"Wait - I've got a better idea," said Riley, who was sitting next to Jeff at his desk. He was analyzing the device now, but Jeff wasn't immediately trusting of anyone else handling it.
"But let me get this straight first: this computer program can change... anyone? Anything?"
"I think so. I mean, I just got it today," Jeff said. "But... it looks like it. I mean, the freakin' program asked me what BREED of donkey to change your ears into. That's pretty damn specific."
"... and?"
"And what?" Jeff asked.
"What breed did you pick?"
"Oh... well, I just clicked through that part."
Riley frowned. "Can you just change my ears back? Please?"
"Fine..."
Jeff looked back at the menu options, and managed to find the Revert button for the transformation. Within a minute, Riley's ears had shrunk back down to their human form. He seemed noticeably relieved, looking over himself in the mirror as if to make sure they didn't suddenly revert or it was some kind of illusion. He showed his relief with a loud sigh.
"So, mister Donkey-Ears-Be-Gone, what's this 'idea' of yours..." Jeff asked inquisitively.
Riley turned back to Jeff and smiled. "Dude... let's take this thing to school. You know! Mess with people we hate, do some really weird stuff to them - "
"Riley..." He saw the somewhat cautious distaste in Jeff's facial expression, and started to hem and haw.
"Oh, come on, Jeff. You know you want to! You said nobody notices or cares about these changes except the people that do them, right? You control that, right? So what's the harm?"
"What if we break the device, or we lose it?" Jeff asked.
"Then... well, then it's just like before, right? Before you got this thing? How... how exactly DID you get this thing, by the way?"
Jeff pointed to the box on the floor. "Came in the mail. I didn't order it, but it was addressed to me. Says somewhere that it's a 'beta product test' or something like that, and they randomly chose me to do the testing. And NO, it won't be just like before if it breaks! The changes may become permanent! And I can't change people unless I scan them in while it's connected to a computer."
"Uhm... so? Use the computer labs at school. And there's literally a computer in each room at school."
"I don't wanna just mess around with the world!"
"JEFF. You literally have the world at your hands. It's... it's OUR world now." Riley was literally hovering over Jeff while he stared at the screen. "And there's a freakin' Revert button on the side of the device, right. Just undo everything at the end of the day."
He looked back to the device, analyzing it again.
"You know you want toooooo... imagine that jock Carlos Espinoza with lipstick."
Jeff couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I want to."
Riley playfully punched Jeff's side. "YES!! Now... show me how this thing works. I've got so many ideas."
_________________
For the next couple hours, Jeff and Riley messed around with the Chronivac, setting up their options and integrating a semi-permanent setting that allowed only Riley and Jeff to notice any changes they made to people. These changes would be accepted as normal by everyone else in the world, despite their otherwise impossible existences. The next day, Jeff jumped on the school bus with the emitter in his backpack. They always had about 20 minutes in the morning before Homeroom, so he and Riley planned to meet at the computer lab prior to 1st Hour to try and scan in as many people as they could. Lucky for them, the computer lab was right next to the main entrance of the school, so most kids came through that door and would be within the 20-foot radius. Nobody asked what they were doing, either. It looked almost like a tablet, so anyone who would have asked them would have been told that they were transferring a presentation or something from their tablet.
Five minutes before the bell rang, they looked over the list of people they got. It had to have been more than half of the student body. Maybe even more. And for each student listed, it had stats on them. Really, really detailed stats on each of them... perhaps some of it was too much detail.
"I DIDN'T KNOW JERED KAMPMAN WAS GA -- " but Jeff covered up his mouth before he could be heard.
"Yeah, umm, neither did I... but don't go shouting it out! That's not right!"
Riley ripped Jeff's hand away from his mouth. "Well, you know, we could just make him straight..."
Jeff shook his head. He pointed to the screen. "Or! How about..."