“Hi, I’m Marcus. Nice to meet you both,” a timid Marcus said as he approached Nick and Chase.
“That was an impressive throw, do you play?”
“Yeah, I’m the star quarterback on my hi—“ Marcus stopped midsentence realizing he was no longer a high schooler and may not be again for another 8 years thanks to his little brother and his punk friends. “Ugh on my peewee league team.”
“Cool, want to toss the ball around some?” Nick asked.
As Oliver and his friends tried to figure out what to do after the capsule containing Marcus’ maturity had been broken, Marcus tossed around the football with the two young boys. What he didn’t know was that they too were hiding a secret of their own.
“So that’s an interesting outfit,” Nick observed.
“Uhm, thanks my brother and his friends picked it out.”
“They seemed to be giving you a hard time and haven’t stopped arguing with one another since you came to play. Did your brother say he broke something called a Pubertaway?” Chase asked.
“Oh, uh, well about that. What he meant to sway was…”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to try to come up with a lie. We knew what the Pubertaway is.” Chase admitted.
“You do?” Marcus couldn’t believe this. Here he was feeling weird about playing football with two kids half his real age when they too weren’t actually 10 year olds.
“Wait so you’re both not actually 10?”
“Nope,” Chase said smirking. “Nick and I are actually three times our current age. I’m a high school football coach and Nick here has been my best friend since we were kids. We bought a Pubertaway because we wanted to remember what it was like to not have to worry about work, chores or hitting the gym every day. I’ll admit it’s definitely weird being more than a foot shorter than I have been for over the last decade and not to have people looking up at me or admiring my muscles, but the last day has been a blast and it’s amazing how much kids get away with. So what’s your story, kid?”
“Well, I’m actually 18 and that twerp over there is my little brother. School has been so stressful with college applications and the upcoming football championships that I decided to is the Pubertaway to unwind. What I didn’t expect was my little brother getting his hands on my Pubertaway capsule and bullying me with help from his friends before breaking the capsule and losing my ticket back to 18. Now I don’t know how I’ll regain my age and the worst part is my team will probably lose the first game of the playoffs without me.”
“Damn, that’s messed up.” Chase said sympathetically. “Wait, what school did you say you play at?”
“Mason”
“Wait,” Chase interjected a concerned look appearing on his face. “Is your name Marcus Matthews?”
“Yeah, but how did you know that?”
“Because I’m your coach, Coach Croston.