Jen took the die, but I was staring off into space. The more I tried to think of Bobbi, the more I thought about Avi, and, too late to stop the damage, I realized that it was having an effect on me.
I didn't hear the die hit the table. I didn't hear the girls reading the new command. I wanted something. I wanted to wrap my arms around Avi's hard shoulders. I wanted to nestle my head in the crook of his neck. I wanted to feel his body press against mine. I didn't realize it, but my heart rate was going up. My face was going flush. Then, slowly, I started noticing a sort of... a sort of itch down below. To my horror, I realized I wanted something down there, but before the idea could process I was jerked out of my thoughts by Jen's voice.
"-- I choose Jesse."
My head jerked up, and like a boomerang, my mind started processing the rest of the sentence I'd heard, but not listened to: "I don't want to switch with Bobbi because that's too close to a boy's name, no offense, so I choose Jesse."
I had just enough time to gasp before logic started to crash in my head. what does she mean, she chooses Jesse? She's Jesse! I looked around the table, confused for a moment, and Jesse seemed to have the same kind of look, but then everything cleared up. We switched names. I was now Jennifer Katherine Kline, and the girl across the table from me was now Jesse... Jesse something. Well, I had just met her, I shouldn't be expected to know her full name. But it had been my name just a moment ago. I could feel a headache coming on, which was only hastened when Jesse shrieked "Oh my God! I got a boy's name anyway!"
Fortunately, before anyone could ask what she meant, Bobbi said "Look, the dome has a new message on it!"
