Jon’s pulse hadn’t settled since the world tilted.
Karyn’s new body moved like it had always known how to command attention, hips swaying with lazy confidence as she hooked her arm through his and tugged him toward the main entrance. Every few steps her breast brushed his bicep, soft and warm through the thin crop top, and each accidental contact sent a fresh jolt straight to his groin. She was chattering about something, some weekend party Steve Farber was throwing, how Biff had already wrecked the pool table, but Jon barely heard her. His mind kept looping back to the impossible sentence glowing on his phone screen.
Reality rewrite commencing.
And now she was calling him babe. Pressing against him like it was habit. Smiling with lips that looked made for sin.
They reached the double doors. Karyn rose on tiptoe, planted a quick, glossy kiss on the corner of his mouth, casual, possessive, and murmured, “Meet me at lunch? Back stairwell. I’ve got… ideas.”
Before he could answer she was gone, hips rolling down the crowded hallway, leaving a wake of turned heads and whispered comments.
Jon stood frozen for three full seconds, lips tingling.
Then he ducked into the nearest boys’ bathroom, locked himself in the farthest stall, and yanked his phone out with shaking fingers.
The timer read:
11:47:19
Still ticking.
The Previous Changes list now had two entries:
-
Automatic adjustment: Karyn Black's body and personality optimized for maximum sexual appeal and attraction toward app owner. Libido increased. Social dynamic shifted to intimate/possessive girlfriend relationship. Physical proportions enhanced for exaggerated femininity and erotic impact.
-
(blank line beneath it, waiting)
His thumb hovered over the text box.
He should be terrified. He was terrified.
But beneath the terror was something hotter, hungrier. Curiosity. Power. The kind of dark thrill that makes people do stupid things.
He typed slowly, testing.
My math homework for today is already finished and perfect.
He stared at the sentence. It felt safe. Small. Something he could undo later if he had to. Something that wouldn’t ruin his life in the next five minutes.
He pressed ENTER.
The screen flashed white for half a second.
A new notification banner dropped down in red:
Change registered.
Insufficient scope. Minor personal convenience. Boring.
Penalty applied: -5 hours
Be more adventurous next time, Jon. We both know you can do better.
The timer jerked violently.
11:47:19 → 06:47:19
Six hours and forty-seven minutes.
Jon’s stomach dropped through the floor.
He hadn’t even felt the change happen, no ripple, no lurch. But when he pulled his backpack around and unzipped the front pocket, there it was: the crisp, stapled worksheet for Advanced Algebra, every problem solved in his own messy handwriting, red pen corrections from Mr. Hensley already scrawled in the margin with a fat “100% – Excellent work, Jon!”
It had always been finished. No one would ever remember him staying up until two a.m. cursing at quadratic equations.
And the app had just slapped him for it.
He leaned his forehead against the cool metal of the stall door and let out a shaky breath.
“Okay,” he whispered to himself. “Okay. Message received.”
He opened the app again. The text box waited, patient and predatory.
Six hours wasn’t forever. Six hours was nothing if he kept making timid little tweaks like that. And if the timer hit zero again…
He didn’t want to think about what the app would do next if left to its own devices.
The bell rang, first period in four minutes.
Jon shoved the phone back into his pocket, splashed cold water on his face, and stepped into the hallway.
The corridor was a riot of motion: lockers slamming, laughter, someone yelling about a missing vape. Sarah McMillan strode past with her usual royal entourage, Melissa and Tiffany flanking her like bodyguards, Amber trailing a half-step behind looking faintly apologetic. Sarah’s eyes slid over Jon without recognition, the way they always did. Nothing about her had changed.
Yet.
He thought of Karyn waiting for him at lunch. Thought of the crop top. The lips. The way she’d called him babe like it was a crown she’d placed on his head herself.
He thought of the six hours and forty-seven minutes still ticking down.
And beneath the fear, bright and sharp and undeniable, he felt the first real flicker of hunger.
Not just for Karyn.
For more.
He headed toward first period with his heart hammering against the inside of his ribs, the weight of the phone in his pocket suddenly feeling like the most dangerous and most delicious thing he’d ever carried.
The app wanted adventure.
He was starting to think he might give it some.
