Role Reversal - 1. Chapter 1 - Role Reversal

J.J. Johnson and his buddies met up again, just outside of the locker room door on their way to P.E. class. None of them were actually required to take P.E., since they were all playing a sport this season, but they opted to do it anyway, so they could spend the time lifting weights. Being on the football team they were allowed this option, rather than having to participate in the regular class activities.

As they entered the locker room, J.J. spotted one of the other boys in the class. The kid had just finished changing into his gym clothes.

“Fairy Barry, how they hanging?” J.J. teased.

Barry appeared very jittery, as he attempted to ignore this comment and make his way past the group, so he could meet up with the rest of his class in the gym. J.J. and his friends let him go, for now, and they quickly changed their clothes and walked into the weight room.

The other three boys went right to the heavy weights, since they were all trying to bulk up. Two of them were offensive/defensive linemen on the football team, while the third was a running back/linebacker. They all wanted additional bulk to help improve their play, but that wasn’t the type of training that would benefit J.J.

J.J. played quarterback/safety, so he didn’t want, or need, big muscles. He just worked on doing a lot of reps with lighter weights to give his arms the extra strength to make the long, accurate passes when he quarterbacked. He also did a bunch of leg presses to increase his ability to hold his ground when making tackles at safety.

Actually, the same routines also worked well to get him ready for the other two sports he played, since he was the point guard on the basketball squad and a pitcher/ shortstop on the baseball team. The type of strength training he was doing increased his vertical leaping ability, plus it helped him make longer 3-point jump shots and crisper passes on the basketball court. The arm and leg strength also helped him throw harder when pitching for the baseball team, increased his stamina and range when playing shortstop and made it easier for him to make the strong, and sometimes off-balanced, tosses to first.

Seeing the period was nearing an end, the four of them finished up in the weight room went back to the locker room, so they could shower and change. They had just finished up in the showers and wrapped their towels around their waists when the other group returned from class and entered the locker area.

“There’s my old friend fairy Barry again,” J.J. said when he saw Barry approaching. “I’m going to do you a favor. Since we all know how much you like things up your ass, I’m going to give you something you’ll really enjoy.”

Although Barry was afraid he might try something else, J.J. merely grabbed the back of Barry’s gym shorts, pulled out the waistband and yanked on his underwear. J.J. tugged on Barry’s briefs so hard that they rode up his ass crack, somewhat painfully, and he pulled them as high as he could, in his attempt to really wedge the item in Barry’s butt. He wanted to make this as uncomfortable as he could for Barry, but his fun ended when the elastic waistband actually ripped away from the rest of the fabric.

“Oh, sorry about that Barry, but I’m sure you enjoyed it up until your tighty whities started coming apart,” J.J. apologized, unconvincingly.

J.J.’s friends all laughed, while enjoying Barry’s pain and embarrassment, and then they all went back to their lockers to put on their school clothes.

“Damn fags,” one of the linemen said, as they walked away from Barry.

“Fucking queers deserve everything they get,” the other responded, in agreement.

Yes, J.J. and his friends went out of their way to harass and humiliate any guys they thought acted gay. To them it was great sport, and as they liked to put it, “faggots are the very lowest creatures on earth and deserve to be terrorized until they either choose to be straight or die, whichever comes first.”

Barry wasn’t the only student who faced their wrath either. When the group came across one of the smaller gay guys, they would either trip him in the lunchroom, hoping he would drop his tray or fall face first in the food, or they would ‘accidentally’ bump into him in the corridor and knock the books and other things he was carrying to the floor. Whenever the situation presented itself, they even enjoyed stuffing one of them in a locker and it didn’t really matter if it was a hall or gym locker.

The gays who were closer to the same size as J.J. and his buddies would end up getting intimidated in additional ways. J.J. or one of the others would charge at one of these fags like they were going to hit him, and sometimes they did. Mostly, they just faked the attack, so the kid would end up cowering, crying or begging them not to pummel him. If they were really good at frightening their target, then they might even be able to get their victim to begin ‘screaming like a pussy.’ J.J. and his friends especially liked it whenever that happened.

The football players would also try to bait the gay guys by asking them if they’d like to see their dicks, give them a blowjob or have the jocks fuck them. There was nothing that was off limits to these guys, as long as it would embarrass their victim or get the other kids to laugh at the gay kid’s expense. They were merciless.

After lunch, J.J. ran into Barry again in the hallway, as they made their way to their next class. As soon as he spotted Barry, J.J. couldn’t resist another chance to humiliate the poor kid.

“Barry, tomorrow’s Halloween so I’ll bet you’re going to dress up as a drag queen. Am I right?” J.J. yelled out. “I’ll bet you’ll look really cute dressed in girls’ clothing, so I just want to know if we should call you Queen Barry, Queen Mary or have you chosen another name for your character?”

While the others in the hall were tittering over this question and the scene it was causing, Barry’s face just got a very bright shade of red and he quickened his pace. He not only wanted to get as far away from J.J. as he could, but he also wanted to do it as quickly as possible. He’d taken all he could stand for one day.

“Hey, maybe one of your boyfriends will bring you to the game Friday,” J.J. called after him, as Barry was walking away. “We can always use a few more cheerleaders.”

                            *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

J.J. woke up the following morning and made his way to the bathroom. It was a school day and he had to get ready to face another round of classes before football practice. Still a little groggy, he went into the bathroom and stepped up to the sink, so he could splash some water on his face and take a quick look to see if he needed to shave. When he glanced in the mirror, he gasped and turned around quickly, to see who else was in the bathroom with him.

Once he’d done this and realized he was alone, it left him confused. He didn’t understand what he had just seen, because there had been a strange face staring back at him in the mirror. Returning his gaze to the reflective surface again, J.J. observed the same image in front of him. This time, instead of turning around, he reached his hand out toward the mirror, figuring someone had taped a poster over it as a Halloween gag. Unfortunately, there was no poster there. Bewildered, he next reached his hand up to his face, to see if the reflection did the same thing. He felt maybe he was merely seeing a projection of some sort, but the reflection did exactly what he was doing.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asked himself, in a hoarse whisper. “Who the hell is that in the mirror?”

J.J. couldn’t explain what his senses were telling him, so he figured he’d hop in the shower instead of questioning it further. Maybe the warm water and steam would help to clear his head. As he went to remove his boxers, he had his next surprise.

“What the hell am I wearing?” he asked, as he looked at the pajama bottoms he had on. “I only wear my boxers at night and never anything like this.”

He quickly peeled off the pajama bottoms and threw them in the corner. Then he jumped into the shower.

“What the fuck happened to all my chest hair?” he mumbled next, as he looked down and started to lather up his body.

His chest was completely smooth and it shouldn’t be. Since he was a sophomore, he’d had a scattering of hairs between his nipples, which extended toward his navel. Not only that, but now he noticed that his pubic patch was gone too. It looked as if it had been shaved, along with his legs.

“What the fuck is going on today?” J.J. wondered. “Am I going crazy or what?”

J.J. finished showering, but the problem was that it only made matters worse for him and hadn’t helped like he’d hoped. After finishing up, he used his towel to wipe the steam off the mirror, only to discover he was staring at the same face again. The only difference was that this time the reflection’s hair was wet and there were water droplets on his face, shoulders and hairless chest.

Figuring this was all a bad dream of some sort, J.J. went to his room to dress. He looked in his dresser and closet to find something to wear, but quickly discovered the clothes he found there were not his. They were all gay looking and shit he’d never be caught dead in. Not only that, but there were no boxers in the dresser. Instead, it was filled with bikini and other types of briefs. Digging to the bottom, he found a couple pairs of boxer briefs, so he reluctantly put one of those on for now.

“What the fuck is going on?” he kept wondering. “Did I end up at the wrong house last night?”

After digging around for a while, J.J. finally found an old football jersey, which looked as if it came from a different era, and a pair of jeans to put on. He then hurriedly got dressed and headed downstairs.

“Good morning, honey,” his mother greeted him, as he walked into the kitchen. “What are you wearing? Oh, that’s right. It’s Halloween. I guess you’re trying to look like one of those macho football players today. How cute. Your father will get a kick out of seeing you wearing his old football jersey.”

“I AM a jock, not pretending to be one,” J.J. responded, somewhat angrily. “I’m the quarterback on the team.”

“Yes, of course you are, sweetie,” she laughed. “I’m sure your friends will love it. You only have time to grab a quick bowl of cereal though, so you’d better hurry if you intend on catching the bus.”

“Bus? I usually drive to school,” J.J. insisted.

“Trying to stay in character I see,” his mother teased. “You know we only let you have the car on special occasions and Halloween doesn’t count as one of them.”

“Mom, I take the car every day,” J.J. insisted, “so I can drive home from practice. That way you or Dad don’t have to come get me.”

“What practice is that, dear? I don’t remember you telling me about any practice,” she replied. “I’m sorry, but your dad left for work already and the only other car here is mine, and I need it today. If you’d told me about this earlier, I could have driven your father to his office and kept his car for the day, so you could have mine to complete your costume and drive home from whatever practice you have. Is it another play or are they finally starting a dance team?”

“What the hell is going on here?” J.J. asked, puzzled. “This is not my life.”

“Cute, but the bus will be here any minute, so you’d better run outside if you don’t want to end up walking to school today,” his mother suggested. “I’m going in the other direction, so I won’t be able to take you.”

J.J. didn’t understand what was going on, but if he had to ride the bus today, he would. He couldn’t afford to miss school if he wanted to play in the big game this Friday. However, when the bus stopped in front of his house and the door opened, J.J. climbed up the stairs and quickly got his next surprise.

“J.J. over here,” someone called to him.

It was Barry, the kid J.J. had given a wedgie to in the locker room and then harassed in the hall later. J.J. just gave him a weird look and sat in another seat.

“What’s wrong with you?” Barry asked. “Are your panties in a twist today? We always sit together, or is this just part of your Halloween costume? That’s it, isn’t it?”

J.J. didn’t answer and just gave Barry a strange, and somewhat threatening, glare. He would have done more, but this morning had him so flummoxed that he wasn’t even acting normally.

When the bus reached school, J.J. got off and quickly spotted his three friends. They were heading into the school just ahead of him, so he raced to catch up with them.

“Hi guys,” he greeted his buddies.

The three football players turned and glared at him.

“Why it’s gay Jay, or is it gay Jay-Jay?” one asked, sarcastically.

“Look, guys. He’s trying to pretend he’s one of us today,” another sneered. “He’s wearing a really old football jersey and attempting to look fairly normal. It must be killing him to not have on one of his gay outfits.”

“Yeah, like this get up will fool anyone,” the last guy chimed in.

“Now, get the fuck away from us before we have to beat your ass again,” the first guy added.

“Guys, it’s me. What the hell is going on today?” J.J. asked.

“Oh, isn’t that adorable,” the running back teased. “He’s even trying to sound like one of us. Scram fag, before we make you sorry you bothered us. We’re giving you a break here, since you’re dressed up like a football jock for Halloween.”

Confused, J.J. walked off. He was still puzzled about what was happening, but got distracted when he spotted one of the cheerleaders he’d been hitting on recently.

“Hi, Tiffany. Come on and I’ll walk with you to class,” he told her.

“In your dreams, faggot,” she hissed.

“Tif, it’s me, J.J. You know, the quarterback on the team,” he added.

“Right, quarterback,” she jeered. “I think you’d be considered more of a tight end, although I’m not sure how tight your end is. From the rumors I’ve heard, you get banged by your gay friends on a pretty regular basis.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” J.J. shouted.

“Yeah, make believe that doesn’t happen, but we all know better,” she replied. “Now get the fuck away from me before I have my real football player boyfriend beat the crap out of you.”

J.J. was totally baffled now. Was everyone in on this joke? Were they playing a Halloween prank on him and even managed to get his mother to go along with it? This was all getting really weird, but he couldn’t figure out what he was going to do about it.

Pretending it was just a normal day, J.J. went to his classes but found other people sitting in his usual seats. If he happened to get to one of them first, someone would come along and kick him out of it, while making gay slurs about him. At one point, he even tried to fight back, but quickly discovered he wasn’t able to do much. He just felt too weak when he attempted to stand up to the other student, so he thought he’d go to the weight room during lunch and pump up a little.

When lunch period finally rolled around, J.J. made his way to the weight room and started doing a few simple curls. Unbelievably, he had to use the lightest weights, since the others felt really heavy when he tried to use them.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” the voice of his P.E. teacher rang out.

“I just thought I’d lift some weights over lunch hour,” J.J. responded.

“Only the athletes are allowed to use this room, except if we bring you in here as part of class,” the teacher shot back.

“I was just feeling a little weak and wanted to get ready for Friday’s game,” J.J. advised him. “Can’t make accurate passes with a weak arm.”

“You’ve been making passes at your buddies with your weak arm and limp wrist since I’ve known you and this isn’t a playroom to carry out your Halloween fantasy,” the P.E. teacher replied. “Now, get out of here and get back to where you belong, before I give you detention.”

J.J. was even more confused, but he left the area willingly, rather than to get in any trouble. Why the fuck was everyone acting so weird today?

After he got out of his last class for the day, J.J. headed for the football locker room to change for practice. When he entered, he was immediately confronted by a couple of the other players.

“What are you doing in here, fag?” one of them asked.

“Coming to practice or don’t you need a quarterback?” J.J. answered.

“Hey, Dirk. Gay Jay wants your job as quarterback,” one of the others shouted.

“Dirk’s job? He’s my backup,” J.J. announced, boldly.

“What the fuck are you smoking or did you find some really powerful ‘shrooms?” one of them joked.

Jay just stood there trying to figure out what was going on. In addition to being confused, he felt frustrated and puzzled.

“Ok, it looks like he’s not going to leave under his own power,” one of them commented, “so I’ll handle this.”

Before J.J. could react, the guy gave J.J. a serious wedgie and then stuffed him in a locker. J.J. was powerless to fight back and heard everyone laughing at his current predicament. Then, they left him in the locker as they stormed out of the locker room and headed out toward the practice field.

“Funny guys, now let me out of here,” J.J. pleaded, but no one responded.

“Guys, let me out of here or I’ll have to hurt someone,” J.J. shouted, but still no one came to his rescue.

“Somebody let me the fuck out of here before I start tearing this place apart,” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

A few seconds later, J.J. heard somebody else in the locker room, so he began banging on the door to the locker he was currently occupying. A few seconds later, the door opened.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” the football coach screamed at him.

“The guys thought they were being funny,” J.J. answered. “Give me a second and I’ll get ready for practice.”

“Practice?” the football coach asked, rhetorically. “Do I look like the band instructor or the cheerleading coach? This is the football locker room, and since you aren’t on my team, you aren’t allowed in here. Now get the hell out of here before I kick your ass myself.”

The football coach sounded and looked very serious as he pointed toward the door, so J.J. opted to leave. He still wasn’t sure what was going on, but he did know what the coach was like when he was upset. Since J.J. didn’t want to go down that road right now, he quietly slipped out into the hallway.

J.J. eventually went outside and sat in front of the school, because he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t have a car to drive, the bus he would have ridden home had already left and he didn’t have his cell phone. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t picked it up this morning when he got dressed, so now he concentrated on how he was going to get home. Finally, he decided his only choice was to walk, even though it was over two miles to get to his place. He was halfway there when his mother pulled up beside him in the car.

“Miss the bus again?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” J.J. answered, as he went over to get in the passenger seat.

He was going to say he wouldn’t have needed to take the bus, if he’d had the car like he usually did, because that’s how he always got home after football practice, but decided he didn’t want any more problems today, so he bit his tongue instead.

Once they got to the house, J.J. went directly his room and planned to stay there until it was time for dinner. He sprawled out on his bed and merely stared at the ceiling. He just couldn’t understand why everything was going the opposite of his usual day. Why had his life taken this sudden turn into the Twilight Zone? This had to be some kind of an elaborate Halloween prank or a really bad nightmare, so maybe if he went to sleep everything would go back to normal when. A few minutes later, J.J. drifted off into a very restless slumber.

“Honey, wake up and come down for dinner,” his mother urged, as she gently shook him. “Your father’s home and the food is on the table.”

Lethargically, J.J. got up and went into the bathroom. As he splashed some water on his face, he looked into the mirror again. Nothing had changed. Hesitantly, he went downstairs and discovered his father was already seated at his place at the table.

“Tough day today?” his father asked, as J.J. approached the table.

“Yeah, a very strange day too,” J.J. answered. “I didn’t even practice with the football team.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, since you never do, even if you are wearing my old jersey today,” his father responded. “You must have been really tired though, because you were totally zonked out when I checked in on you after I got home. You didn’t even hear us when we called you for dinner, so your mother had to go up to get you.”

“Dad, am I an athlete or not?” J.J. asked, directly.

His father looked at him oddly before he answered.

“Well you’ve never been very good at sports, son, but that’s never bothered you before,” his father confirmed. “What’s suddenly come over you, or is this just part of the Halloween costume you’re wearing? Your mother told me you looked good in my old jersey when you wore it to school today, and I agree.”

“Yeah, I guess that must be it,” J.J. agreed, dropping the subject.

He was even more rattled than before. This whole day had been really strange and the nap didn’t improve the situation. Now, he began to wonder what lay in store for him tomorrow?

                            *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The following morning, when J.J. awoke he raced to the bathroom, because he was anxious to see if things were back to normal. Unfortunately, the face staring back at him in the mirror was the same one that greeted him the previous day. He thought about faking being sick, so he didn’t have to go in today, but decided against it. He figured this situation would either eventually sort itself out or he might be able to find some clues as to why this was happening. Therefore, he took his shower, as he normally would.

When he went to look for something to wear, he put on another pair of boxer briefs and then searched the closet for the least objectionable shirt and pair of pants in there. As he looked at his choices, he thought to himself that he’d rather go naked than put on any of those outrageous garments. He certainly wouldn’t go out in public in any of them.

“Feeling better this morning?” his mother asked, as he strolled into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I guess so,” J.J. answered.

“Sit down and I’ll fix you some scrambled eggs and toast,” his mother offered. “Would you like some bacon or sausage to go with that?”

“No thank you, Mom. The eggs and toast will be fine,” J.J. replied. At least he was eating fairly normally.

When J.J. got on the bus, Barry called to him again. Even though he wasn’t happy about it, he went back to sit with him, because he hoped Barry might be able to shed some light on his current predicament.

“Barry, have I ever been athletic?” J.J. asked, almost as soon as he took his seat.

Barry nearly choked when he heard this question, but managed to control himself and respond.

“Not ever, at least not with the types of sports you’re referring to,” Barry answered. “You’ve never been very good at throwing any type of ball successfully, at least not without being told you throw like a girl, and you even sucked at kickball. Whenever we played it in gym class, you’d either miss the ball completely or only kick it a couple of feet. It would also be a small miracle if you ever caught a ball that was kicked at you. Sports just aren’t your thing, sugar, but you do have other talents.”

“What other talents?” J.J. followed.

“Lover, you know what other talents,” Barry answered. “Besides your ability to get good grades, you can be a real tiger in bed. Grrrrr.”

J.J.’s mouth dropped open and his face suddenly felt hot.

‘My God, am I blushing and do I really do those sorts of things with Barry?’ J.J. wondered.

“Um… uh… are we… uh… like boyfriends?” J.J. stammered.

“No, Tiger, we’re not,” Barry answered. “We’re friends and like each other, just not that way. Wait! Are you telling me you don’t remember the times we messed around with each other, before we found that out?”

Barry looked shocked that J.J. had forgotten about their intimate times together, while J.J. was purely mortified by the idea that he’d done things with this faggot.

‘Holy shit!’ J.J. thought. ‘Am I the Queen Fairy in this play?’

Fortunately, the bus pulled up in front of the school about then and J.J. hurried off the bus and headed to his locker. Today, he didn’t speak to anyone and tried to avoid all of his old friends. However, as he was leaving his locker, another one of the jocks bumped into him and knocked everything out of his hands.

“Damn it, Evan, what the hell did you do that for?” J.J. fumed.

“Are you speaking to me, fag?” Evan asked, while bending down and putting his face almost against J.J.’s.

“Come on, Evan,” J.J. began. “You know I’m not a fag. We play baseball together.”

“You… play baseball?” Evan scoffed. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, I’m a pitcher and the shortstop,” J.J. clarified.

“Pitcher!” Evan laughed. “From the stories I’ve heard, if I were to use your gay lingo you’d be called the catcher, not the pitcher.”

Everyone in the hallway was laughing, some even roaring at this last comment, so J.J. slipped away quietly while Evan went around collecting high-fives from a few of the others.

J.J. somehow managed to make it through the rest of the morning unscathed, but he was very careful at lunchtime to make sure no one was able to trip him. He was actually beginning to feel good about spoiling everyone else’s plans to see him humiliated again, when he remembered that he had P.E. later. Not only that, but he’d also have to attend the planned class activity today, along with the other non-athletes, instead of being able to go to the weight room to work out. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to this or being in the locker room with those other jerks.

J.J. made it through the next couple of periods quite easily and then headed for the locker room to change. He quickly slipped into his gym clothes and started toward the gym, although he did get bumped a few times by some of the others and knocked into the lockers. Damn, that combination lock certainly did hurt when he was jammed up against it.

The P.E. class was working on football skills and today they were supposed to throw the football accurately at a target. His instructor had a series of hoops set up for them to throw at.

“Ok, Johnson. It’s your turn. See if you can impress me this time,” the teacher told him.

J.J. picked up the football, gripped it and got ready to throw. He’d done this thousand of times before, but this throw didn’t go as planned. For some strange reason, the ball slipped out of his hand before he was ready to release it.

“Johnson, that was pathetic,” his instructor chided. “I think the ball went higher in the air than it traveled forward.”

“It slipped. Let me try again. Please,” J.J. pleaded.

The instructor nodded, so J.J. grabbed another football. This time he threw it forward, but not nearly as far or as accurately as he normally would have.

“Not bad, Johnson,” the instructor observed. “You got it halfway to the hoop this time and that’s better than you’ve ever done before.”

J.J. just couldn’t understand it. Not only did he look different, but he’d also lost all of his athletic abilities too. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d also discovered that he acted totally the opposite from how he was normally. Even though he didn’t want to think about it, he’d been told he was gay and had messed around with Barry, along with some others. On the high school social ladder, he’d managed to slip from the top rung to the very bottom one, basically overnight.

Then, when he went to take his shower after class, he ended up getting even more shit.

“Get the hell away from here and wait until we’re done, fag,” one of the guys in the shower yelled. “We don’t want you perving on our dicks and getting boned up in here. Just go back to your locker and you can shower when we’re done.”

“But I’ve got to get to class,” J.J. protested.

“Too fucking bad,” the guy replied. “You’re not coming in here with us, so scram.”

J.J. did what he’d been told, rather than to get into a fight over it. He knew he no longer had the strength, or ability, to stand up to the fucking assholes and didn’t feel like getting his ass kicked. At that same moment, J.J. had another frightening thought. Up until yesterday, he would have been just like that asshole and it certainly wasn’t any fun being on the receiving end of the comments and abuse.

J.J. caught the bus home that afternoon and went straight to his room after entering the house. He didn’t come down again until his mother called him for dinner. Once he’d finished eating, he went back up to his bedroom again and stayed there for the rest of the night. He didn’t know how he was going to survive living like this or even if he wanted to.

                            *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

When J.J. woke up the following morning, he dragged himself to the bathroom and began to brush his teeth. When he caught his reflection in the mirror, he was in for another surprise. He saw his old familiar face staring back at him in the mirror this time, not the one he’d seen for the past couple of days.

Suddenly, he decided to glance down to see if the rest of him was back to normal and let out a whoop of joy when he spotted his chest hair was back too. Hopefully, he thought, everything else will be as it should, so he held his breath and reached down to pull out the waistband on his boxers and peeked inside. He immediately began to breathe again when he noticed his pubes were still there too. That was good, because he definitely didn’t want to be in the locker room with his teammates if his groin looked as if it belonged to some elementary student. Suddenly, his world was right again.

After going back to his room, J.J. found his clothes back where they should be as well, so he got dressed quickly and raced downstairs. He bid his mother good morning and then sat down at the table.

“Mom, what day is it?” he asked.

“Why it’s Halloween, of course,” his mother answered.

‘What? I’ve got those two days back again?’ J.J. thought, as he considered the ramifications of this news.

He was actually giddy as he ate his breakfast and then hopped in the car to drive to school. He was thrilled that everything seemed to be back to normal and he had those two days to do over again.

‘Did I just dream that I’d lived these two days before or was it real?” J.J. wondered. ‘Did all of those horrible things actually happen to me or was it just a bad dream? If they did happen, then why is everything back to normal again? Was I sent back in time, so I’m back where I started?’

Thinking of the other changes he’d experienced during that period as well (his different physical appearance, lack of athletic skills and sexual orientation), J.J. knew it couldn’t have just been about being shifted in time. He’d been a totally different person.

‘Did I slip into another dimension then, where I actually was a fag? If that’s what happened, then how did I return to my old life?’ he wondered. ‘If I switched places with a guy from another dimension, then I wonder how he made out in my world, while I was in his?’

Regardless of how it happened or what might have taken place with the other guy, if there even was one, this J.J. was going to enjoy being himself again. The only difference was that he wasn’t exactly the same guy any longer – he had changed.

After he parked his car, he quickly met up with his friends and they stood just outside of the main entrance to the school and chatted. That’s when the bus J.J. had ridden the past couple of days pulled up and the students unloaded. When Barry got off the bus, he started to walk up to enter the building and one of J.J.’s friends made a move toward Barry, so he could harass him. When J.J. saw what he was up to, he grabbed his friend’s arm and stopped him. The guy turned and looked at J.J. puzzled.

“Leave him alone,” J.J. stated, softly and calmly. “In fact, let’s leave them all alone. I don’t think we should pick on anyone else any longer. Ok?

“What the fuck’s up, J.J.?” his friend responded.

J.J. had to think quickly and come up with an excuse for his change in attitude. Suddenly, he had an idea.

“Over the weekend I heard some awful news about one of my cousins,” he began. “He’s a nice kid, but pretty small for his age, so he was getting picked on a lot where he goes to school.”

“Is your cousin a fag?” one of his friends asked, while ignoring everything else J.J. had said.

“No, he’s not gay, just really small and not very athletic, so he got picked on anyway,” J.J. announced. “We heard that he had been really miserable at school, because of all the crap he was getting from some of the other students. In fact, it got so bad for him that he even tried to kill himself, just so he wouldn’t have to go to school and get picked on any longer. Luckily, his parents found him in time to get him help, so he didn’t die, but he’s still in the hospital.

“After I learned what happened to him,” J.J. continued, “I watched some videos of other kids talking about what it was like to get harassed at school all the time and how it makes them feel. I also watched some of those ‘It Gets Better’ videos, so now I feel bad about the things I’ve done to the kids at our school and I’m going to change.”

“Is this another one of your jokes,” one of his friends wondered.

“This is no joke!” J.J. confirmed. “I’ve just decided that I don’t want to be responsible for someone killing himself, just because I made his life miserable. That’s why I don’t want any of us to pick on the gays, or anyone else from now on. Not only that, but we’re also going to stop those who are bullying others too.”

“Can we at least pick on the guys who are still doing the bullying then?” one of his buddies countered.

“Yes. Warn them first, but if they continue to pick on others, then you can go after them the same way we used to go after the gays,” J.J. agreed. “However, you can only do something to them when you catch them picking on someone else. If they stop doing those types of things, then you don’t pick on them any longer either.”

“Are you sure about this, J.J.?” one of the others asked. “We know how you hate fags.”

“Maybe I used to, but I don’t any more,” J.J. answered. “After hearing my cousin’s story, I realized how bad it was for him to have to put up with the same types of things we were doing to guys here. I know now how awful it can make someone feel, so we’ve got to stop doing those things from here on out.”

After saying this, J.J. had another sudden thought, so he added another statement to cover up his fabricated justification. The reason he’d given them hadn’t been a complete lie, because he’d just attributed some of his recent experiences and feelings to one of his cousins. In fact, J.J. had also briefly considered suicide, if he would have had to continue living that other life, because he didn’t think he could handle the constant abuse.

“Just don’t say anything about any of this to my parents or anyone else either, and definitely don’t mention anything about my cousin to them,” J.J. warned them. “My parents feel really bad about what happened to him and how he reacted, so I don’t want to let them know we were doing the same things to people or dig up those bad memories and make them live it all over again.”

Although his friends weren’t sure about this at first, they eventually agreed to go along with his suggestions. After all, J.J. was the top dog in the senior class and they didn’t want him turning on them next. They liked being J.J.’s friends, especially when you considered all of the benefits that seemed to come along with that title. It not only translated into the increased status they enjoyed at school, but it also included having many of the cutest girls wanting to hang around with them.

After a while, things did get better at school and no one was being picked on any longer, at least no one that J.J. heard about. Even though many of the other students didn’t understand J.J.’s sudden change of heart, they eventually went along with his hands off policy and laid off the other kids too. It may have only happened because they knew they’d become the target if they didn’t, but the harassment ended, nonetheless.

This may have only taken place in one school, which means it only made a small dent in the bullying that goes on in the world, but J.J. did manage to produce a small cultural change locally. Even though J.J. didn’t receive any formal recognition for what he’d done, he did get immense satisfaction whenever one of his former victims came up and thanked him for ending their torment. This time, he understood exactly what they meant, since he had experienced it too, although not for quite as long as they had.

THE END

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