Nothing else, Jon noted, seemed to be different. The school day continued mostly as normal, and he would almost, were such a thing possible, have forgotten the fact of everybody having the same twenty-something female body. A very few people had on different clothes from what everyone else did, mostly teachers or Goths. At lunch he saw the very same mild flirting going on between couples, the same typical make-out sessions behind the bleachers, same pock-marked young men with sexy virile bodies playing chess in the math building.
Then during his fifth period an announcement was made over the intercom: "All senior year students please exit the building and meet at the nearest medical facility for the next stage of the community-wide study. Over the next few days all citizens will be called by group to the nearest medical facility; a friendly reminder that citizens fitting into multiple groups need only attend once and that attendance is required for all citizens or the study will be aborted as-is. Thank you!"
The majority of Jon's class got up, and he sat there looking at them leave, wondering what to do; he wasn't part of the study, but what if they made him go? What was going to happen? His teacher's voice intruded upon his train of thought. "Mr. Madison, you are a senior, are you not? Follow your class."
"But..." he began, turning to Mr. Wilkes. The beak-nosed old man only narrowed his eyes.
"No buts, young man. I won't have you jeopardizing this for all of us, now move."
Jon stood up, leaving his backpack, and followed his class out. The clinic was a few miles away but thankfully several buses were waiting outside; he followed his class into one of them and sat down next to Jay Duncan, in the only open seat. "Do you know what the next stage is?" he asked, turning to Duncan.
The boy grinned. "Yeah, actually. My aunt already went through it. It's..."
