When Jake got home he really didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t help but feel weird about it. After all he was living with a couple strange to him in a house just as strange. Things might look good or normal but they were far from it.
Jake decided that he would watch some television after he did his homework (though it was incomplete as Jake didn’t put much effort and thought into it) but soon Mr. Sanders or “dad” came by and said “What are you doing, Logan? You have soccer train in ten minutes! Go get ready now!”
Well that was unexpected. He had expected to behave like himself but of course the thought was foolish. To them and to the world he was Logan and not Jake but he had to follow the routine that was imposed to him. He hurried towards his room and quickly got his sports bag.
Mr. Sanders drove him to the practice field. During the ride Jake couldn’t help but think of that man as a fatherly figure. He kept asking Jake about how his day had been. He cared for him. His motivated self who hang on to his teenager thoughts felt a bit shaken.
As he headed towards the changing room he was greeted by his teammates. He greeted them as well soon realizing that if he made an effort he knew the names of all of them. Of course Jake didn’t bother his mind with that. Before he pulled on the shirt he noticed the name on the back: “Sanders”. Number 9.
The boys then warmed up by running around the field and stretching their limbs. Jake felt energized. As the training match began he instinctively knew he was the striker. At first he felt a little scared as he had barely played soccer before but as he saw “dad” cheering for him he tried his best and soon afterwards he scored his first goal much to his own amazement.
He felt pride in himself. It had been a long time since he felt that.
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Kevin wasn’t happy. Apparently he and Mike were on the basketball team together. It would be weird going alone but having to be there with his “brother” Michael Turner just made it even more awkward. After all they were nothing alike. Even during class Kevin didn’t have much patience to put up with the other boy. He could be annoying and mischievous sometimes, always finding a way to get some attention from Kevin. Well probably it was thanks to him that he didn’t end up becoming a kid in mind as he couldn’t focus in class thanks to the Mike’s constant pestering. Dealing with such a kid just made him realize he wasn’t a kid himself and so it was easy keeping everything in order. Maybe that annoying brat could be useful in order not to lose his teenage mind. But now he was stuck with Mike in this game.
Their differences were mostly psychological but there were some physical differences as well. Mike was taller than Kevin, which actually made Kevin feel a bit jealous. He had also a clear skin and green eyes opposed to Kevin’s freckled face and dull brown eyes. Kevin was a bit stunned when he heard others saying that despite their angel faces the brothers Turner were complete tricksters. Kevin felt angry that people called Mike his “brother” and that they would have the nerve to call him a trickster. He figured they were actually talking about Mike and Rob and not Mike and Kevin which made him feel even more alone. To all those people Kevin didn’t exist. His actions were not his own, his identity was not his own.
During the game he dropped his depressive state and focused on what was going on. He would succeed as Kevin and not Rob and so he would show everyone just what he was made of. Despite his initial clumsiness he managed to get better and better. By the end of the game the brothers’ team had won and Kevin high-fived his fellow teammates and jumped on Mike’s back who carried Kevin piggyback as they both laughed. Unknown to Kevin most of his freckles were now gone.
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Tony was fairly scared when the bus dropped him back home. His fear was due to the fact that he liked the family and house in which he now lived but he didn’t want to become a 10 year old for real. It was hard for him because he felt he finally belonged despite the differences between his “parents” and him. As he got home he mentally repeated everything he knew about his teenage self. Somehow he felt it harder to memorize it all. It was just like he was trying to memorize something new.
“Andy, come on it’s time for swimming practice!” Mrs. Young called.
Oh yeah! He had forgotten about that. In his state of thought he had failed to recall about his swimming lessons. Without thinking much he grabbed his stuff and let his mom drive him to the swimming pool. On the way there and even as he changed in the locker room he wondered what he was thinking about before his mom called him. It was something important… Oh yeah! He remembered now. He had to remember that he wasn’t a kid. He was much older. But as he looked at the mirror he only saw a 10 year old boy with black skin. Was he really over 10? Maybe it was a game of pretend with his friends. It must have been. He remembered they even used different names. He remembered his pretend name was Tony but how old was Tony supposed to be? Andy remembered Tony was the oldest of the group and really tall but he wasn’t an adult yet. He couldn’t remember so he went with 14. He couldn’t forget tomorrow about their pretend game or else the other guys would be mad at him just like today.
He figured he was already late so he walked over to the pool where his swimming lesson would start. The boy didn’t even notice that the skin reflected on the mirror seemed to have become whiter.
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Ryan was bored. Bitch 1 and Bitch 2 had ordered him to do his homework but he couldn’t. Watching Jake and Tony act like kids had made him feel uneasy about doing anything remotely expected for a 10 year old. If they had fallen victims to whatever was happening then he could be a victim as well. Being at home without any of the other guys around made him feel even worse. There would be no one there to snap him out of his childish behaviour in case that actually happened.
What could he do now? Schoolwork seemed out of the question. He looked at the gaming console. Well, why not? It’s not like he played lots of videogames but he needed to find something to keep him busy.
He had only planned to play for a while but he found that these games were really interesting and fun. He had to admit, those bitches knew how to buy some really good games. Any worry he had seemed to have vanished away as he played but after a while his eyesight got blurry. Ryan believed it was time for a pause. He rubbed his eyes but the blurriness wouldn’t go away but then he noticed a pair of thick on his desk. He felt stupid. Why would he play without his glasses on? He needed those for almost everything! As he put them on the blurriness left and everything was perfectly clear. Of course then he realized he had only played and not done his homework. He reprehended himself and opened his notebook to study. His short hair grew a little and it looked darker than it used to be, a raven black colour. Of course the boy didn’t notice anything wrong as he was busy doing his homework.