The professor, now looking as young as Josh, stopped his lecture as Josh shuffled in. "Sorry I'm late, sir."
"Sorry isn't good enough, mister! I do not allow interruptio- Is that Mr Leonard? Josh Leonard?"
"Yes, sir."
"Oh!" The professor looked flustered. "Well, then... That's alright. Just take your seat."
Josh was astonished by the favoritism. Still... his family had discovered the Fountain of Youth. People, especially (once) older people, seemed to really love him for that. On his way over here, he'd seen women checking him out, staring at him... Even here, girls (and the occasional boy) were looking over their shoulders at him...
One group of boys, however, were glaring at him like they wanted to kill him. They were the jocks - a gang of utter bullies, the kind he'd expected to leave behind in high school. Thankfully, one of the gang was missing - about a month ago, Stan Levins had gotten himself into serious trouble with the law, and was now in prison. Josh hoped the rest would follow, especially now they were looking at him... like that.
He was starting to get a little scared.
_____
When class ended, the professor held him back a minute to tell him what he'd missed. As he left the classroom, he decided to take advantage of his new fame with some of his more attractive classmates...
He felt a pointed edge on his back.
Andrew, the leader of the gang, spoke quietly from behind him. "Alright, mister Fountain of Youth... Time to pay for what you did to Stan."
"What? I didn't-"
"Go to room 2.05," Andrew whispered, pure hatred in his voice. "It's empty. If you scream, you won't make it that far."
Josh thought about running, but he knew he couldn't escape until Andrew let him...
_____
The gang was waiting for him. As soon as he entered the room, they grabbed his limbs so he couldn't move. He struggled feebly against them, but there was no use. To add to his humiliation, a boy started to strip him of his clothing while Andrew watched.
"Look," Josh said, "I didn't do anything to Stan! I had nothing to do with-"
"You had EVERYTHING to do with what happened to him!" Andrew spat. "Without you and your family, he might have just spent a year or two in prison, and come out stronger than he went in. Instead..." He looked to the corner of the room. One of the bullies walked forward, in his arms...
In his arms was a little boy, with a shock of uncombed black hair, no older than two. He looked confused to be there, but perfectly happy. "Hello!" he said, smiling and waving at Josh, not seeming to notice or care about the older boy's nudity.
"Hi," Josh said weakly. "Stan..."
Andrew patted the boy's arm, then turned to Josh. "They changed him. At this age, he doesn't understand what happened to him, not really, but he'll see. He'll see what we do to you..." He held out a hand - one of the gang came forward and handed him a bottle.
No! Josh saw, at the side of the room, a dozen bottles of the water - beside them, a pack of diapers.
"Soon, mister Fountain of Youth, you'll be looking up to Stan..."