Emily was ready for her first class of the day. Well, as ready as anyone ever was for having to go to class, that was. Emily let out a long sigh as she slid into her seat. Why couldn’t her mother have let her keep school starting at noon? It was just a little shift in reality, and she’d been able to sleep in all morning.
Emily glanced around the classroom. There was no shortage of potential targets for changes, she thought to herself. Sitting over there in the far corner were some of the jocks, Greg, Zach and Liam. As usual, they were ignoring everything Mr. Allen was saying up at the front of the class. Greg’s spiky blonde hair was in disarray, as usual, while Zach had longer jet black hair that flowed nearly to his shoulders. Liam, for his part, had short red hair.
In contrast to the guys, Abby and Savannah were hurriedly writing down everything Mr. Allen said, even though it was just going to get repeated on the morning announcements in a short while anyway. Both of those girls were at the top of the class when it came to grades, but Emily honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard them mention anything they did for fun.
Most of the other students in the room were people Emily honestly couldn’t say she’d talked to more than once or twice. She could change any one of them, or even the whole room all at once without much difficulty. It had taken lots of practice, but she’d finally reached a point where she could keep the changes localized to a single room without affecting the rest of the school at all.
Homeroom at Northride was brief, with the teacher usually standing at the front talking while the students either zoned out or frantically tried to get their homework done without being noticed. Emily subtly stretched one of her arms, already contemplating the possibilities.
FLASH
In a blink, Mr Allen, halfway through a sentence—something about the school’s new parking policy— was gone, replaced with a pretty young redheaded woman in her early twenties. There was a catwalk running across the room, and she stood on it, beaming at the crowd. “—and so, thank you to my models, Grace, Zoe and Lily, and thank you, the audience, so much for coming!” She said eagerly. “I hope you like the dresses!” She stepped off the stage, and a few seconds later a pretty blonde girl in sparkling sequined blue dress strutted her way out across the catwalk from a small, concealed area, flashing the crowd a brilliant smile. She struck a series of poses as “Ms. Allen” enthusiastically described the dress. She was followed by a dark haired girl wearing a similarly sequined golden dress, and then a redhead in a silver dress. All three models continued to primp and pose as some of their classmates, transformed into cameramen and women, frantically snapped pictures. Looking up towards the front of the room, Emily saw Savannah and Abby, now a pair of bearded guys, snapping photos with the same eagerness she’d been taking notes with. Emily let it go on for a few more minutes, then
FLASH
Emily glanced around. Greg was back to normal, but his friends were still girls, one Asian, the other African American. The Asian girl was giggling hard at something Greg had said, while the African American girl just looked bored, texting on her phone. Up at the front of the room “Ms. Allen” was gone, a small dog in her place. Savannah, back to being a girl, albeit one in her mid twenties had gotten up from her chair and walked over, scooping the dog up in her arms. “There you are, Lady.” She said happily, carrying the dog over to where an older woman, in her fifties, sat, reading a newspaper.
FLASH
Greg was now a pretty Latina girl, his friends both male again, but much younger, and closely resembling her. “I can’t believe I have to babysit my little brothers even in school.” The girl whined. Emily saw that both “Lady” and Savannah were gone, in their place a Barbie and Ken doll being played with by Abby, now a young girl.
The bell for the next period rang loudly in the hallway outside, and Emily decided to change things back to normal.
FLASH
Well, almost normal, she thought with a stifled giggle as a trio of girls in cheerleading uniforms— the Latina Greg had turned into, now flanked by a pair of blondes—hurried towards the door, whispering and laughing. As Emily followed the flow of students, all swapped into the opposite gender for the day, out the door, she thought about what she wanted to do next.