Jon started to follow Kyla, but stopped when he watched Jay Duncan walking towards her. Wait a minute. That wasn't Jay. It was another nerd. Jon couldn't see who it was from the back, but whoever it was appeared to be discussing something with Kyla, though he couldn't hear exactly what. Then they began to raise their voices, arguing.
"I can't believe you!" the nerd said, sounding angry. "You can't even consider the idea that we're both different?"
Different? Jon thought. What did he mean by that?
Kyla scoffed at the nerd and started walking away in Jon's direction, giving him a much better chance to hear what they were saying, when they weren't yelling.
"It was just a stupid dream," Kyla said. "I'm not some loser like you. I'm Kyla Leeson. The most popular goddamn girl in school."
"But you're not supposed to be," the boy argued, catching up with her.
"I don't care. If that life is real, I don't want it. In this life, I'm popular and sexy, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. If what you say is true about yourself, you should understand that." Jon didn't understand what she meant by that, until she said a name that made it all clear. "Sarah McMillan," Kyla said, derisively.
Wait a minute, Jon thought. That nerdy boy is Sarah McMillan? Okay, this got a whole lot more interesting.
Shawn just stood there, watching Kyla walk away, walking the way he used to walk, back when he was Sarah McMillan.
Unlike Kyla, he had an open mind about these sorts of things. At first, he didn't want to believe it either, but his analytical mind put all the pieces together and came up with a picture that made logical sense. That cloud was at the mall and he was at the mall, as were Buffy, Kyla, and Jay. It was at least possible that they were all affected by the cloud, changed in some way. The three girls who turned into boys didn't know that they were supposed to be girls. Their memories were changed, so perhaps the memories of himself and the others were changed as well. He didn't like the idea of having his memories changed, but he was intrigued by it, being a nerd. Well, a nerd in this reality. That dream he had the previous night helped make the picture complete. Apparently, his original memories weren't completely gone. They were just buried deep within his subconscious. The average person used only a tenth of their mind. Perhaps these memories were stored somewhere within the other ninety percent and could only be accessed through dreams. It was a fascinating idea. He should write a paper about it. Funny, as Sarah, he wouldn't care about any of this. But he couldn't help who he was. He remembered the dream vividly and every now and then he recollected something that wasn't in the dream, but associated with the dream. It was strange seeing something through the eyes of a girl, especially when you've been a guy all your life. At least, as far as you know. He shook his head, disappointed that Kyla couldn't at least consider what was most likely happening. But she was right. Shawn used to be a girl named Sarah McMillan who was just like Kyla - sexy and popular. She reacted the same way that Sarah would.
But since becoming a boy, Shawn realized that he was nothing like Sarah McMillan. In fact, he seemed to be like another boy who he remembered from his dream - Jay Duncan. It was hard to wrap his mind around that one. That Jay Duncan, jock and bully, was just like him only one day ago. But if Jay was a nerd, like his dream suggested, then maybe Shawn to get through to him, tell him who he's supposed to be. Because if they lost themselves in this new life, without remembering who they were supposed to be, then The Cloud would have one.
