The rest of that evening was spent talking with Katie and Rebecca.
The next day, Jim got out of his fourth period class a few minutes early, by asking to go to the restroom (with Rick's help, as the teacher looked at the clock when he asked, and saw that half the period was left). Rick gave him a minute to get to a private spot, then changed him to Kim.
Fortunately, Rick didn't get too outre this time with the outfit. It was still pretty showy, but not so much that it would make people think he was "working".
The timing worked out well, as Jim made it to Rebecca's classroom just as her class was letting out. When Rebecca got to the door with one of her friends, he said, "Hi, Rebecca."
She responded, "Hi, Kim. What's going on?"
"I just thought we could talk until your next class."
Looking at all the people around, Rebecca said, "That's going to be a while. You don't have anything until then?"
"I've got some time to kill," he answered her.
They walked outside, towards the gym. Once they were out the doors, and nobody else was around, Rebecca demanded, "What are you doing?! You know where I'm going; you can't go with me!"
"Actually, that was exactly my plan. Trust me. It'll be fine."
She argued for a bit, but finally assented, saying, "On your head be it. Why are you Kim, though?"
Enigmatically, he replied, "We'll find out soon, I think."
"You think? You don't know? This is crazy!"
"We'll see. I wanted to ask you about this weekend, though," Jim said. "Your birthday's Saturday, right?" At her nod, he continued, "So I was thinking we should do something together to celebrate it."
"Well, my mom's already planned a party for me. Oh! Rick isn't going to be around, so maybe you could come as Kim; if you don't mind being a girl all day. Several of the girls were going to be spending the night, though I don't think you could join us for that..." She looked up. "Ah, we're here."
She opened the door, and stepped under the tape across the door. Jim followed her in to a room the size of a small classroom, but which looked like it belonged in a construction site. "Is this it," he asked. "Or is there a hidden doorway going inward or onward?"
A male voice answered, "Please close the door behind you, Miss Bennet. Or would you prefer Mr Bennet? Once we finish talking, you may not."
"What are you talking about?" Looking about, he noticed that, now that the door was closed, the room just looked like an ordinary classroom with only a few chairs.
A man of medium height and build appeared on the other side of the room. He was wearing a plain, brown, tweed suit, but it was hard to say much more about him. Despite plenty of light in the room, his entire head remained shrouded in shadow. "In answer to your question," he said, "Allow me a demonstration."
The man gestured, and the the lights suddenly went out. He muttered, and a faint aura appeared around the man. A few seconds later, a similarly bright aura appeared around Rebecca. A few seconds after that, and Jim started to glow, as well.
Jim's glow, however, brightened quickly until it appeared a floodlight was illuminating him. The other man finally continued, "This is your magical aura. As you might imagine, the brightness has to do with your strength."
"But," Jim protested, "I can't do anything."
"Not now," the man agreed, "But we would like to teach you. You, Jim, or Kim, I should say, have the brightest aura I have ever seen. And not by a small amount. That's already quite intriguing, and the main reason you were asked here. However, observe..."
The man gestured again, and Kim returned to being Jim. At the same time, the bright light went out completely. "What happened," Jim asked.
"This is why we didn't tap you for these classes as a freshman. There's nothing there. You're as mundane as they come." The man turned to Rebecca, and said, "Change your form, Rebecca. To whatever you like."
She glanced at Jim, and changed to her Beth form.
The man turned back to Jim, saying, "See, her aura is completely unaffected by her form. Thank you, dear. Now, we have no idea what makes you light up like the sun in that form. That's the second reason we were hoping you would come."
