Brian couldn't believe that a cool girl like Runa could be passing him anything nice, or completely unimaginable like a love note, so he nearly threw the note away with the remains of his lunch. Next "class" was study hall, however, and he wouldn't be seeing Runa for the rest of the day, so if anything embarrassing came of the note he'd have until tomorrow to deal with it.
Taking a pass to the library (his favorite place in the whole school, even if the collection was a little lame), he sat at a table, pushed his glasses up, and pulled the note out.
"To my new friend,"
Brian scowled slightly-- so far it sounded like a set up.
"You look like you could use a change in your life."
Well, that much was true. Brian hated his present life-- he felt fat (although, in reality, he was pretty average), uncoordinated (this time it was mostly lack of practice), ugly (again, he was average), and stupid (definitely not true), and often wished he were someone else, somewhere else.
"So, if you weren't you, what would your name be?"
That was an odd question. He really disliked his far too common name. His Mom had once mentioned that the real reason that he'd been named "Brian" was that she and his dad wanted a name close to "Brain". He wasn't certain what he thought of that reasoning. He thought for a moment. On a trip out west last summer, they'd stopped at a gas station, and one of the attendants had a cool sounding name...
He wrote down: "Dyami."
Then he realized he hadn't put down a last name.
"Dyami White Eagle, I'd be more than fifty percent American Indian."
He frowned. He'd never really care for the more politically correct "Native American", but for some reason "American Indian" suddenly bothered him even more... He crossed it out and changed it to "Dyami White Eagle-- I'd be part Apache and part Sioux."
That sounded better. Unnoticed by him, his skin suddenly darked, his brown hair turned black, and his hazel eyes turned a deep brown.
He read the next question:
"Well, since Dyami is a boy's name, I guess we can skip that question. So, what do you think of your heritage?"
Huh? How'd whoever wrote the note know he'd choose the name "Dyami"? Something odd was definitely going on here-- and the oddness was getting him excited!
"I'd love and be proud of my heritage! Still, I'd recognize the reality of our present world, and like modern technology. In fact, my goal is to promote environmental solutions to keeping our current or higher level of technology and have people live in harmony with the Earth!"
That sounded good to him and, in fact, he'd always been interested in alternative energy... Unnoticed, his hairstyle alternated...
"Cool! So, do you live on the rez?"
Dyami was momentarily confused, then remembered that "rez" was slang for "reservation".
"We have a home there, and a lot of relatives, but mostly live in town. My ancestors included a very smart lawyer who managed to turn the tables on an oil company who wanted to cheat us out of some land, and that ancestor managed to make my family (and a few others) very wealthy!"
Unnoticed, his clothes became a bit better...
"All right then, do you like girls and sports?"
He momentarily froze. He'd been uncertain of his sexual identity and didn't like sports since the other guys tended to pick on him for not being very good. He decided to play it safe!
"Definitely! I love girls! As for sports, my favorites are lacrosse (its a genuine Native American sport), wrestling, and the triathlon. I am all lean muscle and incredibly healthy! As healthy and fit as humanly possible-- with all five senses at human max! And the most coordinated, flexible guy in the school, state, or country! And am incredibly handsome, as well."
Dyami looked back at what he wrote, wondering if he'd overdone it, then glanced up... Wow! Had there always been this many pretty girls in his school?!? How could he have missed them before? He couldn't help himself from engaging in a quick fantasy... Man, if this was what the library was like, he couldn't wait for gym class!
Finally, he glanced down at the note.
"How old are you and what grade are you in?"
That was straight forward, and he almost wrote down "18, Senior", since his parents had had him held back in first grade, since they felt that the school system hadn't been teaching him enough. His being slightly older made him embarrassed, however, and he actually thought he'd do better if he could redo high school....
"I am a thirteen year old high school freshman," he concluded, writing down the answer. All of a sudden, he found the table moving farther away, and growing taller, and suddenly, he noticed the changes.
He stared in shock at his hands, looked down and realized he was now younger, and more athletic. The note was... was, somehow, magical! He stared back at the note, himself, then the note. It dawned on him that he could no longer remember his old name, that his glasses were gone, and his past was adjusting to fit the new him. All he could do now was see this through to the end.
"How smart are you, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being as stupid as can be and 10 being pure genius."
Dyami paused, not certain what the maximum was supposed to be. Well, he'd always kind of liked prime numbers...
"13."
Dyami smiled. There were no superstitions in his background against 13! Suddenly everything became much clearer to the young man. This was so cool!
"What are you wearing?"
"Khaki cargo pants, a leather belt, a t-shirt with Native art on it, a hump choker with wood beads, a headband to hold my shoulder length hair in place, and sandals."
He paused, wondering if that was the right thing for him to be wearing, then shrugged as his clothes shifted. He was still a kid finding his identity, after all.
"Have you started puberty?"
Somehow he knew what to write for that.
"Barely, and I never will have anything to speak of in the way of body and facial hair, though I will be well developed in other ways, if you know what I mean!"
He looked at the last question.
"Thank you for your participation! If you would like your new life to work out well, please pass the note along to someone else."
Dyami noticed that the period was almost over, and he wanted to hurry to gym class, his favorite class of the day, with lacrosse practice after that.
Grabbing his books, he picked up the note. The school's janitor was in the library, checking the waste baskets. On his way out of the room, Dyami bumped into the middle aged man, slipping the note into the janitor's pocket.
Dyami all but forgot about the incident as he spied Runa further down the hallway...