(Author's note: @#$% it! I got Jim and Rick's names mixed up in the last part! I hope it wasn't too confusing. Sorry about that.)
"Rick is on his way to get some stuff to wear at the party, and get something so Katie will go out with him," Jim explained, opening the door to the car and getting back in. Mr. Clarkson didn't allow smoking in his car, so Jim had taken the opportunity to have a cigarette while trying to get in touch with Rick. Anticipating Mr. Clarkson's question, he continued. "He's going to the mall since, in his words, they have everything there."
"Did you get Katie's address from him?" asked the teacher. Jim reeked of tobacco smoke, but for the sake of expediency, Clarkson decided not to say anything. Right now the young man was his best ally. Although, he noted, Coach Harms had proved unexpectedly helpful, only not in any way he would have guessed.
Jim shook his head.
"Actually, I talked with his mom. I'm not sure if she noticed the changes in him or not. I think she and his father were actually happy he was leaving the house for a few hours. She said something about the two of them having some unexpected alone time. Did Johnny give you the address of the party?"
"No," Mr. Clarkson answered, shaking his head. He looked at the back seat. Johnny was staring out the window, looking utterly bored. Clarkson turned back. "He seems to feel we should take him to the mall first, then he'll tell us."
"Smart kid," Jim said. It was impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. He realized he was still holding his cell phone, and slid it into a pocket. "So, next stop the mall?"
"It seems that way," Clarkson replied, starting the car. "It's about supper time, so I'll buy us something at the food court."
"I want a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a large chocolate shake! And large fries," came a young voice from the back seat. Both occupants of the front seat silently groaned.
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There were young, skinny, blond haired boys carrying skateboards all over the mall. Hanging on most of them were girls, many of them taller than the boys. The couples seemed almost glued together, unable to keep their hands off of each other for even a moment.
The mall itself was fairly ordinary. A lot of clothing stores, a food court, and other stores scattered about. Plus, some car dealership had their latest models on display, and some other place was displaying boats. Oh, and there were obviously fake trees "growing" in planters.
Clarkson sighed. He remembered when this mall had fountains, real trees, and some lounge areas. Plus a wider variety of stores. Seeing the mall this way was depressing, and made him feel old.
"Okay," said Mr. Clarkson, quickly stepping out of the way of one of the boys currently unattached to a girl shot by on a skateboard. "I don't suppose you see Rick, do you."
Jim carefully scanned the confusing mass of younger boys, trying to recognize his friend among them. Finally he shook his head.
"If he'd here, I'm not seeing him," he admitted, then added. "If he's changed any more, I might not recognize him, actually."
"Yeah, I-- HEY!" the teacher yelped, as Johnny suddenly wiggled free and sprinted deeper into the mall.
"Sorry! I've got to find Connie!" the boyish former coach shouted back at them.
The two gave pursuit, but but quickly lost him. Johnny blended in too well with the other boys.
"I would have thought he'd wait until after we ate," Clarkson lamented. He glanced at Jim, and discovered the young man actually seemed a little winded. Probably the cigarettes, he silently told himself.
"Yeah," agreed Jim, hands on knees. He straightened up, noticed Clarkson didn't seem winded at all, then remembered that Mr. Clarkson coached cross country and track. "Well, we know he's planing on hitting the clothing stores, and probably the food court."
"We'll check the food court first, and pick up something to go," agreed Mr. Clarkson, still scanning the crowd. "We'll keep an eye out for both Johnny and Rick. If worse comes to worse, I suppose we could ask any of these kids about the party."
The pair headed off, scanning the crowd.
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Brandy and Cindy were hanging off each other, as were Tommy and Tina. All of them had backpacks filled with what they had decided were essential items for running off to start new lives. They were also wearing new clothes for the party. Brandy had seemed worried about spending too much money (except when Cindy asked for something. But that was different.) Tommy had finally asked him how much he had, only to discover the other boy had something like $5,000 dollars in the account his debit card was linked to. Apparently he'd been saving it for college.
Brandy squirmed as his crotch tingled, and couldn't resist a giggle. It felt as if the last of his hair down there had just disappeared-- that is, if he'd ever had hair down there. He suddenly wasn't certain. Well, just so long as Cindy didn't mind... and her long, light brown hair was so soft and clean smelling.
"A-HEM!" said the annoyed looking, acne covered teen manning the fast food place's counter. "I said 'Can I take your order, please?'"
'Damn middle schoolers and their gnat like attention spans!' he added silently. Then he watched with annoyance as the young couple held a whispered conversation about what to order.
"Do you have pepperoni pizza slices?" asked the boy, distractedly pulling his long, reddish blond hair away from his eyes with a delicate hand. His other hand was playing finger games with the girl. The girl giggled at the question.
"No, we sell HAMBURGERS," spoke the teen, barely trying to hide his annoyance. He pointed at the menu. "We even have our meals numbered for your convenience. Please just choose from the menu."
The kid gave an embarrassed, goofy grin, then turned as whispered something to the girl, and the two of them laughed, the boy bending forward as if someone had just tickled his crotch. The counter jockey wondered if they were high or something.
"Okay," the boy finally said, once again wiping the hair out of his eyes. The hair went half way down his back and hung over his shoulders. "I'll take a large number 14, only I want a large chocolate shake instead of the drink-- no make that along with the drink, two apple pies, and an extra large fries. And she would like a large number 4--"
"No, a number 3, silly," she corrected him, stifling a laugh.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Cindy-Windy," the boy apologized, turning toward her.
"That's okay, my Brandy-wine," she replied, as they stared into each others eye. They boy tilted his head up slightly, and she tilted her head down slightly, and the two exchanged a long, long kiss while the counter jockey sighed audibly.
"Okay, she'll take a-- what was it again?" the boy finally resumed.
"A three," the girl answered.
"With vanilla--"
"Strawberry."
"I thought you said vanilla," replied the boy, turning toward her.
"I know," answered the girl, playing with her hair. "But I then changed my mind and told you strawberry."
"Whatever you want, my princess," the boy softly told her. Once again they kissed, and only slowly parted.
"Okay, she wants a number f-- three with a strawberry shake,
he said brightly. Then something seemed to occur to him. "Hey, is that along with the drink or instead of the drink?"
"Instead, I guess," spoke the girl. "Unless you think you'd like to have the drink."
The boy pondered the options. He rubbed his nose with its scattering of freckles, then stuck his hand in his pocket, apparently to play pocket pool.
"No," he finally decided. "Oh, and I'll have--"
"I-- you already gave me your order," the teenager interrupted quickly. If these kids were high, he wondered where they got their weed-- or maybe it was some of that synthetic crap. "Will there be anything else."
Immediately the teen ager cursed himself, as the boy turned and whispered to the girl, then studied the menu again.
"No, I guess that will be all," the kid finally answered.
The counter jockey quickly rang up the order, ran the boy's card (was he old enough for a debit card?), and moved them along. The next couple, about the same age, came up. The boy had blond, curly hair which went down to his shoulders, and the girl had some sort of short, blond haircut. The teen absently noted that both this boy and the one before him had blue eyes, although the prior kid's eyes had a hint of green.
"Uhm, what are the choices here?" asked the boy, giving a dopey smile. The counter jockey wanted to scream.
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"I never thought we were going to get to the counter," remarked Clarkson, as he and Jim left with their orders.
"It was the same way at school," replied Jim. "Those kids take forever to make up their minds and order something."
'This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack,' thought Jim, scanning the crowd for signs of Rick, or Johnny. 'Or a needle in a stack of needles.'
"Maybe we should also be looking for Katie," suggested Jim, pulling his fries out of the bag. "The girls don't seem to change."
He looked around, and wondered if the girls had changed. Unless if it was his imagination, the females of the couples seemed to be looking more cute than pretty. Had they changed?
"Or at least not as much," he quickly amended, sticking some somewhat warm fries in his mouth. He looked around some more. "Hey, by that ATM machine! I think that's Rick!"
They hurried over to the machine, arriving just as Rick was turning to leave.
"Oh, hi, Jim!" greeted Rick, his voice sounding, if anything, more boyish. He noticed who was with Jim and blinked. "And Mr. Clarkson."
"Rick, we need to get a hold of Katie, it's important!" the teacher told Rick. Rick's face lit up.
"She said YES!" he cheered, face practically glowing. "We're going out! There's this really cool sounding party and--"
"We've heard about the party," Jim quickly interrupted. Rick was all in motion, seemingly unable to stand still. He had on new and stylish clothes, well, stylish for someone much younger than Rick had been earlier in the week. And he had a skateboard.
"Yeah, its going to be totally great, of course anywhere's great with Katie," gushed Rick. He suddenly opened up a large bag from Hot Topic and pulled out a shirt. "I'm thinking of wearing this one. Do you think it looks good? 'cause there's also this one, I think maybe the color's better..."
"Either one will be fine!" interrupted Clarkson, not really seeing any real difference, other than one was primarily red and the other primarily green. "We need to find out who Katie got the card from, or where they are coming from."
"Yeah, I remember when she gave me the card," spoke Rick, his face going dreamy and his eyes looking far away. "That was the best moment of my life. At least, until she said yes, that is."
"She gave ME the card," Jim reminded him, exasperated. "We need to find her."
"You're not changing your mind, are you?!" Rick demanded, glaring at Jim. "You said you didn't want her. You even let me open the card. I asked her out and she said yes, all fair and square!"
"I'm not changing my mind!" Jim insisted, wondering if he was getting a headache. "We just want to talk with her!"
"Jim, let me," Mr. Clarkson interjected. It seemed a change of tactics was in order. "We just need to know when and where the party is."
"YOU'RE going to the party?" asked Rick, looking doubtful. "No offense, but aren't you a little old?"
Clarkson stopped himself before informing Rick he was only 32, and that wasn't old.
"We, I just want to drop off Jim and make certain that you won't be getting in trouble with the law," Mr. Clarkson improvised, hoping he was being convincing. "Just look around, make certain there isn't any alcohol, drugs, or things like that. It's part of my duty as a teacher."
"Huh," said Rick, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, apparently straining to keep his mind on the subject. "Uh, if Jim wants to come to the party, he can give me and Katie a lift. That'd be way cool. She and I can sit in the back, where we can hold hands and talk and stuff."
Mr. Clarkson opened his mouth, then shut it again.
"I think that sounds like a great idea," he stated, turning to Jim. "Don't you agree, Jim?"
Jim looked surprised, then decided to play along.
"Yeah, sure, I could do that," he agreed.
"Yes!" Rick shouted, pumping a fist in the air. "You're awesome, Jim!"
Mr. Clarkson and Jim hurried a short distance from Rick, who was now holding one new shirt and then another up to himself, apparently trying to decide which to wear to the party.
"What was that about?" Jim asked, puzzled, glancing back at Rick. "We didn't get anything."
"We got him to agree to go with you to the party," corrected Clarkson, also looking toward Rick. "You have a cell phone. You can call me once you know where the party is. Hopefully John-- Coach Harms will be there, and we can find out where these cards are coming from."
"I'm just worried about how Harms wife will react to all of this," the teacher added. "Or his son-- Johnny's now younger looking than him."
Jim blinked. He'd forgotten that the coach was married, or that he had a son just a grade or two behind Jim.
"Hey, maybe I should stick with Rick for awhile," Jim suggested. "He and I can take the bus back, and maybe I can get something more from him."
He looked toward Rick, who was now comparing pants. "Maybe. Besides, I'm worried about him. He might forget to go home or something."
"I can see your point," Clarkson replied, also seeing Rick comparing clothes. He was now holding up different shirts to different pants. "Let me know as soon as you hear something."
The two exchanged numbers and Jim went over to Rick, who immediately started asking him what combination of clothes he thought Katie would like.
'I wish him luck,' Clarkson thought, turning to head back through the mall. He wondered if the origin of the cards might be in here...
Someone bumped into him. One of his female students.
"Sorry Mr. Clarkson!" she apologized, digging in her huge purse. She pulled out a plastic rectangle. It looked like a report cover. "Hey, since you're here, here's my report! Sorry I didn't get it in on Wednesday!"
Hurriedly she handed him the report, then turned and hurried away.
Puzzled, Mr. Clarkson opened the report. The cover looked empty. Inside something was stuck to the two covers. A rectangle of paper with something written on it. He automatically read the writing, just as he realized that the paper was pink...
"We will be perfect together! Love, Maddy."
He felt a chill pass through his body, realizing this was one of THE CARDS. The chill seemed to settle into his crotch, giving him an erection. He looked in the direction Maddy had run, trying to see her, to ask her whether she-- no where she-- wanted to go out with-- no, got the card-- it was very nice of her to give him a card, to want him.
He shook his head. NO! He had to find out where the cards were coming from!
...but did it really matter now that he'd received one?
He scratched his head, unnoticed his hair got longer with each touch of his fingers. As he scratched, he left bright blond high lights. He shook his head again, trying to remember what he'd been thinking about. What had seemed to urgent. Ask he shook his head, his hair flew out around him, settling at shoulder length. Now it was honey blond, with streaks of bright blond. Not quite curly, it fell in waves.
Hadn't there been something about a party? He glanced down again at the note. The pink didn't seem as bright, and the glitter seemed a bit dulled. Not that either of those were important, now that he received the card. From Maddy, that spunky girl who always sat up front, watching him as he taught. She always paid attention, really listened to him, unlike most of the students. She was a really bright girl, and good looking in an exotic, independent sort of way.
He rubbed his eyes. Unnoticed, his contact lenses fell out. As they dropped away, his eyes went from a dark brown, to a brilliant, sky blue, the color spiraling out from the pupils of his eyes.
He felt a jolt of adrenaline as he noticed she'd written a time and an address under her signature, with a note telling him to pick her up at that time and location, and take her to a party! He quickly got out a pen and a piece of paper. Just in case he somehow lost the card.
YES! He had a date with her! With HER! As long as Maddy loved him, everything was okay.
He had to get ready. What to do first? Whatever! He'd figure it out. He just had to get moving!
He took a step and stumbled, his foot catching on the inside of his pant leg, and his foot coming out of his shoe. Huh?
Absently he brushed a lock of hair from in front of his eyes and looked at his shoe and pants.
Now that his shoe was off, he was standing on the inside of the cuff of his pants. Picking up his shoe it looked large, much too big for his foot. To confirm he held the shoe up against the bottom of his foot. It was at least two sized too large. How-- why had he been wearing it?
He grabbed at his pants as they suddenly decided to come down, belt and all, and take his underwear with them.
What was going on? More important, what would Maddy think? Once more he shook his head in confusion. All sorts of feelings were rushing through him, carried on wave after wave of hormones. His heart was pounding, body buzzing. A tickling feeling swept the surface of his body, his body hair falling away, vanishing. He grabbed at his crotch with his other hand as he felt an odd tightness. His long, delicate, youthful fingers felt his dick and balls growing smaller, smaller, becoming boyish to match the rest of him.
Carrying his shoes and holding his pants, he hurried into the nearest rest room.
Looking in the mirror, he saw a kid, a boy looking back. A scattering of freckles decorated his face, below blue, mischievous looking eyes. His delicate lips seemed to curve naturally into an also mischievous smile. His face was that of a cocky young boy, maybe in his early teens.
"Wow," he said, or rather tried to say. Upon trying to talk his voice immediately went scratching. He kept trying to say something, and his vocal cords wouldn't cooperate at all. He bent over the sink, cupped his hand, and drank some water. It seemed to help. Only, when he straightened up, he was surprised to notice he didn't have to straighten up as far. Also, when experimentally tried saying something, he found his voice was noticeably higher, younger.
Blinking, he used his hands to sweep back his hair and stared in the mirror. He should be nervous, scared, shouldn't he? But Maddy had somehow caused this to happen with one of those things-- one of those cards! So it must be okay, right? He loved Maddy and she loved him. SHE WANTED HIM! SHE'D CHOSEN HIM!
He grabbed his pants and shoes off the floor and hurried into one of the stalls, quickly fumbling the lock shut. He dropped his pants and shoes carelessly on the floor, reached under his shirt, then, in irritation, he pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a hairless, narrow, scrawny body. He dropped the shirt on his pants. Unable to restrain himself any longer he grabbed his small, erect dick with two fingers and his thumb-- there just wasn't enough room for the other fingers, and quickly, impatiently, masturbated. Two or three minutes later his legs buckled and he bent forward as an intense orgasm overtook his body. Only as he was recovering did he realize nothing had come out.
Well, that meant there wasn't a mess to clean up. Also if he and Maddy-- his thoughts got fuzzy and he couldn't hold back a giggle. If they, well, you know. If they-- he just could not get the words out. Red faced he pull his shirt back on, pulled up and held his pants in place, grabbed his shoes and left the stall.
Momentarily thoughts of papers to grade, lesson plans, and something about something going on with the kids at school flashed through his mind. There just wasn't enough room for those thoughts and thoughts about Maddy, getting clothes, and getting ready for THE PARTY! YEAH! HE AND MADDY HER GOING ON A DATE TO A PARTY! COOL! A-MAZING!
Any thoughts about lesson plans, tests, and grading papers evaporated as more important, immediate thoughts won out.
He had to get new clothes, obviously. He left the rest room trying to decide who had the best clothes. And maybe he should get a skateboard. He'd loved skateboarding at one time, hadn't he? Why had he given it up? He'd been stupid to give up skateboarding! He bet Maddy would love watching him do tricks on a skateboard!
He hurried into the mall, on urgent missions.
Meanwhile, Jim tried to get information out of Rick, thinking about how he would handle getting Rick and Katie to the party and letting Mr. Clarkson know when and where it was.