"Hey Sam, wait up!" Craig shouted. Sam looked back and saw the other boy running towards him.
"Craig, dude! I was wondering what was up with you. You've been acting weird." He said forming a fist which Craig met using his own with no hesitation.
"I don't even know. I was not feeling quite myself." Craig answered and they continued walking.
After walking for a while, Craig started rubbing his hair on the back of his head. Sam, noticing that, immediately asked: "Something's on your mind?"
"Well, I kinda feel bad for not sitting next to you in class. I felt like an asshole."
"Dude, really? You were worried about that? Geez I'm not mad." Sam answered, smacking Craig on his back.
"Yeah, I guess I was mad at myself. You seem like a cool guy but I was just embarrassed by the whole teacher thing and the others giggling. I dunno, I'm just self-conscious."
"Fuck, that's just stupid. I guess you really need a bit of MJ." Sam laughed.
"How is that supposed to help me in any way?" Craig asked, sounding a bit more aggressive than he intended.
"You kinda remind me of myself, you know. Always trying to live life without making any mistakes and believing that being friendly to all was a way to get many friends. But it's nothing like that. You make friends by making mistakes together. That's what an old friend of mine taught me. I was kinda scared to try out drugs in the first place but that whole experience just made us inseparable." Sam sounded more serious than Craig was accustomed to so he heard every single word. Sam was indeed more interesting than any other guy in their school, Craig thought.
"Well I still like being friendly but now I just know who I can consider a friend or not." Sam added.
"So why should I take drugs?" Craig asked, trying to get to the point.
"You should give it a shot, honestly. I'm not gonna try to convince you by saying that it's safer than alcohol or shit like that. Try it, dude. It made me realize who I was. After my friend and I smoked some pot together we became free. I don’t know, it’s weird. You need to experience it to know what I’m talking about."
"Well, we’ll see about that." Craig answered, trying to end that chat that was making him feel uncomfortable.
Sam noticed that so he changed the subject. "So, what took you so long to get outta school? I saw you just walking around when I left."
Craig scratched the back of his head.
"Wait, does it have to do with that... what's-his-name... Cody! Yeah, right, Cody! So, were you looking for him or what?" Sam could really be sharp. Craig had hoped that he had already forgotten about that topic.
Seeing the surprise on Craig's face Sam added: "What? You really thought I'd forget about that? I did tell you I wanted to know more about it!"
Craig didn't really know what to say and apparently Sam wasn't going to drop the subject any soon. Should he tell the truth?
"Fine man, keep it to yourself..." Sam eventually said, not really sounding disappointed but just wanting to add some pressure.
That made Craig go forward. "It's really stupid."
Sam gave the biggest smile he could make. "Tell me, tell me!"
Well, there was no going back now.
"So, today after P.E when I was taking a shower, someone took my uniform and left this one I'm wearing."
Sam looked puzzled. "Are you sure that isn't your own uniform?"
"Hey, no way! Look, this uniform is way smaller than mine and look!" He showed the tag of his sweatshirt, located behind his neck. "It says Cody Rayne, stoner." He added.
Sam took a look at the tag. It did say that, weird. The size of the uniform was indeed a bit smaller for Craig, though that wasn't that much noticeable.
Sam let go of the tag. "Well, it does say Cody Rayne, stoner."
"I thought that maybe you could know him because, you know..."
Sam laughed a bit. "I see where you're going. But as I told you, I don't know anyone by that name. You sure that isn't just a prank?"
"Who would pull a prank like this? Having to wear someone's clothes for an entire day is not much of a prank, I think."
"Except if it were girls’ clothes." Said Sam and they both laughed.
“Don’t your friends know about a guy name Cody, though? What about that old friend of yours?” Craig asked, looking for any more clues
“Well, he could know but I really haven’t seen him for a while.” Sam scratched his chin, thinking. “Bloody hell, I can’t even remember the last time I saw him! Strange, right?”
Craig nodded, not knowing what to say.
"Well, even if these clothes feel short it's not unbearable to walk with them, you know." Craig added. “It’s just that this whole situation is very odd.”
Talking about the size of his clothes made him realize they seemed almost good now. Maybe they just enlarged due to his height: that must be it. After all he was almost as tall as Sam, right? That would be normal. So tried Craig to rationalize it.
Looking at Sam he found that he was not as tall as him. He remembered having some doubts about that but looking at his friends he wondered why he had those doubts. Sam seemed to be around 6'1, he recalled, while he was 6... no that was wrong. He wasn't 6 feet tall, was he? How could he be? Sam’s shoulders stood higher so he must be considerably taller, right? His mind raced after the real value of his own height but it seemed blurry. How could this be? Why couldn't he remember how tall he was? There was something going on. Why was Sam so tall? He'd never been that tall before! He felt his heart beating faster and faster.
In his confusion and sudden stress, he tried to calm down. He inhaled and exhaled heavily but without making Sam aware of his confusion and stress. However he unknowingly inhaled once again the smell of pot coming from his clothes (although it was barely there) and Sam's own clothes (that had a stronger scent). He found himself getting calmer. What was he worried about? His height? What was the deal with that? He found in his mind that he was 5'10. 6 feet tall, why would he ever think of that? He wasn't as tall as Sam, sure, but he still had a respectable height. Maybe one day he could be 6 feet tall, he wasn’t that far off anyway.
"Well, I don't know anything about your uniform. I didn't notice anyone stealing it from you, either. Sorry man." Sam said, bringing Craig back to Earth.
"Well look who's apologetic now?" Craig gave a happy laughter. Sam laughed along and rubbed Craig's hair. Being taller than Craig just made it more accessible to reach his head.
Craig pushed Sam still with a smile on his face. "Touch you own hair, you idiot!" Craig said, not in a hurtful way but rather in the playful mood they both were.
Craig tried to put his hair back in place. However it seemed that his hair had grown a bit and it looked like it would take a while to accomplish his task so he just shook his head violently and looked back at Sam with a silly smile on his face while his strange longer hair covered his eyes.
Sam just laughed and they continued walking, dropping the whole uniform thing completely.
Just before they split up to go to their own houses, Sam reached his pocket and revealed an intact joint.
"Craig, this one's for you. Smoke it or not, just take it. Think of it as a present from a friend."
Craig took it and quickly put it in his own pocket. "Does that mean we're friends?"
"Sure man, unless you don't want to, of course."
"You kidding?" Craig asked in disbelief. "That'd be awesome!" And he showed his fist to Sam. The other boy smiled and they fist bumped. Soon afterwards they both went their separate ways. It was time for Craig to go home.