Cris was shaking when he got into the car with his father. He wasn't allowed to drive for now so his Dad had to drive him to school. He had his backpack on, with all the surfer stickers he liked so much. Such bright colors looked ridiculous on an 81 year old, but it was the only backpack he had.
Of course, that was the least of his worries.
When Dad drove up to the school entrance, he wanted to have a brief talk.
"Son...just a little advice. You're not young anymore and...(sigh) quite frankly you would be doing all of us a favor if you gave up on any chance of dating for now. And any girl that approaches you for a date is just gonna be making fun of you."
"Thanks for the pep talk, Dad!" the surly 81 year old replied.
Marching into the school's main entrance, the principal, a tall bald black man and his short bob haired vice principal greeted him near the door.
"Hello, Cris," vice principal Shirley said.
"Yes, welcome back. We'd like to introduce you to your first class. The students have been prepared for this but we thought we'd talk to everyone right away just to set the tone," Principal Tanner told him.
"Um...okay. Sure."
Walking down the hallway, escorted by the principal and vice-principal, were students...almost everyone was taller than him now, except for maybe the freshmen. It was so embarrassing! The looks he was starting to get. What is that old man doing here? Is that? Oh my god it is! Is that CRIS? Is that CRIS HERMAN?? No way!
He heard all these things and more. Snickering. Laughing. Students pointing at him. Cindy, the most popular girl in school and by far the most beautiful, trying not to laugh and failing miserably.
He stood in front of an incredulous class, looking at his shoes as they filtered in. He had to stand up in front of the class. Luckily, he had never been a bully and had coasted through school being fairly popular...but that was when he was ridiculously handsome. Now he was a wizened, defenseless 81 year old. Being forced to interact with high school kids! He wanted to cry.
"Alright, everyone. I want us all to have a little talk," the principal began. "Now, this...is now Cris Herman. He has had a body swap as mandated by law. He is going to finish up his last semester here with us. Now, there are guidelines for any body swap as it relates to a student returning. I must inform you legally that Cris is an elderly man with many disabilities. Any attempt to bully or harass him will be met with certain and immediate punishment. We hope you will all consider the significant psychological ramifications that such a swap can have on a young person like Cris. He deserves our sympathy and our respect. I also want to point out that this is what can happen when you DRINK and DRIVE." Cris winced at his principal's speech.
"So, just to continue where you were going with this," the vice-principal jumped in. She was 5'4" and now several inches taller than Cris. "It is part of the school's job to ensure his physical safety. We would consider any physical assault on him to be grounds for expulsion and you would be denied your diploma at the end of the semester. The police have also been alerted as to the swap, and his swap has been placed up for public data as per the law requires. Are there any questions? No? Great."
"Cris, would you like to say anything?" the principal whispered to him. He shook his head no.
The stunned class looked at Cris and he wanted to evaporate.
The class began and ended without Cris saying so much as a word. He had never felt more shy and unimportant in his life.
Lunch time came. He didn't know if his friends would even want to sit with him. He passed their table looking away from them.
"Dude, Herman, come back here. You can sit with us." That was Brandon.
"Yeah, dude. We all feel really bad," said Keith.
"Really?"
"Yeah, dude. Come over here."
Cris sat down, although it took him considerably longer than the young people around him, who moved around much more quickly. He took out the meds he was supposed to take with lunch.
"Dude, what are those even for?" Keith asked.
"Blood pressure, arthritis, palpitations...you name it."
"Dude, this is so weird. I've never met anyone that body swapped from a court order before," Keith looked at him like he was from Mars.
"Yeah, well now ya have."
"Dude..can you buy us beer now? You're old enough!" Brandon was super excited.
"I...I think so. I'm not allowed to drink or smoke in this body, though. Court order."
"Bummer. But you can buy US beer, right?" Keith asked.
"Yeah, you could buy it and...we could enjoy it!" Brandon said.
"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you care so much."
"Come on, dude. We're just trying to find the silver lining in all this," Keith told him.
"Yeah. Plus both of us are way taller than you now. So we're like...your big protectors."
"Oh. Thanks." He felt like he wanted to melt through the floor. This was just a neverending nightmare!