“So at the end of the chapter, does anyone try to stop Dallas from leaving? Who’s in the room when…” Jenna sighed and snapped her fingers “Excuse me! McKayla and Lauren; are you two paying any attention to what I’m saying?”

“Um, of course Miss Farris” McKayla Monroe said confidently looking her teacher in the eye. Her best friend Lauren smiled, knowing that McKayla would talk their way out of trouble. Miss Farris was a pushover, everyone knew it, especially McKayla and Lauren, the queen bees of the 6^th grade.

McKayla cleared her throat and smirked “Darryl and Soda Pop both try to stop Dallas but he brushes them off and storms out of the hospital anyway”

Jenna forced a smile to her lips “Correct” she spit out “But please; no extra talking you two”

Jenna continued her lecture on The Outsiders while McKayla giggled and rolled her eyes with her best friend.

Jenna grit her teeth and soldiered on through the rest of the class, simmering on the inside. She stood at the front by her desk as everyone exited once the bell rang; McKayla and Lauren both still giggling at their own private joke and eyeing their teacher up and down before busting out in full laughter as they left the room.

Jenna closed the door once the class was clear, it was her planning period but she just slumped into her chair instead and buried her head in her hands. Tears welled up in her eyes; tears of frustration and anger “I hate this job!” she said to herself. “God I hate this job…these kids are the worst! Bunch of spoiled little brats!”

She stood up and walked to the window, stretching out her back as she walked over. She mindlessly slipped her feet out of her heels as she chewed on her bottom lip, staring out at the parking lot. “I could just quit…fall back on my minor or go back to school…anything to get out of here”

It was Jenna’s second full year of teaching and while she hated to admit that her choice of a career had been a mistake, it was becoming obvious to her that it was indeed one.

Jenna was just 25; she was tall and thin, 5’8” but she only weighed around 120lbs. A few of the girls in her 6^th grade classes were built more than she was; she had a very slight build and only wore a 32B bra.

“But if I quit; I’d have to move back in at home” she continued her inner dialogue “But it might be better to have to share a house with Mom, Dad, Chris and Liz than this” she told herself listing off her 20 year old brother and 15 year old sister. “But they didn’t raise a quitter” she reminded herself “If there was some other way out of this though…I’d take it in a heartbeat” she chuckled and slumped her shoulders.

Jenna was wearing a pair of black heels, a black skirt that came to her knees and a sky blue blouse. She had her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and she never wore any makeup. She rubbed her long thin hands together and tried to pump herself up for one more class at the end of the day.

McKayla was truly enjoying herself; she had just shown up her least favorite teacher and had gotten away with it. “Skinny little bitch” she said to Lauren as they walked to their lockers “She is such a joke”

“Oh I know” Lauren quickly responded smiling. “I bet even my boobs are bigger than hers”

“Oh whatever” McKayla laughed “So if yours are bigger than mine definitely are, cause I’m way bigger than you”

McKayla was an early bloomer. She stood 5’4”, with long blonde straight hair. Her face had an early maturity to it despite the braces that she wore. She also tried to dress older than she was wearing black boots that came up to her knees, black tights and a long gray sweater with a cream colored scarf. “I mean, I even saw Kyle Henson staring at me early today” rubbing it in that an 8^th grader was into her.

“No way!” Lauren shot back wide eyed. Lauren was petite, with small features except for her big brown doe eyes. Her long hair was almost always pulled back off her forehead with a band and she was always impeccably dressed, a true fashionista at age 12.

“Oh Yeah…he was totally checking me out” McKayla said as she closed her locker with her usual smug look. “I’m going to the bathroom to check my hair” she announced.

“If you’re late to Mr. Taylor’s class; he’ll kill you” Lauren told her friend.

McKayla dismissed her with a flippant hand and a laugh “I’ll just tell him Farris kept me over and blame her”

“See ya” Lauren giggled as she took off down the hall.

The smile vanished from McKayla’s face as she spun on her heel and went into the barren restroom. She stood before the mirror and fluffed out her long blonde hair. She touched up her makeup while puckering up her lips “Farris is such a joke; I could do a better job than her at keeping a class under control and I’d at least make it interesting” she said to her reflection “She is so helpless and pathetic; I bet if she were the student and I was the teacher, I’d have to pity her just to pass her”

She laughed at her little joke “She’d be such a loser, she’d have to hang out with Maureen and Kyleigh and that group of dorks”

Jenna paced her room, eyes closed, thinking to herself. Her mind was sabotaging her though and playing out every old episode of embarrassment she had ever done or said. “I feel as awkward as one of my own students” she thought to herself “I’m no more confident or self-aware than I was when I was 12. I shouldn’t be leading these kids…I would be more comfortable being one of them given how dorky I am”

Jenna tried to laugh at herself but as she paced, the heel of her black shoe began to drop; flattening out her right shoe into a simple and cheap black flat.

She didn’t even notice it though as when she lifted her left foot, the shoe there also changed from a rather expensive black 2” heel to just another cheap flat.

She stopped and flexed her toes as she stared up at the ceiling and sighed. Her feet began to narrow in those flats. They were still the same length, but they were skinnier than they had been and the skin lightened and smoothed on them as they changed.

The changes began to work their way up her legs. Muscles thinned and fat began to vanish on her already skinny legs as her calves went almost straight and her thighs began to lose curve and mass. They separated underneath her skirt and continued to shrink further and further away from the other.

Jenna’s black skirt began to shrink though in conjunction with her body. It got smaller and tighter, holding onto her now shrinking hips and rear.

Jenna finally began to notice something was up when she felt an itch on her inner thigh and a creeping sensation of something moving against her skin. Sticking her hand down against her leg and looking down, she was shocked to see her skirt lifting up shorter and loosening as a pair or black tights began to make their way down her skinny legs “What the hell?!” she said out loud in her empty classroom.

“What’s going on? What the…?” she rolled her ankles outward and looked down to her feet encased in different shoes than she knew she had been wearing. She noticed the gaps along the sides as the shoes really didn’t fit her feet all that well.

“Why am I…Why…What’s happening to my clothes?!” she asked as her right hand groped around her thighs clutching at the tights which had worked their way past her knees and finally stopped halfway up her calves and shins. Her legs looked shiny down around her ankles; smooth and bony and she reached down and rubbed the palm of her hand over her lower legs.

“I don’t understand” she mumbled in confusion as her hips came inward and became more pointed and angular and her rear end deflated and flattened down.

As McKayla stood before the mirror admiring herself, she began to lift up ever so slightly as the heels of her boots went from a small ½” up to a more defining 3” heel. The leather gripped tight to her feet as they began to grow longer and wider beneath the surface. Her nails widened and grew thicker as did her toes unseen by her eyes which were still focused on the 12 year old in the mirror.

McKayla’s boots had moved back and forth some as her skinny calves didn’t quite fill them out totally but that would no longer be an issue as her legs began to fill out and grow rounder and curvier. Her muscles on the backs of her lower legs came out and touched the leather, pushing it out ever so slightly as the boots now fit her perfectly.

The black tights she had on began to raise up, exposing her knees and thighs just as the changes made their way there. Her thighs began to round and fill out, maturing and growing longer as they matured into the legs of a woman and not a girl.

Once above the knees, the tights blossomed out, changing into a skirt that wrapped around and swelled as her legs did the same, giving way as her hips and rear began to expand and grow outward.

As her lower body swelled and grew, McKayla finally stepped back and saw what was going on to her body “Oh My God!” she exclaimed as she stumbled back now out of shock and surprise at seeing different clothes on her legs as well as looking much fuller and curved as well.

Her hands flew to her hips as they grew outward, stretching the fabric of her skirt outward, flaring it and tightening it across her thighs.

McKayla rose up on the balls of her feet and heard the distinctive clack of her heels coming down on the tile floor “What the…?” she said glancing over her shoulder at her boots. “Those aren’t my boots” she muttered to herself while tapping her heels on the ground. “Hell with the boots! Those aren’t my legs!”

McKayla spread her legs out as far apart as she could in her new tight skirt taking in the full look of them.

Confusion crossed her face as she felt her underwear go on the move; tightening up and rising closer to her expanding cheeks. Her face shocked; her mouth in a set O, she put her hands behind her and squeezed with all her might as she felt her ass growing larger and rounder on her body. “Oh My God what’s happening to me?!”

Back in her classroom, Jenna muttered the same words “Oh My God what’s happening to me?!” as her body flattened and she began to shrink down shorter now. Her skinny legs got shorter and even the skin tight leggings looked baggy in a few places. “Hand me downs from Liz” flashed into her mind but it made no sense to her yet.

Her brow knit down in confusion as she felt her underwear loosen and even felt a change beneath it but it was a change she couldn’t quite fathom or put into context in her baffled mind. The loose black skirt swished as she spun around on her heels, her feet slipping in the cheap shoes “Am I…?”

Jenna slipped her narrow right foot easily out of the shoe. She curled her toes taking in the sight of them: Her nails were painted a garish shade of orange that was chipped and worn off in most places.

Sliding her foot back into the roomy shoe, she looked at her legs “I’m skinnier than ever” she said as a few lights clicked on in her head “The last time I was this skinny I was…NO!”

Stopped dead in her tracks and bent at the waist, her sky blue blouse began to change texture into a plain blue long sleeved t-shirt. It clung to her arms as they began to thin and trim down too.

Jenna held her arms out straight in front of her as her shirt changed. Her waist and stomach pulled in even higher and flatter as more weight dropped off of her shrinking frame. More height began to slip away from her as her back compressed, reversing growth spurts and dropping Jenna from 5’8” down to just 5’2”.

Her already small breasts nearly vanished. She felt a stirring beneath her shirt and she pulled at the neck just in time to see her bra change into a flat sports bra that was more than sufficient to hold back to two small bumps she now carried on her lean chest. “I must look like one of my students now!” she realized as her body continued to rapidly regress. She remembered her thought of being just as awkward as one of them and now, it was coming true.

Back in front of the restroom mirror, McKayla’s height improved naturally and without any further changes to her footwear. Her legs and back were growing longer and she grew 3 inches taller from 5’4” to 5’7”.

Her grey sweater rose up and off of her skirt coming in flush to the top of her skirt. It tightened into a much more form fitting garment. No longer loose and flowing but instead, ready to show off her changing chest.

McKayla’s stomach remained flat but it widened a bit along with her waist and the sweater pressed in fitting even closer. McKayla was an early bloomer and already wearing a 32B bra at 12 but what happened to her next, took her breath away.

Her 32B’s began to grow into a pair of full 34D’s, pushing her sweater out into round mounds that she knew had the full attention of everyone. Her bra adjusted and modified to keep up as the shoulder straps dug in momentarily as they accepted the new weight and heft in them. The garment quickly adjusted and kept up to bring her back to comfortable in her back and shoulders even as they grew stronger to support them too.

“Wow” she mouthed as her hands went to them instinctively. “I…I…” she stammered.

The hands that were holding them now began to change too. They widened a bit and her fingers lengthened. The cheap blue nail polish she had been wearing morphed into a professionally manicured gun metal grey color and all the small nicks and cuts that a girl would have on her hands vanished as her hands became those of a woman.

Her neck elongated as her hair began to lift and change. It was no longer just the simple and straight style she had as a kid; now it came up to her shoulders and layered as bangs began to sweep over her forehead.

McKayla’s chin and jaw came out stronger and more prominent as the shape of the lower half of her face changed. Her lips filled out and her mouth came more into line. She felt a popping sensation behind her lips and she bared them to get a good look at what she hoped was happening to them.

“IT IS!” her mind screamed as her braces popped off, vanishing one by one leaving behind a set of wide, straight white teeth.

McKayla ran her tongue back and forth over their smooth surfaces repeatedly verifying that they were really gone “This is amazing!” she said to the mirror.

Her nose broadened and grew longer as her cheeks slimmed and drew back. Her eyes widened and her makeup changed to a more mature and firm style, like she had many more years of experience in doing it.

Her eyebrows thickened and manicured into shape as even her ears grew slightly longer; her cheap plastic earrings were replaced by a pair of diamond studs. “Oh…My…God…” she said in a deeper voice than she was used to “I…I’m an adult!”

Jenna began to breathe harder and harder as more and more changes occurred to her body, solidifying her fears of what was happening to her. Her fingers slimmed down and got much smaller as the same cheap orange nail polish began to appear in splotches and uneven patterns along her fingernails. Her nails became ragged and rough at the ends of her small hands.

Jenna staggered backward as she picked at her tight clingy shirt “I’m dressed like a kid!” she thought as she burst out of her room and into the hall. It was empty as the bell had just rang for the start of 6^th period and she was grateful as she stumble ran across the hall to the teacher’s bathroom.

Just as she got inside with the door closed behind her, she felt a tingling sensation in her face and head.

Her ponytail was growing longer as stray hairs began to poke out from the front as if she wasn’t very good at getting everything pulled back into one anymore. Tendrils of long brown hair tickled at her ears which were shrinking smaller and pulling closer to the sides of her head. Her gold hoop earring vanished and were replaced by a simple pair of cheap 4 leaf clover earrings.

Jenna’s hands flew to her mouth as a sudden pain shot through her mouth. It receded to a dull ache and she bared her lips to see what was happening “Oh No!” she said with her lips catching slightly as she spoke. She watched in horror as one by one on each tooth, a metal brace clamped into place followed soon after by wires that tightened down and held them in place.

Jenna’s mouth went dry and all she could taste was the tinge of metal in her mouth “Oh No!” she repeated. Her chin and jaw pulled back and it made her mouth appear too big for her face as it thinned and her cheeks lifted up rounder and higher. Her eyes narrowed and her nose shrank making her forehead appear even wider and shinier as her face got oilier.

A few pimples popped out at her temples and one shot out from her chin “Braces…zits…geeky look! Shit… I’m a kid!”

McKayla couldn’t stop slapping her hands around her newly matured body “I’m dreaming…I have to be dreaming. There…There’s no way this is actually happening to me right now…this can’t be real”

She backed out of the bathroom and into the hall, looking around to see if anyone was around. It was empty for the moment but seconds later, she saw a skinny figure shoot out of the teacher’s bathroom and across the hall into Miss Farris’s classroom.

McKayla walked as softly as she could toward the room; she could hear somebody talking to themselves and it was apparent that they were very upset. She kept hearing “Shit” and “This can’t be happening to me” “This isn’t real Jenna, this isn’t real…you have to wake up…this can’t be real”

“Jenna?” McKayla said to herself “The only Jenna I know is…Miss Farris, but that wasn’t her running into her room, that was a…Oh My God” she picked up her pace and her footfalls became heavier as she reached the door to her English classroom.

Jenna was so confused and worked up that she didn’t hear the steps coming toward her room but she could tell someone was standing in the doorway. She spun and saw a woman she had never seen before standing there with a look of confusion mixed with shock. The woman was very nicely dressed; tall and probably in her mid-20’s with blonde hair and when she asked “Jenna?” Jenna Farris’s heart sank.

“Who are you?” Jenna said backing away afraid “Don’t come in here…you’re not allowed to come in here”

“Is…is that you?” McKayla said taking a step inside the room “Miss Ferris?”

“Who are you?” Jenna repeated.

“What happened to you Miss Ferris?” McKayla said taking another step.

“Who are you I asked you?” Jenna said now backed up to her window sill.

“It’s McKayla Monroe” McKayla stated.

“That’s impossible! You’re not McKayla; McKayla is a 12 year girl in my…” she trailed off as she looked into the woman’s eyes.

McKayla began to smirk and then she smiled “It is you Miss Ferris and I really am McKayla but now it looks like the tables have been turned for us”

“No, what do you mean, what are you talking about?” Jenna said.

“You look like a kid now Miss Ferris and I look like an adult” she peered closely at Jenna’s mouth “You even have the braces out of the two of us now!” McKayla looked around “We switched places! We switched ages and…oh my gosh look at this” she picked up the nameplate on the desk. She spun and showed it to Jenna.

Jenna could only stare with her mouth open: The nameplate now read Miss Monroe.

“We like, switched lives Jenna” McKayla said.

Jenna blinked at hearing her student call her by her first name, even if that student was now several inches taller than her and built like the mature woman out of the two of them.

“Oh…oh…this is…this is perfect!” McKayla announced. She clapped her hands together “I’m the teacher now and you’re my student! I can’t believe this”

“Neither can I” Jenna mumbled through her mouth full of metal. Her shoulders slumped and she seemed to pull into on herself in self-consciousness; suddenly aware of how powerless and vulnerable she was in this situation.  She ran her right hand up and down her left arm as she stared down at the floor, her cheeks burning in embarrassment.

“Hey…look at me” McKayla said coming up in front of Jenna.

Jenna had to crane her neck up to look McKayla in the eye “What?” Jenna said in the tone that only a tween girl could achieve.

“I…” McKayla began with a grin on her face but as they locked eyes, the smile faded from her face, replaced by a blank look as her mind reeled.

Jenna was full of anger one minute and then the next, she was full of loss.

As the two locked eyes, they continued to change with one another. Changes to their bodies and physical appearances were done, now, there were changes to their minds.

Every year of education past the 6^th grade began to flow away from Jenna starting with her college classes and student teaching experiences. Her mind regressed back to a high schooler but those memories and thoughts were rapidly spinning away as well. She lost the basics of adulthood as she lost her first jobs and then she lost even more independence as she forgot how to drive. The thoughts she had developed and her experiences with sex were the next to go as she passed back into childhood.

Her mind continued to regress back to middle school as even things she had learned in the 7^th and 8^th grade were now gone. Her mind was that of a 12 year old, albeit one who knew exactly who she had been just that very morning.

McKayla was experiencing the reverse of what was happening to Jenna. Knowledge flooded into her mind giving her the next several years and grades of school almost all at once. She felt a tingling in her body as sexual thoughts and experiences became hers. She knew how to drive and navigate a workplace as memories of jobs came to her. Basic skills evolved into more complex thoughts as college classes and seminars appeared.

More important than all of the book knowledge she gained was the maturity that came to her. The petty and mean thoughts that had motivated her were driven clear and far away. Compassion and a gentleness and a desire to teach began to grow in her.

“What just happened to me?” Jenna asked shaking her head and putting her hand to her temple.

“I think we just changed again and I think it was even more drastic than our original change” McKayla said looking around the room.

“Like, what does that even mean?” Jenna said in a petulant voice “How could anything be any worse than getting changed back into a 12 year old!” she continued dramatically.

McKayla searched her memory and found so much more there and she looked at Jenna knowing that it had come to her at Jenna’s expense. “This body…my mind…I gained but she lost”

“This is SO not fair!” Jenna said stamping her foot down. “I like, I’m supposed to be the adult you know”

“I know Jenna but now, it’s different for us” McKayla replied bending down to the girl in front of her.

Jenna backed away, a look of confusion and concern on her face. She was scanning her mind for things that had been there just minutes ago but found she couldn’t access them “Why can’t I remember? Why? I can’t remember High School or college anymore…I can’t think of how to drive. They’re…they’re gone.”

Jenna looked up, her lip quivered and tears burst from her eyes “You took my life!” She charged McKayla and hit her in her ample chest but bounced off and stalked off.

“It’s okay Jenna” McKayla said as she went to her.

“No Miss Monroe it’s not okay…it…it sucks” Jenna said.

“What did you call me?” McKayla asked.

“Miss Monroe…what am I supposed to call you?” Jenna asked confused. Their eyes met again and they knew that the changes weren’t done yet; they had slowed but they were still occurring.

Jenna ran her tongue over her braces nervously “I’m…” she swallowed hard and looked up to her teacher “I’m late for Mr. Taylor’s class” she replied.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of Mike for you, I mean Mr. Taylor” McKayla smiled nervously.

“I’m really a student again huh” Jenna said shrugging her shoulders.

“I think so” McKayla responded as she leaned back against her desk.

“And you’re the teacher and the adult now” Jenna followed up.

“I am” McKayla agreed.

“There are so many things I don’t understand. I don’t think I’ll ever like really understand what just happened to us” Jenna said. “But I do know that I’m a kid again” She looked down at her skinny and undeveloped body “That much I’m damned sure of”

McKayla stifled a laugh with the back of her hand. She clacked her heels together and stood back up straight “Think of it this way; this is your second chance. I know you don’t know now what you knew then, but some things are still there aren’t they?”

“Yeah” Jenna perked up “I still definitely remember that I hated teaching!”

“See! Now you get the chance to go to college again and study something completely different!” McKayla said positively.

“But…” Jenna began.

“But what?

“But I’m so young again” she sighed exasperated. “I already did all this once; puberty, middle school, high school, college…fast food jobs…no car…no nothing…living at home I; Om…I just thought of something”

McKayla raised her eyebrows in anticipation.

“I was the oldest; I had a younger brother and sister but now, I’m younger than both of them” Jenna said. “I’ve spent my life teasing my little sister Liz and now…” Jenna closed her eyes as new memories formed; memories or her being teased by Liz. Liz being older and smarter and more developed. Jenna looked down at her leggings and picked at them knowing full well that they were hand me downs from Liz after she outgrew them, hence the fading and bagginess around her knees.

“My brother Chris picks me up from school in the afternoons…” she finished.

“I was an only child” McKayla said. “I guess nothing changed there; just the fact that I was born in 91 instead of 04”

“But you’re now skipping 13 years of your life while I have to repeat those 13 years again!” Jenna said in a bit of a pleading voice.

McKayla smiled and shrugged and bobbed her head “Like you already said; I don’t understand what happened between us but we are now are will be forever linked by this event in our lives. Good or bad, there are upsides and downsides to both of our new situations but it now comes to down to making the most of them”

“So what’s done is done is what you’re saying” Jenna said not quite convinced.

“I’m going to let Mr. Taylor know that you’re not feeling well” McKayla said sliding around her desk and pulling up her in school email account. “I want you to go over to the teacher’s lounge and rest for the rest of this period and the next; it’s just Study Hall anyway. If you want to talk some more, I’ll come over and check on you but if not, I say head home with your brother and you know, just get a feel for what life is for you now. We can talk tomorrow morning before classes start okay”

“Um…okay” Jenna replied. She looked around and saw where her purse had been, a large dark green backpack now sat “I guess that’s mine”

McKayla probed at it with the toe of her boot “Apparently…” she said typing out a message to the math teacher.

Jenna slung the heavy pack on her shoulder and zombie walked out of what had been her classroom, down the hall and into the teacher’s lounge. The hallways looked so much bigger and imposing to her.

She opened the door and walked in to find her former colleague and now Art teacher Rose Griffin there.

“Oh hello Jenna, what are you doing in here?” Rose asked.

“Sorry Mrs. Griffin, I’m um, not feeling good; Miss Monroe said I could chill out here the rest of the day until my brother can come and pick me up” Jenna said.

“Oh I understand” Rose replied. “Would you like a bottle of water?”

“Sure” Jenna replied as she eased onto the couch.

Mrs. Griffin went to the fridge and brought out some water which she delivered with a sympathetic smile “Hope you feel better” she said as she left.

“Thanks” Jenna chipped in, grateful to now be by herself. She took a long drink and stood up and began poking around the lounge for any evidence that she had ever existed as a teacher there.

All the schedules on the walls had Monroe’s name on them as well as her coat hanging up on the hook where she usually found her own.

Jenna flopped down on the couch; her knees apart, her toes pointed in, she began to dig through her backpack.

Back in her empty classroom, McKayla made sure Jenna was gone before laughing out loud and bouncing up and down in joy “OH MY GOD!” she creamed inside her mind “This is so incredibly fucking awesome!”

She looked down at her very different looking body below her again, she couldn’t get over it “I’m gorgeous!” she thought “I’m an adult! I have a job, a car, an apartment!” She grabbed her purse and opened it. She found her wallet and saw her driver’s license and credit cards McKayla Monroe: DOB March 9, 1991, HT 5’7” WT 130 EYES BLUE HAIR BLONDE.

“This is real, this is really fucking real” she said to herself as she pulled out a compact mirror and opened it.

“Hello again” she said to the reflection, still getting used to it and what was now her life “I’m in charge…” she giggled to herself and drummed her feet up and down gleefully.

Immediately though, McKayla felt guilty. Pursing her lips and remembering Jenna, she humbled herself mentally “Grow up: You grew up physically and mentally…act like it”

She reminded herself that her homeroom students would be back in 15 minutes for Study Hall and she would need to be available to all of them for any of their questions.

She dug into her purse again and pulled out her phone. With a smirk, she opened it and began going through her texts and her Instagram “Wow” was all she was able to say as new people and faces and experiences filtered their way in.

The bell rang and McKayla stood up instinctively. She opened her door and stood next to it in the hall as kids began to stream out of other rooms and mingle and make their way through the halls. Smiling at how small and young they looked, she quickly felt other instincts kicking in.

“Slow down John…you in a big rush to get to work on your homework” she said to a boy who was running past.

“Sorry Miss Monroe” he mumbled back to her while blushing and starting to walk.

John Antoni had been in her science class this morning and now she knew that he was in her 3^rd period English class where he was struggling a bit; he couldn’t keep interested in Non-fiction books. It also didn’t help that she was now almost a foot taller than him as he was kind of a runt for their class.

Mike Taylor came out of his classroom and strolled down toward her. “What’s up?” he asked casually.

“Not much…looking forward to getting out of here today” McKayla replied with a sigh and a wan smile.

“Got your email about Jenna; she okay?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, um, you know, girl issues…” McKayla said.

“Say no more” Mike said waving her off.

“She’s in the lounge; I thought she’d appreciate the privacy until her brother gets out of work and comes to pick her up” McKayla added with a nod down the hall.

“Here’s her homework paper if you could take it to her” Mike said handing over a worksheet.

“No prob” McKayla said as she crossed her ankles and leaned back against the wall.

Maureen Johnson stopped in front of her two teachers, her books clutched to her chest. “I heard you say that Jenna’s sick”

McKayla looked down “Yes Maureen, she wasn’t feeling well but it’s nothing serious”

“Thanks Miss Monroe” she answered and headed into the room.

McKayla had tortured Maureen when they were classmates. Maureen played clarinet, had stringy hair, enjoyed music from the 60’s and was simply not one of the cool kids but to McKayla, all of those thoughts had vanished.

She felt bad for how she had treated her before, now she was her teacher, she was a teacher to all of her former classmates. Kids she had known since kindergarten were now her students and her former teachers; the people she had either feared or had contempt for, were now her co-workers.

More and more kids filtered in until the room was full. McKayla came in and said “I need to run down to the lounge for a second; I don’t want to hear any of you while I’m out in the hall. You know what you need to get done, I’ll be back in a few minutes if any of you need help”

Her heels clacking, she opened the door to the lounge and found Jenna digging through her backpack “How are you holding up?” she asked.

Jenna sprang up, somewhat surprised at hearing a voice in the room “Oh! I’m um…I’m doing about as good as I can be” she smiled, metal gleaming through her parted lips. “Just going through my folders and stuff you know, trying to like, piece everything together”

McKayla smiled “I do know. Here’s your homework sheet from Mr. Taylor” she said handing the sheet over.

Jenna pulled a lanyard out of her bag; it was her student I.D. to get her into the building. She looked at the picture and the awkward looking kid in it “This is me now you know” she said more to herself than to McKayla “Born April 28^th, 2004…wow” she shook her head in disbelief. “I changed centuries…”

“So did I” McKayla reminded her.

“Yeah but in a good way” Jenna replied.

“I need to get back; take care of yourself tonight in case I don’t see you” McKayla said.

Jenna listened to her footfalls down the hall. She sighed and looked at the worksheet next to her. She took out a pencil and began to work on it; it was much harder than she had hoped it would be. “What’s worse is that I don’t even remember how The Outsiders ends…”

McKayla came back into her room and saw the immediate scramble of a few kids toward the back into their seats. Her eyes fell on Lauren Ashcroft.

“Lauren; did you have your phone out?” McKayla asked pointedly.

Lauren smirked “No Miss Monroe” she replied confidently.

Lauren was sitting with Grace Allenby on one side of her and Kendall Stewart on the other, both of them looking equally confident and important.

“The new queen bees” McKayla realized and thought to herself. “Be quiet and get to work” she said to them.

Lauren never looked away and once McKayla looked down at her desk, she heard the three of them giggle ever so slightly. “Took two of them to replace me” she thought as a point of pride “They’re just little kids; what can they do to me?”

But as McKayla caught them staring at her and whispering and giggling, she did start to feel self-conscious. “Those little…they’re talking about me and making fun of me” she realized “Just like I used to do to Jen, I mean Miss Farris”

A few of her students came up with various questions, which she was able to answer easily but McKayla was also glad when the bell rang dismissing the students for the day.

She looked out the window and saw the line of cars for pickups. Out of the door, she followed the skinny girl tramping across the parking lot in the grey coat. Her long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail and her dark green backpack slinging her to the left “Good luck tonight Jenna” she said to the window as she watched the newly regressed former teacher have to get into the backseat of her older brothers’ beat up old car.

Jenna had just known which locker was hers. She couldn’t explain it, she had just gone to it and put in the combination for the lock that popped into her head. She grabbed her coat and trudged out to the parking lot.

Chris was behind the wheel and Liz was sitting in the passenger seat. The High School let out 15 minutes to the middle school so of course Chris had picked her up first.

“What up bones?” Liz said in a snarky tone as Jenna climbed into the back of the car.

“Bones…she calls you bones as in skin and bones because you’re so skinny” Jenna realized.

“Nothing” she replied and buckled up.

“You got homework?” Chris asked as he pulled away.

“No, I got it all done in study hall” she replied.

“Must be nice” Liz snorted but Jenna just shrugged.

As the pulled up in front of their house, Jenna was taken aback momentarily. She hadn’t lived here full time for seven years now. But now everything was different.

Chris and Liz headed in like always but Jenna took her time, lingering back a few steps. She stepped in the side door and into the kitchen. Liz was already in the fridge getting out a Dr. Pepper and Chris was already heading upstairs to shower.

“Didn’t you bring the mail in?” Liz asked.

“What?” Jenna replied.

“You’re supposed to get the mail dumbass, did you forget everything today?” Liz replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh…yeah” Jenna replied. She turned and went back out to the mailbox as lists of chores came to her “God I got all the sucky ones…” she realized. Ones that had been Liz’s were now hers; bottom of the pecking order.

By the time she got back in Liz had earbuds in and was texting on her phone so Jenna headed up to what was now her room. Before she moved out, she had the big room at the end of the hall on the left but now that room was Chris’s and always had been. Next was Liz’s room and then it was hers; the smallest of the four bedrooms in the house.

She went in and sighed taking in her surroundings. Four closed in walls painted light yellow, two dressers, a twin bed and a closet and not much space to move at all.

Jenna closed the door and looked in the full length mirror that hung on the back of it “Wow” she repeated still getting used to the reflection before her. She had of course seen it before but had forgotten most of it until it now confronted her smack dab in front of her and below her.

She tried to remember fully how she had looked this morning, confidently dressed in her heels and skirt and blouse. No braces, no acne, better hairstyle but it was a faded picture, like something from a dream. “Maybe it was all a dream” she thought. “The whole being an adult; maybe I’ve always been this age and I was just dreaming about being the oldest and being a teacher”

She shook her head “No, I know I was grown up; I know I was older than stupid Lizzie and Chris”

She slipped her feet out of her shoes and flexed her toes out; long and skinny on narrow feet, they looked so much bigger and awkward. She was 6 inches shorter but her feet were still the same size.

Her eyes trained up her skinny legs, to her non-existent hips to her flat chest. She took her hair out of the ponytail and shook it around letting it fly wild.

Cautiously, she ran a finger over her braces feeling the sharp edges. “Mouth’s too big” she admitted looking at her face in the mirror. She turned her head back and forth taking in the different angles but not liking what she saw anyway. “Boys don’t notice me…” she told herself and a quick flash of Kyle Henson came into her mind making her stomach flip with butterflies.

Jenna went around and gathered up the laundry, which was one of her chores and took the basket down to the basement. She could still reach all the buttons and the dial, but she had to raise up on her tip toes to do it. She also had to stand on a small footstool to reach the detergent which was up on a high shelf “5’8” this morning and I had on heels making me even taller than that…now I’m down to 5’2” and in my bare feet” she mumbled shaking her head.

Jenna had gone through her clothes and found one “fancy” dress out of all of her clothes and no heels. She had a few nice sweaters and some skirts along with some basic maxi dresses but most of her wardrobe was tomboy chic. Jeans, leggings, hoodies and basic plain tops dominated.

“Laundry started?” Liz asked her when she came back up.

“Yup” she replied quickly avoiding the sister who now intimidated her like never before. “I was 10 years older than Lizzie, I mean Liz. She was only 8 when I went to college; I teased her but I also watched out for her, taught her things, now she treats me like crap”