Rianna
2009-05-18, 10:55 AM
Chapter 1
Jarod Parks glanced around nervously, not the least bit happy to be at his new high school for the first time. Everywhere he looked he could see other teenagers, and even a few adults, though none of them were familiar to him in the least. Or at least their names and faces weren't, though he knew their types well enough. The big guys in the letterman's jackets were the jocks, who of course were standing around with the pretty cheerleaders. Over in the corner he could see several of the school nerds, most of which seemed to be ignoring even each other and trying not to be noticed by the usual abundance of bullies. Jarod saw the other typical high school cliques as well. The preppies, the goths, the motor heads as well as a couple more.
"Just great," Jarod grumbled to himself, taking one more quick look back at the family car and his Mom who was waving at him while she began to drive off. "Another day, another new school."
Being in a new school was nothing new to Jarod. Not in the least. When his Dad had been transferred to the new town because of his job, it had just been the latest in a long line of moves. Jarod's family had moved at least once a year for as long as he could remember, or at least close to it. Sometimes even more. And with each new move, Jarod was faced with a new school and trying to make new friends, knowing that he shouldn't bother to get too comfortable with either since he'd only be leaving again anyway.
Jarod frowned as he thought about his latest home. The town that they'd just moved to was a lot smaller than most of the ones that he'd been to before and people tended to at least be familiar with a lot of the people that lived around them. Not at all like a big city where neighbors of years might not even know what the other looked like and he would just slip through the cracks without much notice. He sighed, knowing that this would just make him stand out in school even more than he already would have.
"Just the way I wanted to spend my Junior year," Jarod grumbled to himself, "or at least the second half of it." He snorted, already doubting that he'd even start his Senior year at the new school much less graduate from it. That would have been almost unheard of, even if his Dad had promised that they'd be staying there for awhile. After all, Jarod had heard promises like that from his Dad before, and none of them had lasted past the next company transfer.
As Jarod turned his attention back to the other students, he was very aware that many of them were watching him, even while pretending that they weren't. He could hear the faint underlying thoughts and the whispers that made their way to his ears. They all said "New Kid." Jarod grimaced though he refused to let any of them see his discomfort. That would be showing a sign of weakness and in the fish pond that was high school any signs of weakness would just draw the sharks and throw them into a feeding frenzy. No, at the moment Jarod knew that his best bet was to pretend that he didn't notice the stares, odd looks and whispers and try not to be noticed. After all, years of always being the new kid had taught him that much.
Jarod purposely strolled through the main doors of the school, pulling out the map that he'd been given and trying to figure out where his first class was located. It didn't take Jarod very long to find the classroom, though much to his disgust the class had already started by the time he got there. Jarod winced as he peaked through the window, then taking a deep breath he went inside, bracing himself for the laughter and jokes that he knew were sure to come.
As soon as Jarod was inside the classroom, everything went quiet and he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He nervously glanced at the teacher, an attractive brown haired woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Ms. Elwin, he remembered her name from the class schedule. She gave him a look of annoyance.
"Um...hi," Jarod gulped. "I'm a new student."
Jarod could hear several of the students snicker and Ms. Elwin glared at them, making the room quiet down again. "Oh yes," she said quietly, picking up a clipboard from her desk and looking at it for a moment. When she was done she looked at the class. "Class, this is Jarod Parks and he'll be joining our class." She looked back at Jarod, still frowning. "Now please take a seat and I would appreciate it if you weren't late again."
Once again several of the students snickered, while others were whispering. Jarod nodded, blushing in embarrassment as he hurried to his seat, hoping that the class would get going again so that they might forget about him.
"Now where was I?" Ms. Elwin asked aloud, then before anyone could answer for her she finished, "Oh yes. Tangents." And with that she went back to work demonstrating the math problem on the board, much to Jarod's mixed relief and disgust. Relief that the attention wasn't on him anymore, or at least not too much, and disgust since he hadn't covered that particular area in his last school and he knew that he'd have to work even harder to catch up with the rest of the class.
For the rest of the period Jarod was very aware of being the outsider, which wasn't at all surprising or new for him. It was very depressing though. The only thing that made the class worthwhile at all was Ms. Elwin, whom Jarod decided early on was definitely a looker, even if she was kind of old.
When the class was finally over, Jarod got up to leave, picking up the math book he'd just been given and trying to remember what was next on his schedule. Then much to his surprise Jarod heard someone cough behind him. Snapping around, Jarod saw that there was an athletic looking boy in a letterman's jacket standing there. Jarod immediately identified the boy as a jock, and from a few comments he'd overheard during class, one of the stars of the school football team, and a Senior to boot. "Hi," the jock said, quickly glancing around. "Name's Sean Tyler."
"Um....hi." Jarod held out his hand, "Jarod Parks."
"I know," Sean answered with a slight smirk. "The new kid."
Jarod forced a grin. "Yeah, that's me."
Sean nodded. "I bet it's not easy being new and not knowing anyone around here." Jarod just gave a faint nod, not bothering to give a verbal answer. For a moment Sean looked thoughtful and even slightly nervous, which was a big difference from the confident, almost cocky way he'd seemed earlier. Then Sean ran a hand through his blonde hair and finally continued, "I might be able to help you, but I've got to check with a couple of others first. I'm pretty sure though that you'll be accepted."
"Accepted for what?" Jarod asked curiously.
"Just a small club," Sean answered with a grin. "I can't tell you more now. Why don't you meet me in front the gym during lunch, and if you're interested I can help you make some friends."
Jarod stared at Sean for a moment, half sure that he must be imagining things. His first day and one of the most popular guys at his new school wanted to be friends with him. Then Jarod's cynical side took over, wondering if maybe he was just being set up for some kind of joke. It wouldn't be the first time and he sure wasn't the kind of guy that a jock would normally want to pal around with.
"I'll think about it," Jarod finally answered, definitely not sure if he wanted to get involved with this or not, but keeping his options open for the moment. After all, maybe it really was on the up and up.
"Sure thing," Sean said, once again looking confident. "Just don't tell anyone," he warned. "Gotta go." And with that Sean turned and strolled out of the classroom, almost seeming to pretend as if Jarod wasn't even there anymore.
Jarod watched the ball player leave and then shook his head. "Weird." Then suddenly remembering that he still had another class to catch, Jarod said, "Oh pomegranate!" and ran out of the room, definitely not wanting to be late to his next class as well.
Chapter 2
Over the next several periods Jarod slowly came to a conclusion. His new school sucked just as bad as his old ones. The classes were the usual boring stuff, taught in the usual boring way and with none of the other kids bothering to talk to him except for the occasional "Hi." All the typical cliques were around where they'd only hang around with others inside their own groups. And unfortunately Jarod knew very well that he was part of a group as well. A group of one. The new kids, of which there were no others. Of course none of this surprised Jarod in the least. He'd seen it before and knew that he'd see it again. After all, some things never changed.
As history was getting over, Jarod kept glancing up at the clock, seeing that it was almost time for lunch and remembering what Sean had told him earlier. He glanced around the classroom, seeing other football players in the class, but none of them really paid him attention except when they tried to "educate" him on the local hierarchy and just where he stood in it. Jarod shuddered at the memory, even if it hadn't gone very far.
And when he'd run into Sean earlier on in another of his classes, Sean showed no sign of interest, ignoring Jarod just like everyone else was. That only made Jarod wonder even more about what was going on. Had Sean be serious earlier? Was it some sort of joke? Jarod didn't know but as the bell rang, signifying the end of class and the beginning of lunch, he knew that he had to find out.
When Jarod got to the front of the gym where Sean had said to meet him, he looked around nervously, half expecting some sort of ambush. Fortunately though there was no sign of any trouble and Jarod began to relax though only a little. After five minutes of waiting Jarod glanced down at his watch and frowned. "Damn," he grumbled, almost becoming sure that he'd been the butt of some joke or that Sean had just decided to forget about the whole thing. "I knew I shouldn't have bothered."
Just then Sean came strolling into sight, a cocky grin on his face though his eyes darted around warily. "How's it going?" Sean asked quietly as soon as he was next to Jarod.
After assuring Sean that he was fine, Jarod watched him cautiously, a little relieved that Sean had shown after all, but wondering what this was all about. "So," Jarod finally breached the subject, "why exactly am I here anyway?"
"Follow me," Sean said with an enigmatic smile as he started across the gym. Jarod shrugged and then hurried right behind him, growing even more curious about what was going on. When they got to a door in the back of the gym and went into a large storage room, Jarod started to get even more apprehensive. Whatever Sean wanted it was beginning to get pretty weird. In fact Jarod nearly called an end to it right there and would have turned around if it hadn't been for the burning curiosity about what Sean really wanted. "Right through here," Sean directed, lifting a tarp hanging on the wall to the side and revealing another door behind it.
Jarod frowned even more and muttered, "Spooky." In the back of his mind he could just imagine being locked up where no one would find him as some sort of initiation prank, though he gulped at nastier ideas of what might await him. "Chicken pomegranate," Jarod told himself silently, feeling afraid but refusing to admit it.
Without another word Jarod went through the new door behind Sean and started up the small dark staircase that was revealed. But even as Jarod went up the slightly lit stairs, he noticed that there wasn't any dust on the hand rail. Obviously these stairs weren't as unused as he would have guessed. When they finally arrived at the top of the stairs Sean stepped through an open door frame and Jarod hesitated only a moment before going through as well.
"We're here," Sean announced proudly.
Stepping through the door, Jarod's eyes widened as he glanced around, taking everything in at once and realizing that the Sean's last comment probably wasn't directed to him. The room itself was less than half the size of any of the class rooms and was lit from several small and darkened windows as well as several dangling light bulbs. However as small as the room would have been normally, it was made smaller by the fact that it was filled with assorted odds and ends, mostly seeming to be props from various plays. Jarod immediately realized that this was probably an old storage room for the drama classes or something, though he also had a feeling that it hadn't really been used for that purpose in awhile. However what really drew Jarod's attention the most was the fact that he and Sean weren't the only ones in there. Over half a dozen other students were sitting around the room on couches and chairs, all watching Jarod with a slightly predatory gleam in their eyes.
"Glad you could make it," one goth girl said almost sarcastically, though she did smile a little nicer. The nice smile didn't exactly go with the rest of the image she portrayed, having black hair with purple highlights, a nose ring and heavy eye shadow, not to mention the odd dark clothes. Jarod gulped, recognizing her from one of his earlier classes though he didn't know her name.
Then a skinny looking boy with glasses who appeared to be a nerd said, "Welcome to our club.
Chapter 3
Jarod looked around nervously, surprised at the variety of other kids in the room. He quickly shot a glance at Sean who was grinning broadly then looked at the others. There seemed to be a representative from almost all the typical major cliques. Sean from the jocks, the nerd and goth girl whom he'd already noticed and others.
There was one gorgeous blonde girl that he recognized as a cheerleader though she wasn't wearing a uniform at the moment. Jarod remembered someone else pointing her out to him that morning. There was another girl who had long reddish blonde hair. From the heavy makeup and the skimpy way she was dressed, especially the mini skirt, Jarod tagged her immediately as a probable slut. Sitting next to each other on the couch was a boy that was dressed in a nice shirt with a tie, and a very attractive girl who was wearing what appeared to be a very expensive looking dress. Both of them looked like they had to be rich. Probably spoiled snobs Jarod decided. That kind usually seemed to be. And finally there was a long haired scruffy looking boy with sloppy loose clothes who sported a goatee and seemed to need a shave as well. That boy was leaning up against the wall, watching the others silently.
When Jarod was finished identifying the others in the room, he looked back at Sean and frowned, his curiosity peaked even more than before. What in the world could get people who were so different together, and more importantly, why had Sean brought Jarod up there?
"Have a seat," Sean told Jarod, gesturing to an empty space on the couch then he continued, "and then we'll explain what's going on."
"You'll explain, you mean," the preppy girl said almost smugly. "You brought him in." Sean nodded agreement, looking slightly embarrassed.
Gulping uncomfortably, Jarod sat down and tried not to let them see how nervous he was. Or how curious. It wouldn't pay to show them any signs of weakness, especially not on his first day there. "So what the hell is going on?" Jarod asked, trying to sound confident and take the upper hand to some degree.
Sean coughed slightly, looking almost embarrassed. Then a little more confidently he gestured at the boy with the glasses, the nerd. "This here is Eddie Hutchinson"
"I'm really pleased to meet you," Eddie said, holding out his hand and grinning in a slightly goofy manner. Jarod didn't let any of his emotions show as he shook the boy's clammy hand.
"Mandy Layton." Sean gave a nod towards the cheerleader. Mandy said high and stood up long enough to shake hands with Jarod. As he did so, he gulped at the way she was smiling at him, forcing himself not to look down at her breasts. God she looked hot, and best of all, she was being nice to him. He wondered for a brief moment if maybe she had the hots for him though he quickly turned his attention back to Sean.
"The girl in the dress is Mercedes Kelly." Sean gestured to her.
"Hello," Mercedes said calmly, though in a way that immediately made Jarod wonder if she was always so....snobby.
Then Sean went on to introduce the rich looking boy next to Mercedes as Alexander Richmond, the girl dressed like a hooker as Lorna Shaeffer, and the boy with the goatee as Mark Zappowitz.
"Just call him Zappy," the goth girl said with an odd looking smirk. The others chuckled slightly and Zappy gave a half bow.
"All right," Jarod said, frowning still as he looked the others over. Then deciding that they didn't seem to be any kind of a threat to him, Jarod allowed himself to relax a little bit and smiled.
The goth girl smirked, giving Jarod an odd look as she said, "I'm Cindy Newport." Then to Jarod's confusion, she added, "For now."
"Now that that's finished," Sean said quietly, "I can tell you about what's going on." Jarod's ears were wide open and he focused all of his attention on what Sean was saying. "All of us..." Sean swept his arm around the room, "and a couple others who couldn't make it form a sort of....club." Sean smiled at Jarod. "A very unusual club you could say."
Jarod nodded thoughtfully. "And you want me to join this club?"
Sean seemed almost surprised by Jarod's answer. "Yep," he finally answered. "Normally we're pretty strict on our membership as well as...." Sean glanced around at the others.
"Secretive," Mercedes supplied. Then she gave Jarod a cold hard stare that made him gulp from the intensity. "We do not want people to know about us. Is that understood?"
Then Sean interrupted, "Please don't scare him." Turning back to Jarod he added, "As soon as I'm finished you'll see why we don't want anyone who's not a member to know. Will you please promise not to say anything to anyone about what we tell you?"
Jarod nodded agreement skeptically, though he wasn't about to promise anything until he at least knew what the hell was going on. "Go ahead."
Obviously noticing the skeptical look on Jarod's face, Sean said, "I know you won't believe what I'm going to tell you at first, but please be patient and listen anyway." Once again Sean paused, coughing for a moment before continuing. "Eddie, bring it out."
With that, Eddie moved to the corner and lifted a thick blanket off of a pile of stuff covering a table. As soon as the blanket was pulled away, Jarod gasped in surprise. Sitting on the table was what looked almost like a crystal ball, except that it was glowing with a strange yellowish light. Gulping, Jarod tried to cover up his surprise. "Cool trick."
"No trick," Alexander said quietly.
Mandy giggled slightly. "That is like, totally awesome." Jarod noticed that the others nodded their agreement.
Then Sean continued, "I know how this sounds, but most of us aren't in our real bodies. This thing lets anyone who touches it trade bodies with anyone else touching it." Then with an odd mischievious grin, Sean said, "I was originally Eddie."
"Zappy," Cindy said, winking at Jarod.
Jarod snorted in disgust. "You really expect me to believe that garbage?" He glared at the people around him, wondering just what kind of sicko's he'd gotten caught up with. Their eyes narrowed at his outburst, though none of them said anything. But Jarod could tell from their expressions that they were amused and annoyed at the same time.
"No garbage," Lorna said quietly, standing up and gently straightening out her mini skirt. "It's true. I didn't believe a word of it either when I was brought in six months ago, but now...." She gave Jarod a nice smile.
Eddie nodded and said, "We don't really know what it is, and we've definitely tried figuring it out. In fact we are not even certain if it's magic or some sort of advanced science. My personally theory is alien origin." Eddie adjusted his glasses at this point. "Approximately 8 years ago someone found it, though we don't really know where or how. Only that after discovering its abilities he got together with a few friends who were curious about each other's lives, and well they sort of formed the club. Ever since then it's grown, but not by too much. We don't ever get more than a dozen at a time."
Jarod stared at Eddie, knowing that the boy must be absolutely insane.... all of them had to be, but something about his eyes seemed to suggest otherwise. Then they went on, describing how they all used the strange sphere to trade places with each other occasionally and see what life was like for other people.
"We don't absolutely have to swap or anything," Mandy said cheerfully, "but we do have a couple rules. Like swapping for one day a week at least. And..." Mandy looked thoughtful, "Oh yeah. When we trade places we have to act just like the other person and stuff."
Jarod shook his head in surprised disbelief. The fact that they all seemed so sincere left him feeling somewhat confused.
Sean let out a sigh. "I can tell that you don't believe us." Then Sean grinned, looking almost cocky again. "But we can prove it. Whisper a password to me will you? Don't let anyone else hear." Jarod looked at him skeptically but decided that he might as well play along. After all, even if they were all insane it was certainly interesting. Then with a shrug Jarod carefully whispered the password in Sean's ear. "Now for a volunteer."
Without a word several of the others started to stand, though after a moment they all sat back down except for Lorna. She nodded faintly at Sean and then they both went over and stood next to the glowing sphere. "See," Sean said, "all we have to do is touch it." And with that both Sean and Lorna put their hands out and onto the sphere at the same time.
The sphere started glowing just a little more and for a faint second later Jarod was shocked to see both the jock and the slut glowing as well. Almost immediately though the glow went away from them though that didn't make Jarod's disbelief grow any weaker. "Wow," he whispered, even more impressed with their trick. It had actually looked as if Sean and that Lorna girl really were glowing.
Then, even more to Jarod's surprise, Lorna grinned at Jarod, making his pulse pound faster from the pure sexiness in it, and confidently said, "Lima beans and a liver milkshake." The very words that Jarod had whispered to Sean.
For a long moment all Jarod could do was stare at her in disbelief. "It's a trick," he gasped, "it has to be." But now Jarod wasn't quite so sure any more. They all seemed so sincere and confident. And the looks in their eyes.... The predatory gleam had returned.
"Now do you believe us?" Lorna asked in a sexy voice.
All Jarod could do was stare at her, embarrassed and flustered. He wasn't sure that he believed it, he couldn't. It just wasn't real. It had to be some sort of trick. But somehow Jarod knew that it wasn't. "Yes," Jarod finally whispered, staring down at his feet for a moment, knowing that he was blushing bright enough to replace Rudolph at the front of Santa's sleigh. And God, he couldn't help thinking that this sexy girl had been a guy just moments before. "I think I need to sit down."
Several minutes later Jarod finally calmed down and sat up a little straighter from his seat on the couch. He glanced at Sean and then Lorna, or at least their bodies. "So Sean..." Jarod said to the sexy girl in the mini skirt.
"Call me Lorna," she said sweetly, crossing her legs and winking suggestively at Jarod. "We always use the names of our current bodies."
"What...? How...?" Then taking a deep breath, Jarod asked, "Why me?"
"Why not?" Zappy answered from across the room.
Sean....Lorna gave him a look of annoyance. "Because..." She paused for a moment thoughtfully, then continued, "Because we've pretty much all known each other for most of our lives. We've all grown up in this town. The reason that we all got into the club in the first place was to experience new things, see things from other peoples’ points of view. It's fantastic. More fun...more exciting than you could possibly imagine. And one thing that none of us has ever really experienced, is being the new kid."
"What?" Jarod gasped, hardly able to believe it. They wanted to be him?
Lorna continued. "Yeah, we all wanted to see what it was like to be new to the school and not have anyone know us. That's why we rushed to get you in here today. Normally everyone has to agree to bring in a new member, but I knew that if we didn't hurry then before long it would be pointless anyway."
"What do you say?" Mercedes asked, sounding friendlier this time. "This way you can walk around and see what people are like without being treated as the new kid. Everyone will treat you like they've known you for years, and whoever is in your body can help you make new friends." Then Mercedes smiled with a twinkle in her eye. "Besides, haven't you ever been curious about what it's like to be someone else? Well this is your big chance to find out."
"Wow," was all that Jarod could say. He gulped, looking around the room at all the expectant faces. Did he really want to try this? To actually become someone else? But then almost in spite of himself, Jarod found his curiosity becoming aroused. What would it be like to be the star football player? Or the popular rich kid in school?
Jarod Parks glanced around nervously, not the least bit happy to be at his new high school for the first time. Everywhere he looked he could see other teenagers, and even a few adults, though none of them were familiar to him in the least. Or at least their names and faces weren't, though he knew their types well enough. The big guys in the letterman's jackets were the jocks, who of course were standing around with the pretty cheerleaders. Over in the corner he could see several of the school nerds, most of which seemed to be ignoring even each other and trying not to be noticed by the usual abundance of bullies. Jarod saw the other typical high school cliques as well. The preppies, the goths, the motor heads as well as a couple more.
"Just great," Jarod grumbled to himself, taking one more quick look back at the family car and his Mom who was waving at him while she began to drive off. "Another day, another new school."
Being in a new school was nothing new to Jarod. Not in the least. When his Dad had been transferred to the new town because of his job, it had just been the latest in a long line of moves. Jarod's family had moved at least once a year for as long as he could remember, or at least close to it. Sometimes even more. And with each new move, Jarod was faced with a new school and trying to make new friends, knowing that he shouldn't bother to get too comfortable with either since he'd only be leaving again anyway.
Jarod frowned as he thought about his latest home. The town that they'd just moved to was a lot smaller than most of the ones that he'd been to before and people tended to at least be familiar with a lot of the people that lived around them. Not at all like a big city where neighbors of years might not even know what the other looked like and he would just slip through the cracks without much notice. He sighed, knowing that this would just make him stand out in school even more than he already would have.
"Just the way I wanted to spend my Junior year," Jarod grumbled to himself, "or at least the second half of it." He snorted, already doubting that he'd even start his Senior year at the new school much less graduate from it. That would have been almost unheard of, even if his Dad had promised that they'd be staying there for awhile. After all, Jarod had heard promises like that from his Dad before, and none of them had lasted past the next company transfer.
As Jarod turned his attention back to the other students, he was very aware that many of them were watching him, even while pretending that they weren't. He could hear the faint underlying thoughts and the whispers that made their way to his ears. They all said "New Kid." Jarod grimaced though he refused to let any of them see his discomfort. That would be showing a sign of weakness and in the fish pond that was high school any signs of weakness would just draw the sharks and throw them into a feeding frenzy. No, at the moment Jarod knew that his best bet was to pretend that he didn't notice the stares, odd looks and whispers and try not to be noticed. After all, years of always being the new kid had taught him that much.
Jarod purposely strolled through the main doors of the school, pulling out the map that he'd been given and trying to figure out where his first class was located. It didn't take Jarod very long to find the classroom, though much to his disgust the class had already started by the time he got there. Jarod winced as he peaked through the window, then taking a deep breath he went inside, bracing himself for the laughter and jokes that he knew were sure to come.
As soon as Jarod was inside the classroom, everything went quiet and he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He nervously glanced at the teacher, an attractive brown haired woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Ms. Elwin, he remembered her name from the class schedule. She gave him a look of annoyance.
"Um...hi," Jarod gulped. "I'm a new student."
Jarod could hear several of the students snicker and Ms. Elwin glared at them, making the room quiet down again. "Oh yes," she said quietly, picking up a clipboard from her desk and looking at it for a moment. When she was done she looked at the class. "Class, this is Jarod Parks and he'll be joining our class." She looked back at Jarod, still frowning. "Now please take a seat and I would appreciate it if you weren't late again."
Once again several of the students snickered, while others were whispering. Jarod nodded, blushing in embarrassment as he hurried to his seat, hoping that the class would get going again so that they might forget about him.
"Now where was I?" Ms. Elwin asked aloud, then before anyone could answer for her she finished, "Oh yes. Tangents." And with that she went back to work demonstrating the math problem on the board, much to Jarod's mixed relief and disgust. Relief that the attention wasn't on him anymore, or at least not too much, and disgust since he hadn't covered that particular area in his last school and he knew that he'd have to work even harder to catch up with the rest of the class.
For the rest of the period Jarod was very aware of being the outsider, which wasn't at all surprising or new for him. It was very depressing though. The only thing that made the class worthwhile at all was Ms. Elwin, whom Jarod decided early on was definitely a looker, even if she was kind of old.
When the class was finally over, Jarod got up to leave, picking up the math book he'd just been given and trying to remember what was next on his schedule. Then much to his surprise Jarod heard someone cough behind him. Snapping around, Jarod saw that there was an athletic looking boy in a letterman's jacket standing there. Jarod immediately identified the boy as a jock, and from a few comments he'd overheard during class, one of the stars of the school football team, and a Senior to boot. "Hi," the jock said, quickly glancing around. "Name's Sean Tyler."
"Um....hi." Jarod held out his hand, "Jarod Parks."
"I know," Sean answered with a slight smirk. "The new kid."
Jarod forced a grin. "Yeah, that's me."
Sean nodded. "I bet it's not easy being new and not knowing anyone around here." Jarod just gave a faint nod, not bothering to give a verbal answer. For a moment Sean looked thoughtful and even slightly nervous, which was a big difference from the confident, almost cocky way he'd seemed earlier. Then Sean ran a hand through his blonde hair and finally continued, "I might be able to help you, but I've got to check with a couple of others first. I'm pretty sure though that you'll be accepted."
"Accepted for what?" Jarod asked curiously.
"Just a small club," Sean answered with a grin. "I can't tell you more now. Why don't you meet me in front the gym during lunch, and if you're interested I can help you make some friends."
Jarod stared at Sean for a moment, half sure that he must be imagining things. His first day and one of the most popular guys at his new school wanted to be friends with him. Then Jarod's cynical side took over, wondering if maybe he was just being set up for some kind of joke. It wouldn't be the first time and he sure wasn't the kind of guy that a jock would normally want to pal around with.
"I'll think about it," Jarod finally answered, definitely not sure if he wanted to get involved with this or not, but keeping his options open for the moment. After all, maybe it really was on the up and up.
"Sure thing," Sean said, once again looking confident. "Just don't tell anyone," he warned. "Gotta go." And with that Sean turned and strolled out of the classroom, almost seeming to pretend as if Jarod wasn't even there anymore.
Jarod watched the ball player leave and then shook his head. "Weird." Then suddenly remembering that he still had another class to catch, Jarod said, "Oh pomegranate!" and ran out of the room, definitely not wanting to be late to his next class as well.
Chapter 2
Over the next several periods Jarod slowly came to a conclusion. His new school sucked just as bad as his old ones. The classes were the usual boring stuff, taught in the usual boring way and with none of the other kids bothering to talk to him except for the occasional "Hi." All the typical cliques were around where they'd only hang around with others inside their own groups. And unfortunately Jarod knew very well that he was part of a group as well. A group of one. The new kids, of which there were no others. Of course none of this surprised Jarod in the least. He'd seen it before and knew that he'd see it again. After all, some things never changed.
As history was getting over, Jarod kept glancing up at the clock, seeing that it was almost time for lunch and remembering what Sean had told him earlier. He glanced around the classroom, seeing other football players in the class, but none of them really paid him attention except when they tried to "educate" him on the local hierarchy and just where he stood in it. Jarod shuddered at the memory, even if it hadn't gone very far.
And when he'd run into Sean earlier on in another of his classes, Sean showed no sign of interest, ignoring Jarod just like everyone else was. That only made Jarod wonder even more about what was going on. Had Sean be serious earlier? Was it some sort of joke? Jarod didn't know but as the bell rang, signifying the end of class and the beginning of lunch, he knew that he had to find out.
When Jarod got to the front of the gym where Sean had said to meet him, he looked around nervously, half expecting some sort of ambush. Fortunately though there was no sign of any trouble and Jarod began to relax though only a little. After five minutes of waiting Jarod glanced down at his watch and frowned. "Damn," he grumbled, almost becoming sure that he'd been the butt of some joke or that Sean had just decided to forget about the whole thing. "I knew I shouldn't have bothered."
Just then Sean came strolling into sight, a cocky grin on his face though his eyes darted around warily. "How's it going?" Sean asked quietly as soon as he was next to Jarod.
After assuring Sean that he was fine, Jarod watched him cautiously, a little relieved that Sean had shown after all, but wondering what this was all about. "So," Jarod finally breached the subject, "why exactly am I here anyway?"
"Follow me," Sean said with an enigmatic smile as he started across the gym. Jarod shrugged and then hurried right behind him, growing even more curious about what was going on. When they got to a door in the back of the gym and went into a large storage room, Jarod started to get even more apprehensive. Whatever Sean wanted it was beginning to get pretty weird. In fact Jarod nearly called an end to it right there and would have turned around if it hadn't been for the burning curiosity about what Sean really wanted. "Right through here," Sean directed, lifting a tarp hanging on the wall to the side and revealing another door behind it.
Jarod frowned even more and muttered, "Spooky." In the back of his mind he could just imagine being locked up where no one would find him as some sort of initiation prank, though he gulped at nastier ideas of what might await him. "Chicken pomegranate," Jarod told himself silently, feeling afraid but refusing to admit it.
Without another word Jarod went through the new door behind Sean and started up the small dark staircase that was revealed. But even as Jarod went up the slightly lit stairs, he noticed that there wasn't any dust on the hand rail. Obviously these stairs weren't as unused as he would have guessed. When they finally arrived at the top of the stairs Sean stepped through an open door frame and Jarod hesitated only a moment before going through as well.
"We're here," Sean announced proudly.
Stepping through the door, Jarod's eyes widened as he glanced around, taking everything in at once and realizing that the Sean's last comment probably wasn't directed to him. The room itself was less than half the size of any of the class rooms and was lit from several small and darkened windows as well as several dangling light bulbs. However as small as the room would have been normally, it was made smaller by the fact that it was filled with assorted odds and ends, mostly seeming to be props from various plays. Jarod immediately realized that this was probably an old storage room for the drama classes or something, though he also had a feeling that it hadn't really been used for that purpose in awhile. However what really drew Jarod's attention the most was the fact that he and Sean weren't the only ones in there. Over half a dozen other students were sitting around the room on couches and chairs, all watching Jarod with a slightly predatory gleam in their eyes.
"Glad you could make it," one goth girl said almost sarcastically, though she did smile a little nicer. The nice smile didn't exactly go with the rest of the image she portrayed, having black hair with purple highlights, a nose ring and heavy eye shadow, not to mention the odd dark clothes. Jarod gulped, recognizing her from one of his earlier classes though he didn't know her name.
Then a skinny looking boy with glasses who appeared to be a nerd said, "Welcome to our club.
Chapter 3
Jarod looked around nervously, surprised at the variety of other kids in the room. He quickly shot a glance at Sean who was grinning broadly then looked at the others. There seemed to be a representative from almost all the typical major cliques. Sean from the jocks, the nerd and goth girl whom he'd already noticed and others.
There was one gorgeous blonde girl that he recognized as a cheerleader though she wasn't wearing a uniform at the moment. Jarod remembered someone else pointing her out to him that morning. There was another girl who had long reddish blonde hair. From the heavy makeup and the skimpy way she was dressed, especially the mini skirt, Jarod tagged her immediately as a probable slut. Sitting next to each other on the couch was a boy that was dressed in a nice shirt with a tie, and a very attractive girl who was wearing what appeared to be a very expensive looking dress. Both of them looked like they had to be rich. Probably spoiled snobs Jarod decided. That kind usually seemed to be. And finally there was a long haired scruffy looking boy with sloppy loose clothes who sported a goatee and seemed to need a shave as well. That boy was leaning up against the wall, watching the others silently.
When Jarod was finished identifying the others in the room, he looked back at Sean and frowned, his curiosity peaked even more than before. What in the world could get people who were so different together, and more importantly, why had Sean brought Jarod up there?
"Have a seat," Sean told Jarod, gesturing to an empty space on the couch then he continued, "and then we'll explain what's going on."
"You'll explain, you mean," the preppy girl said almost smugly. "You brought him in." Sean nodded agreement, looking slightly embarrassed.
Gulping uncomfortably, Jarod sat down and tried not to let them see how nervous he was. Or how curious. It wouldn't pay to show them any signs of weakness, especially not on his first day there. "So what the hell is going on?" Jarod asked, trying to sound confident and take the upper hand to some degree.
Sean coughed slightly, looking almost embarrassed. Then a little more confidently he gestured at the boy with the glasses, the nerd. "This here is Eddie Hutchinson"
"I'm really pleased to meet you," Eddie said, holding out his hand and grinning in a slightly goofy manner. Jarod didn't let any of his emotions show as he shook the boy's clammy hand.
"Mandy Layton." Sean gave a nod towards the cheerleader. Mandy said high and stood up long enough to shake hands with Jarod. As he did so, he gulped at the way she was smiling at him, forcing himself not to look down at her breasts. God she looked hot, and best of all, she was being nice to him. He wondered for a brief moment if maybe she had the hots for him though he quickly turned his attention back to Sean.
"The girl in the dress is Mercedes Kelly." Sean gestured to her.
"Hello," Mercedes said calmly, though in a way that immediately made Jarod wonder if she was always so....snobby.
Then Sean went on to introduce the rich looking boy next to Mercedes as Alexander Richmond, the girl dressed like a hooker as Lorna Shaeffer, and the boy with the goatee as Mark Zappowitz.
"Just call him Zappy," the goth girl said with an odd looking smirk. The others chuckled slightly and Zappy gave a half bow.
"All right," Jarod said, frowning still as he looked the others over. Then deciding that they didn't seem to be any kind of a threat to him, Jarod allowed himself to relax a little bit and smiled.
The goth girl smirked, giving Jarod an odd look as she said, "I'm Cindy Newport." Then to Jarod's confusion, she added, "For now."
"Now that that's finished," Sean said quietly, "I can tell you about what's going on." Jarod's ears were wide open and he focused all of his attention on what Sean was saying. "All of us..." Sean swept his arm around the room, "and a couple others who couldn't make it form a sort of....club." Sean smiled at Jarod. "A very unusual club you could say."
Jarod nodded thoughtfully. "And you want me to join this club?"
Sean seemed almost surprised by Jarod's answer. "Yep," he finally answered. "Normally we're pretty strict on our membership as well as...." Sean glanced around at the others.
"Secretive," Mercedes supplied. Then she gave Jarod a cold hard stare that made him gulp from the intensity. "We do not want people to know about us. Is that understood?"
Then Sean interrupted, "Please don't scare him." Turning back to Jarod he added, "As soon as I'm finished you'll see why we don't want anyone who's not a member to know. Will you please promise not to say anything to anyone about what we tell you?"
Jarod nodded agreement skeptically, though he wasn't about to promise anything until he at least knew what the hell was going on. "Go ahead."
Obviously noticing the skeptical look on Jarod's face, Sean said, "I know you won't believe what I'm going to tell you at first, but please be patient and listen anyway." Once again Sean paused, coughing for a moment before continuing. "Eddie, bring it out."
With that, Eddie moved to the corner and lifted a thick blanket off of a pile of stuff covering a table. As soon as the blanket was pulled away, Jarod gasped in surprise. Sitting on the table was what looked almost like a crystal ball, except that it was glowing with a strange yellowish light. Gulping, Jarod tried to cover up his surprise. "Cool trick."
"No trick," Alexander said quietly.
Mandy giggled slightly. "That is like, totally awesome." Jarod noticed that the others nodded their agreement.
Then Sean continued, "I know how this sounds, but most of us aren't in our real bodies. This thing lets anyone who touches it trade bodies with anyone else touching it." Then with an odd mischievious grin, Sean said, "I was originally Eddie."
"Zappy," Cindy said, winking at Jarod.
Jarod snorted in disgust. "You really expect me to believe that garbage?" He glared at the people around him, wondering just what kind of sicko's he'd gotten caught up with. Their eyes narrowed at his outburst, though none of them said anything. But Jarod could tell from their expressions that they were amused and annoyed at the same time.
"No garbage," Lorna said quietly, standing up and gently straightening out her mini skirt. "It's true. I didn't believe a word of it either when I was brought in six months ago, but now...." She gave Jarod a nice smile.
Eddie nodded and said, "We don't really know what it is, and we've definitely tried figuring it out. In fact we are not even certain if it's magic or some sort of advanced science. My personally theory is alien origin." Eddie adjusted his glasses at this point. "Approximately 8 years ago someone found it, though we don't really know where or how. Only that after discovering its abilities he got together with a few friends who were curious about each other's lives, and well they sort of formed the club. Ever since then it's grown, but not by too much. We don't ever get more than a dozen at a time."
Jarod stared at Eddie, knowing that the boy must be absolutely insane.... all of them had to be, but something about his eyes seemed to suggest otherwise. Then they went on, describing how they all used the strange sphere to trade places with each other occasionally and see what life was like for other people.
"We don't absolutely have to swap or anything," Mandy said cheerfully, "but we do have a couple rules. Like swapping for one day a week at least. And..." Mandy looked thoughtful, "Oh yeah. When we trade places we have to act just like the other person and stuff."
Jarod shook his head in surprised disbelief. The fact that they all seemed so sincere left him feeling somewhat confused.
Sean let out a sigh. "I can tell that you don't believe us." Then Sean grinned, looking almost cocky again. "But we can prove it. Whisper a password to me will you? Don't let anyone else hear." Jarod looked at him skeptically but decided that he might as well play along. After all, even if they were all insane it was certainly interesting. Then with a shrug Jarod carefully whispered the password in Sean's ear. "Now for a volunteer."
Without a word several of the others started to stand, though after a moment they all sat back down except for Lorna. She nodded faintly at Sean and then they both went over and stood next to the glowing sphere. "See," Sean said, "all we have to do is touch it." And with that both Sean and Lorna put their hands out and onto the sphere at the same time.
The sphere started glowing just a little more and for a faint second later Jarod was shocked to see both the jock and the slut glowing as well. Almost immediately though the glow went away from them though that didn't make Jarod's disbelief grow any weaker. "Wow," he whispered, even more impressed with their trick. It had actually looked as if Sean and that Lorna girl really were glowing.
Then, even more to Jarod's surprise, Lorna grinned at Jarod, making his pulse pound faster from the pure sexiness in it, and confidently said, "Lima beans and a liver milkshake." The very words that Jarod had whispered to Sean.
For a long moment all Jarod could do was stare at her in disbelief. "It's a trick," he gasped, "it has to be." But now Jarod wasn't quite so sure any more. They all seemed so sincere and confident. And the looks in their eyes.... The predatory gleam had returned.
"Now do you believe us?" Lorna asked in a sexy voice.
All Jarod could do was stare at her, embarrassed and flustered. He wasn't sure that he believed it, he couldn't. It just wasn't real. It had to be some sort of trick. But somehow Jarod knew that it wasn't. "Yes," Jarod finally whispered, staring down at his feet for a moment, knowing that he was blushing bright enough to replace Rudolph at the front of Santa's sleigh. And God, he couldn't help thinking that this sexy girl had been a guy just moments before. "I think I need to sit down."
Several minutes later Jarod finally calmed down and sat up a little straighter from his seat on the couch. He glanced at Sean and then Lorna, or at least their bodies. "So Sean..." Jarod said to the sexy girl in the mini skirt.
"Call me Lorna," she said sweetly, crossing her legs and winking suggestively at Jarod. "We always use the names of our current bodies."
"What...? How...?" Then taking a deep breath, Jarod asked, "Why me?"
"Why not?" Zappy answered from across the room.
Sean....Lorna gave him a look of annoyance. "Because..." She paused for a moment thoughtfully, then continued, "Because we've pretty much all known each other for most of our lives. We've all grown up in this town. The reason that we all got into the club in the first place was to experience new things, see things from other peoples’ points of view. It's fantastic. More fun...more exciting than you could possibly imagine. And one thing that none of us has ever really experienced, is being the new kid."
"What?" Jarod gasped, hardly able to believe it. They wanted to be him?
Lorna continued. "Yeah, we all wanted to see what it was like to be new to the school and not have anyone know us. That's why we rushed to get you in here today. Normally everyone has to agree to bring in a new member, but I knew that if we didn't hurry then before long it would be pointless anyway."
"What do you say?" Mercedes asked, sounding friendlier this time. "This way you can walk around and see what people are like without being treated as the new kid. Everyone will treat you like they've known you for years, and whoever is in your body can help you make new friends." Then Mercedes smiled with a twinkle in her eye. "Besides, haven't you ever been curious about what it's like to be someone else? Well this is your big chance to find out."
"Wow," was all that Jarod could say. He gulped, looking around the room at all the expectant faces. Did he really want to try this? To actually become someone else? But then almost in spite of himself, Jarod found his curiosity becoming aroused. What would it be like to be the star football player? Or the popular rich kid in school?