"Kyle, wait."
Kyle turned back toward Jennifer, a glimmer of hopeful surprise in his eyes.
"I..." She swallowed, her instincts trying to prevent her from saying what she was about to say. "I need your help."
"Really," Kyle said in a tone that sounded more like a statement than a question.
"Liz, my friend, was supposed to change me back with the curse, but she used it for herself instead. She's trying to take the head cheerleading position away from me."
Kyle dispassionately responded. "Aww, now that's a shame."
"She's got the curse's power now," Jennifer explained. "I need it. And as much as I hate you, you're the only other one who knows the curse is real and what it can do."
"So our little lump of curls has the guts to ask for favors," Kyle playfully patted Jennifer's wild, curly mane. "I'm truly impressed."
Jennifer stared at him, humiliation and desperation apparent on her face. "Please," she said.
"Okay," Kyle replied.
"Wait, 'okay?' Seriously?"
"I will gladly help out my fellow cursee," Kyle said obligingly. "But you know, Curls..." Kyle had chosen a nickname for her already. "I'll have to ask a favor of you in return."
Jennifer desperately hoped it wasn't a sexual kind of favor. "Wait a minute, 'cursee?'"
"How do you think I got the curse to begin with? You can't just say 'Transform or Dare' so someone and expect it to actually work."
"So you were affected by the curse once too?"
"I'm STILL affected by it, Curls," Kyle said. "I got it a while ago, from my grandmother."
"What happened?"
"Apparently someone had used it on her. She chose dare. Whatever she had to do, she wouldn't say. But something about it caused her to get sick. A few days later I sat with her at her death bed. She never liked me, but I decided to pay my respects all the same. Part of me was hoping for an apology. You know how repentive some people get when their time's almost up.
"Anyway, she didn't apologize. She said the words instead. And she turned me into this."
"Into what?"
"Believe it if you want, but before Transform or Dare, I was quarterback on East Hampton's football team. I had a lucky break in my freshman year, and took the fast track to fame. I had colleges fighting each other over me.
"But grandma decided I wasn't worthy of that kind of life. She'd never been a star, or a success of any kind. Why should her successors enjoy a life she was denied? With her dying breath, she cursed me to live my freshman year over again as an ugly, useless weakling."
Jennifer was speechless. Could this pasty toothpick of a boy really have been a killer football player? Well, considering everything she'd been through today, why not?
"And that's the story of Kyle Perkins." Kyle shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets. "So, here's the deal. I'll change you back if you change me back."
"One thing doesn't make sense," Jennifer said. She decided a little caution was appropriate, considering the foot she and Kyle had started off on. "Why didn't you just find a friend to change you back?"
"A friend? Gee, that's funny," Kyle said. "You know I don't have any friends, right? As a matter of fact, the dare part of my curse was to adopt a personality that would turn off anyone with any flicker of a chance they'd trust me enough to do that sort of thing. I'm to live this new life solo. Maybe you've noticed I haven't been the nicest of guys."
There was no question there. Though he had spilled what she would have to accept was his life story, his countenance was far from warm. "Okay," Jennifer decided. "We're partners. But NOT friends."
"Fine," was Kyle's response. "I think we can corner your friend at cheerleading practice."
They began walking toward the door to the athletic fields, and another question popped in Jennifer's head.
"You went through this whole year without passing on the curse. What made you give it to me?"
"I was a star, then I was a punching bag. I had everyone in the school wrapped around my fingers, but was too nice to abuse that kind of trust, and then I became the guy wrapped around someone else's finger, and that someone wasn't afraid to take advantage. Finally, you and your so-called friends humiliated me worse than I've ever been. I figured I'd be damned if I wasn't going to use the one power that I had to make someone more miserable than me."
"Guess it's ironic, then. Your 'revenge' becoming salvation."
"Yeah, well don't get too full of yourself. How are we going to get the curse back from Liz without suffering an even worse fate?"