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Henry’s cries fell on deaf ears and his boss only moved about as he pleased. “What’s the point, Henry? It doesn’t fit anymore!” Disgust evident in his voice, Ray gestured down to his teenage body. Nowhere near his normal muscle-mass, teenage Ray had undone more than a decade of working out. Within the dreary scapes of the Swellview Junior Highschool, he fit right in. He’d never been more horrified with himself.
“I’d rather be nothing than be this,” with another theatrical gesture, the man finally began to calm himself down. Reaching into the revolting backpack he’d been given—just like he’d worn when he was actually seventeen—there was nothing he could do. “That’s why, from now on, I will wear Hawaiian shirts.”
“What?” At a full stop now, even Jasper questioned the man’s decisions. Dropping his bag to the ground, Henry urged himself on.
“I need to hide my body. So I will wear Hawaiian shirts.” Despite his unhappiness with his body, Ray didn’t actually seem shy about it. Without a single glance around, the man continued his emotional huff, reaching for his undershirt. They only just in time blocked him from view of the hallway when Henry called out, “hey, you’re gonna get us in trouble!” as he peeled his white shirt off.
Bare torso exposed in the hallway, they groaned in irritation. “Ray, we don’t have time for this,” Henry urged. They could only block the view of him for so long.
Suddenly, a “hey, guys,” cut through their thoughts.
Nearly jumping out of his shoes, the blonde boy turned to his classmate with a huge breath out. “Charlotte,” he heaved, and immediately reached forward to align her with their crescent stance surrounding Ray. “Cover him!” Henry urged.
Stepping closer to her friend without a question, Charlotte grinned up at the boy. “So, the new guy is cute.” She whispered, to which he screeched aloud.
“What?!” For the second time, Henry dropped his backpack straight onto the ground. “Oh my god,” the bag was back in his hands before he could finish shuddering at Charlotte’s comment. What was she talking about?
He thrust his pointer finger toward the boy behind them. Still taller than them all, the man’s muscles were that of the rest of the football players—that is, just enough to irritate Henry. “Let’s just get him in a football jersey,” he muttered to Jasper then, already dragging Charlotte along. As Ray finished on the second button of his Hawaiian shirt, they could finally make out large pineapples splattered across his chest.
“…is that… Ray—“ Charlotte was yanked away before she could finish her thought.
Not bothering to spare her feelings, Henry was already ducking into the farthest hallway. “C’mere,” he urged, reaching for the janitor’s closet. By the time that Charlotte could ask what his problem was or how this happened, he was already pulling her in. Ray followed immediately, slipping in easily between the closing doors.
“Damn it. So easy to slip between…”
“Ray, hold it together.”
“That’s easy for you to say! You’re used to being skinny!”
“Damn it, Ray—“ Jasper’s hand on Henry’s shoulder was the only thing holding him back. As Charlotte stepped toward the front of the room, she didn’t bother to vy for any of their attention. Instead, she turned to face the shelves. There had to be something here to use…
Picking through the rows, she finally opened the first set of cardboard boxes. Closest to her, she peeked bright red fabric. As the yells filled the janitor’s closet and she swore the walls could shake, she’d finally had enough.
“Hey!” Roughly tossing the red jersey in her hand, it landed across the face of the young brunette man before her. “Ray, there’s a jersey.” She spoke, assuming the information easily. Taking a breath and not waiting to be able to absorb it all, she only looked back to Henry. Thank god he was the same age.
“…does it really matter how this happened?” The boy shrugged, and she only scoffed. “Hey, the Toddler attacked out of nowhere!”
“This is what I get for leaving you all alone.” The dark-haired girl paced the small closet for a moment, briefly recalling how she’d thought they could be out of sight for at least an afternoon.
“This could’ve happened anytime.”
Henry’s defenses didn’t matter. They were already in this situation. “Well now what?! Ray’s outside matches his inside,” she gestured widely to the man, now a boy, who huffed in insistence.
“Hey! I can fix this!”
“Oh yeah, how?” Charlotte taunted, not caring if it helped or not. “You said you could handle things if Schwoz and I were gone this weekend.”
“I was Captain Man for decades before you, I don’t need—“
Henry laughed loudly then, and released his tense stance. “Ooh!” He cried in relief, “Ray’s so old.”
“Screw you,” before the two could continue to scuffle, Charlotte reached forward to actually hit the man. She didn’t usually hit Ray, him being somewhat her boss. But if he was going to act like a boy, she’d treat him like one.
Smacking his hard chest with an open palm, she shoved him back. “Put the jersey on! Today you’re Dane Jackson, the new tight end who no one’s ever heard of. Okay?”
The second the girl had a breath out, Henry supplied more, “all we have to do is figure out which one of the new kids is the Toddler. Then we can just… force the Toddler to change him back.”
“Good enough for now. Let’s go.”