Jason entered the faculty building, the TaskRaccoon app pointing him to a small study room on the seventh floor. Noting the queue outside the old rusty lift, Jason decided to take the stairs - it was free leg exercise after all he figured. He bounded up the stairs, noting the fuller energy he now seemed to possess and building up a further layer of sweat. He barrelled into the small study room, seeing that the other student was already there, sat down with textbooks and papers spread across the small desk. The other student was slight and fair, with wispy blonde hair and a thin face framed by rounded glasses. He was dressed in dark chinos, smart brogue shoes, and a crisp Oxford shirt. He was, Jason thought, a classic rich boy prep. Maybe Daddy had got him into college, he was struggling with his classes, and now he needed Jason's help to keep up. Pathetic.
The other student stood up, looking at Jason with a mix of bemusement and surprise, before sticking his thin hand out. "Hi, I'm Simon. Thanks for coming. And you are?" Jason took Simon's hand boisterously, shaking it firmly to show Simon who was boss. "Hey man, I'm Jason. Friends call me Jace though." A hint of displeasure flicked across Simon's face as he made contact with Jason's sweaty palm, but he recovered quickly. "Well, Jason" Simon continued, notably refusing to call him Jace, "thanks for agreeing to this. I really need the extra credit." Jace sat down, his legs spread extra wide. Jace noted with a grin the bulge in his sweatpants. "I'll be honest", Simon continued, "I was quite surprised when you offered to help me out. I don't think I've ever seen you in our lectures." Jace laughed - he couldn't exactly tell Simon the truth, that he had graduated last year, top of the class. "Yeh man, I guess not. I keep myself pretty busy." Jace caught Simon looking distastefully at his sweaty body and gym clothes, and heard him mutter "yeh, busy, I can imagine."
Jace started rocking casually in his chair. He was already, he could tell, really bored of this guy. He was being a buzzkill, and was judging Jace for the way that he dressed and presented himself. Jace figured that Simon was just jealous. Jealous that while Jace was a hunk and smart enough to lead a tutor session, Simon was a bit dweeby and clearly flunking his classes! Jace figured he would keep this session quick, hit Simon with some of the basics, and then bail. We wanted to explore this new bod. "So Si", Jace started, noting Simon's nostrils flare breifly when Jace gave him a nickname. "Where do you want to start?"
Simon looked relieved to be starting. "How do you feel about starting with some language, maybe some Greek letters? I know that's where a lot of people struggle. Maybe being in a frat will give you an advantage" Simon added snidely, although the joke was over Jace's head. Jace was instead thinking about whether he should join a frat. Maybe this body was already in one. Fraternity life wasn't something he had ever been interested in as Josh - he had always that them boorish and a waste of time - but Jace realised now that that was a stupid point of view. He could live and hang out with other guys who worked out and played sports whilst also studying to be top of the class. Also, better access to girls - it was mad that he had been in four hot bodies and still hadn't gotten off with anyone! Why had he been such a prude before? He nodded to Simon's suggestion, thinking it would be a cakewalk. He aced his language exams when he was a student and now he was pretty sure he was of Greek descent. Teaching this dweeb was gonna be the easiest money he ever made.
Simon pulled out a thin workbook and paused. "Did you.. did you bring any paper or pens?" Jace just laughed. "Sorry my man, came straight from the gym", Jace responded, flexing a bicep as he did so. Simon looked unimpressed, and his patience was wearing thin. He passed Jace the workbook, and said "Ok, well, look at these letters and their me their English equivalent." Jace thought that was a pretty lazy way for Simon to learn, to have Jace basically do his homework for him, but at least it wasn't complicated. Confidently he took the workbook to look at the Greek letters and ... blank. Nothing came to mind. He tried to refocus - he must have been more tired than he thought - but he continued to draw a blank. "Eh, sorry", he laughed nervously. "I definitely know this stuff." He had studied these letters in freshman year and he knew he had aced the language exam, but when he tried to reach back into his memories, they were hazy and unfocused. Why the fuck couldn't he remember this, this was basic stuff. After a few minutes, Simon said "don't worry, some people struggle with the basics. That's why the professor asked me to help tutor some of the... struggling students."
Jace looked up at Simon with a confused look on his face. What had Simon said? That Simon was tutoring him? That wasn't right, was it? Jace blinked - it was like his brain was always still catching up with him. "Eh, no man. I agreed to tutor you." Simon laughed, not unkindly, before realising that Jace wasn't joking. "Oh, you're being serious" Simon said awkwardly. "Erm, well, I'm about to graduate top of the class so I don't think I need tutoring. And, no offence, but are you sure you've got the grades to be a tutor?" It dawned on Jace that Simon had basically called him dumb. He wasn't dumb, he had come top of the class! But when he looked down again at the worksheets, his mind was completely blank - the Greek letters meant absolutely nothing to him. Had the app done something? And if it was going to make a tutor, why would it make him forget his knowledge about Greek letters? He thought about the task he had agreed to - "Looking for a student to tutor History and Classics asap!" - and, slowly, it dawned on him. The task wasn't for him to be a tutor, but for him to be a student receiving tutoring. "Oh fuck", he said out loud. The app wasn't going to turn him into some top of the class brain like he was, but someone who needed tutoring, who needed help. Someone who was struggling with his classes. The app had created the perfect struggling student. It has made him dumb.
Jace now realised that that feeling in his head - that hazy feeling that caused his thoughts to feel thick - wasn't because he was tired. His difficulty working out his age, his inability to remember his old classes, even some of the things he had been saying and ways he had been acting. He wasn't the academic student he had been once and had tried to get back to but some... dumb jock stereotype. The driver had said he didn't have time to study and Jace had said he had a scholarship - the app just made those facts real. He was a jock, a wrestler only at school because of his prowess on the mat and not for his smarts. He didn't have any smarts. And that persona trickled down to every facet of his new body - the muscles, the clothes, the hair, the smell, the nicknames.
Simon could tell that Jace was getting worked up. "Hey man, it's okay, everyone's gotta start somewhere. Even if you have left it pretty late... Look - let's start with something more basic ok?" Simon pulls out another workbook and Jace cringes as he sees the title - Greek for Beginners! It almost looked like a book for teens, not a college student. The book had English translations to help but, by this point, Jace just couldn't concentrate. He tried to follow the words with his finger to help him concentrate, but couldn't get over how thick and hairy it was. He tried to voice the words out loud, but kept being surprised by the deep timber that he spoke with. The room was getting hot, his hair was itching everywhere, and he couldn't stop thinking about how badly he smelt. Everything he said or did just sounded stupid. It was hopeless.
Jace had lost track of how of time had passed, and was startled when Simon's album went. "Oh crap", Simon went. "I'm really sorry - I've got a lecture I totally forgot about. Sorry, I know this is right in the middle of our session. How about you keep that worksheet and we'll pick up the second half soon? Sorry to have to bail like this!" Simon spoke in a whirlwind and Jace had a hard time keeping up. Was the session over? "I'll be in touch" Simon added as a parting comment before dashing away. Jace sat back, a bit thunderstruck by what had happened. He felt muddled, but at least now the task was over. He was on campus, so there must be loads of people needing help with something. He just needed to pick something that kept him young but maybe got some of his smarts back as well - something that wouldn't leave him as some thicko jock stereotype. He booted up the app, but it took him back to the task screen - it was greyed out, covered in "TASK ONGOING" in block capital letters. He tried to go back to the home screen or to the task list but all he got was a prompt saying "You cannot select a new task until the existing task is complete." It took Jace a while to work it out, but he realised that with Simon bailing halfway through their session, the tutoring he had signed up to wasn't over. He realised that until Simon finished the session, he was stuck like this.
He saw on the app that there was an option to cancel, but he noted with fear the warning in large letters - "Abandoning a task while ongoing will lead to penalties." What penalties? He had no idea what the app could do? Jace started descending the stairs of the faculty, emerging back to the campus quad. He didn't even have Simon's number, so even Simon reached out... he was stuck. He looked around the campus. Did he try and follow Simon to his class and force him to finish the task? Did he find out wherever Jace lived and wait? Or did he bite the bullet, and abandon the task and accept the penalties. "What the fuck do I do now?"