"Today, we're going to return to our discussion on being safe around alcohol and pick up where we left off in chapter 5," Mr. Colby began. "Now, I know some of you may be drinking. But there are things you need to know to protect yourself." Students began frantically turning to the pages where they left off, Jon, Nicole and Karyn among them.
"One problem to be aware of, and especially for you boys out there, is to make sure your drinks aren't...adultered. From time to time, it happens. You hear stories of unscrupulous ladies slipping pills into guy's drinks, then they black out and wake up hours later. Weeks later, they learn they're pregnant. You can't be them, and that's why you should always keep an eye out once you're of age when you go to a bar." That's kind of a condescending tone, Jon thought.
"Another, and this applies to all of us, is drunk driving. The consequences can be real serious. We're going to spend most of today watching a video on the dangers, and the deadly aftermath, of drunk driving." A minute later, the lights were dim and the class was starting to settle in to watch another kind of old, kind of dry instructional video, the sort that one day must have been on VHS.
At the beginning, a man with big, frizzy 80s hair spoke tearfully before a camera. "My daughter was taken from me at the age of 18 by a drunk driver one night," he began, his voice cracking with emotion. "Fathers Against Drunk Driving sponsored this video in hopes that there are fewer of us, dads torn from our kids by the dangers of alcohol and drugs."
The organization's name startled Nicole. Fathers? I thought it was Mothers. This wish really has gone quite deep, she thought to herself as the narrator went on over stock footage that had to have come from the early 90s. Guys with big hair in square power suits, girls in baggy, teal-colored sweaters.
As she thought about this, she heard a whisper on her right. "Nic?" It was the girl sitting next to her, whom she did not recognize but yet she obviously recognized her.
"Yeah?"
"Jon is...so cute! Could you give him my number?"
"Uhh...sure..." The girl, who looked fairly tall and athletic with slightly darker skin, ripped off a piece of paper and handed a note with her phone number on it.
"Give that to him." She took the paper and put it in her pocket, thinking about how none of the boys probably had pockets in their clothes the way this world was turning out. As the video continued, she felt kind of queasy but chalked it up to all the nervousness she was feeling and the dramatic changes she had witnessed.
At the end of the movie, the lights came up, and Mr. Colby, seemingly a little more airheaded than before, spoke up. "Like...I forgot to take roll today, so let's do that now. He hastily grabbed a piece of paper, then switched it for another one and went back up to the front of class and began reading roll. "Alex Ames? ... Karyn Black? ... Steph Branson? ... Jackie Carson?" Jon was noticing the names seemed a bit different, but couldn't quite pin it down. "Jade Duncan?" Am I hearing things? "Nicole Forsyth?" "Gabby Fowler?"
As the Gs came up, Jon was not suspecting that much change. Then Mr. Colby read out:
"Jonatha Gibson?—oh there you are."
It took a second for him to hesitantly say "here", even as the teacher moved on. "Sam Gomez?" Nicole noticed it was the girl she had been talking to. She must be one of my friends or something.
Jon, meanwhile, was getting used to the name. Joe-NAE-tha? It sounded like someone had put Jonathan, Nathan and Samantha in a blender. Maybe that was the point, anyway. As he looked on the board, he saw his name had changed on it, too, confusing him. "Keila Matthews?" Someone who looked like an altered version of Mike "The Moose" Matthews spoke up. Guys seemed to just have different names now, even if girls were only slightly more unisex.
Mr. Colby slowed down as time went on, and he couldn't complete the list before the bell rang. Fourth period. Math class. It was time to see what awaited him there.
