"Time for dinner," Ash heard her dad call from the kitchen. She reluctantly closed her computer—she'd been watching her friend Brianna stream for the first time. The stream was enjoyable, but the chat commenters had been in her head all evening. She thought back to when she was at the mall. It felt like that sort of situation, but on a stream.
Ash's two brothers were out at some event and wouldn't need to be picked up until later. Her mother, Gareth, was an unusually athletic executive for a large general contracting firm (no wonder she was athletic), and her father Matheena was a secretary at a construction company. Ash walked out to the dinner table where three Chipotle burrito bowls were sitting out. Once everyone sat down, Gareth broached the topic of the day.
"We heard about the suspension, obviously," she explained. "Principal Randall explained that everyone thought the punishment was fair. Did you get the information about the anger management programs?"
"Yeah, I did," Ash stated glumly.
"This weekend, Dad and I will take a look and we'll select one. Obviously, this is something we have to work on before you go off to college."
"I understand that. I've had a week."
"I know, and it can be a bit humiliating. Women like us can be territorial, and in this case you were pushed out and they pushed your buttons."
Matthena took a bite. "I'm sure Jade feels bad about this too. Did you get any homework to do?"
"I did my math but I didn't do much else," Ash replied in between forkfuls of meat. She'd spent most of her time playing games and then watching Brianna stream, so while she did do her math homework, there was still work from other classes to catch up on, plus whatever needed to be done on Thursday and Friday. "How was work, Mom?"
"Complicated. Our regional expansion project requires managing a lot of people, and it's just a mess trying to coordinate everyone. Looking forward to relaxing and watching some hockey tonight." Ugh, don't get me started.
By the time Ash got back to watching Brianna's stream, it had ballooned to 1,500 viewers, putting it in the top 100 live channels on Twitch. How the heck? Ash thought to herself. Everything looked normal.
Then she took a close look at the chat.
I've never seen a boy with curves like that.
this is some twilight zone stuff
Weirdest stream I've seen in a hot minute, no wonder it's going viral.
Who's Cloudia?
Boys with makeup? What's next, girls with beards?
Suddenly, it all clicked in her head. She thought about what she did a week ago at the mall. Are people from the outside world seeing this? Unaffected by things?
"What's a beard?" Bri asked the stream in puzzlement.
Ash hurriedly typed something in chat. Hey Bri, I'm back, it appeared next to her user name, VolcanicAsh34.
"Oh hey Ash, welcome back," Brianna chirped. He also noticed Ash had sent her a whisper.
Mod me in chat and then call me when you're done streaming.
Sure, what's up?
You'll want your full attention on talking to me. I might be able to explain all this.
Bri looked back up at the camera, and feeling worn out with chat moving faster and surging toward 2,000 viewers, he decided to take Ash up on the offer. "You know what, I think I'm gonna stop it here for the night, but I'm definitely gonna establish a stream schedule and pick back up tomorrow night, so look forward to me streaming then! Things might shift around a bit as I start, but it's all good. Night everybody!"
Before the BRB screen came down and the stream came to an end, however, RiotterGrrl sent one more message.
Why didn't I figure out sooner that you're one of the Valley Lake boys...
Within a few minutes, Bri's cell phone rang. "Hey Ash?"
"Hey Brianna, seems like stream was a success!"
"A little too much of one. How does a first-time variety streamer pull 2K and 120 subs? Has that ever happened?"
"Well, Bri, I have to start explaining chat to tell you what's going on."
"Gosh, that was so weird... I dunno if it was just me being the streamer too, but that was one weird chat tonight."
"I can't say I've seen anything like it, but you might soon understand. Here, let me explain. Someone made a wish, and the effects of it are spreading."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, outside of whatever world we're in now, and I don't think you'd know... Boys are like girls and girls are like boys."
"What!?" Bri's eyes went wide.
"Yeah. And culture is all upside-down as a result. You know how I'm a football player, too?"
"Right?"
"I wasn't before that wish. Because girls used to be like boys are now and vice versa. The boys were stronger. I wouldn't have had anything to do with playing football."
"So what? How does that explain?"
"Well, if you're from outside these changes, a boy named Brianna would be like naming a girl Ashley instead of Ash is to us."
"Yeah, I remember some strange remarks. People confusing me for a girl."
"Well, if you're in Dallas or Berlin and not Valley Lake, you would be mistaken for a girl. You have breasts, you're short, and you have long hair. About the only thing that didn't change in all this mess is...well, what's between our legs."
"The strangest thing someone told me was about something called a beard?" Bri hesitated, pronouncing the unfamiliar word like "bear" with a D at the end.
"A beard?" Ash replied, with the correct pronunciation. "You see, before the wish, men used to grow hair on their face. I might have to draw a picture to illustrate because there's no equivalent to that here for us women."
"So why did all this go viral?"
"Because nobody could piece it together. The Final Fantasy VII you were playing is probably very different from the one before these changes. I mean, before this wish, Seattle didn't even have a hockey team, so it's not impossible to imagine. I have to ask... Did anyone in chat change names at all?"
"A few, why?"
"Oh dear..." It hit Ash like another ton of bricks. "Brianna, that stream changed people clear across the country. And it spreads."
