he interrupted. "i tried on your shoes with those magic socks my sister brought home. You'll be me for the day, and I'll be you! It'llbe fun!"
It was wierd hearing my own voice. I sound way different than I ever thought I did.
"Ugh. So all I have to do is go to school for the day?"
"Yup!" Said both siblings simultaneously. One of the siblings as me.
"Fine. But what should I wear?"
"Here. Lemme show ya," said Ender. He walked over to the closet, reached in, and pulled out a white button-up shirt with a tie. Laid them on the bed. Then went over ti the dresser, and pulled out a dark blue sweater wuth a logo on the left breast, and a dark blue pair of pants.
"This is your uniform," he said holdng it up.
My stomach twisted in knots.
"Uniform?" I ask.
"Yup. You'll be going to my school; St. Joe's!"
Great. I'm not just a 6th grader. I'm also a Catholic school 6th grader. I forgot he goes to St. Joe's. This sucks.
As Ender was holding up the clothes I was supposed to wear, he kinda giggled a little and said, "damn, these pants sure are small. I didn't realize how little I was," he said, looking at me and winked. "Here ya go. Kid. Have fun!"
He walked out. So did Liz. Leaving me alone with my new elementary private school uniform on the bed.
"Great," i said and sighed.