Jeff made it to his desk with a minute to spare, noticing the picture on his desk he pulled out his phone and quickly sent his wife a text, "I love U" before putting his phone away and initiating the lecture. Class began and Jeff quickly captivated the students with a demonstration before diving into the topic.
Lunch came and he went to the teacher's lounge to grab the food his wife packed for him; he ate it quickly and went to the restroom. The tucked-in shirt accentuated the small belly he'd developed after his first son was born. Hitting his mid-thirties made it worse despite his efforts to get back to where he had been just a decade ago. He smiled at himself being vain, it's not a luxury he can afford, after all, his kids come first.
He called his wife and they chatted about their respective days, it was mostly to give her some adult interaction time where she didn't have to speak baby talk or try to anticipate if what she said will become a therapy bill later.
All to soon, the lunch period was over Jeff reached 35. The stubble beard had grown into a short beard and within the first 10 minutes of class gray began to become apparent and the rest of class spread throughout it. Although this was his 2nd time teaching, to Jeff he'd been with this school teaching this class for over a decade. He knew the curriculum, the students, their siblings, and how to deal with the high schooler's guff. Except for this semester.
Todd and Karl were the exceptions to his knowing how to deal with things. Both men easily passed for 25 and exploited that fact, Karl was covered in tattoos, and both sauntered into the room smelling of beer and cigarettes. Both men were jacked like gym rats but they are known for constantly ditching gym class, they acted as if they owned... Jeff clutched his head, "What was I thinking?" Jeff looked up to see Karl and Todd drinking beer in the back of the room. "No food or drink in the comput..." a pulsating pain wracked his brain. What was he thinking? Everyone knows Todd and Karl can do as they please, they are good kids who can do anything but tend to keep to themselves. Sometimes they even share a beer when they're feeling nice. Jeff looked at the pair, "Sorry, I'm a little scatterbrained today."
The pair looked at one another breaking into giggles, "Ts'all good Teach, carry on!" their snickers persisted for another minute.
The class went smoothly, Todd and Karl didn't participate, just sat in the back and watched with amusement until class ended. After the bell rang, the students filed out, racing to get to their lockers and their buses, or to their cars to beat the buses. All except Todd and Karl.
"All right Man, It's time to turn back, you ready?" Todd called.
"What?" The 2:00 bell rang signaling that the passing period was over, despite it being the end of the day. Jeff's mind was flooded with the realization of all that transpired. "Oh." Jeff was left with two minds slowly merging his 16 and 39-year-old selves and reconciling what reality is, what it was, and how he felt about it. "Wait, my wife, my three kids!"
Todd snickered, "Yeah. Don't worry, this thing'll get rid of them. They'll no longer exist when you're 16 and in the throughs of puberty again."
Jeff staggered, "Wait!" Desperation washed over his face, what does he want? Jeff recalled holding each one of his babies, working hard on his relationship with his wife, struggling to build the comfortable, though far from extravagant life that they have, and the vow he made to always protect her and their family. "I can't go back."
Todd's malevolent streak hadn't changed since this morning, he grinned and pressed the issue. "Of course you can! I have everything loaded up now. I just push the button and bam, you're a kid again. This isn't what you wanted for your life, you wanted to be a web designer or developer, not teach it to high schoolers... Looking here you won't even be able to go back to school for it till you're in your mid-fifties! By then you wouldn't want to be starting a new career..."
Jeff fell back into his chair, staring into the oblivion of his classroom wall. Todd was right. Their family was only staying comfortable and slowly building an emergency fund. There was'nt room in the budget for a vacation let alone sending him back to school. His dream would be dead, or his family would...
Jeff slowly turned his head to Todd, tears slowly welling up in his eyes, "You win Todd, you win. Please take your device and go."
"Okay Teach, but it was your choice. I played fair and square." Todd reached into his punk leather jacket pulling out a cigarette and lighting up as he walked out of the classroom, Karl in tow.
"The fuck was that?" Karl asked as they went down the hall.
Todd laughed, "Some package called Midlife Crisis, It had a button labeled acceptance which I checked when I set him up to become that... Fucking loser."