Satisfaction Guaranteed: Part 2 by themissingdays on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Chapter 2

Sheila had plucked out the small glass shard in Max's foot and cleaned up the cut finishing with a band-aid before releasing him back into the hall. Max felt like he was in a daze. He couldn't believe the predicament he now found himself in. How could this be real?

“Max that's you right?” 'Brandon said. Max shook his head coming out of his haze to see the other boy standing in front of him.

“Yeah its me,” Max said, the sound of his voice still sounding foreign to himself.

“But you're small, whats going on?” Brandon said. Max looked back at Brandon who was now only a few inches shorter than him when before he had only come up to his chest.

“I can't explain right now,” 'Max said pushing past the other boy to his room. There was only one thing on his mind. Getting the device back and reversing the change. Max came into his room and started to look around. However much to his ire he couldn't find the device anywhere. He turned around to see Brandon standing in the doorway watching him.

“Brandon listen to me very carefully,” Max said putting his hands on Brandon's shoulders. “That thing that Trevor had in his hand the one that shot out that smoke did you see what happened to it after I left.”

“Oh that thing,” Brandon said with a glint of pride in his eye knowing what Max was referring to. “Trevor put it in his pocket.”

Max let out a groan. That was the last thing he needed to hear. Max marched down to Trevor's room with Brandon following behind, swinging the door open as if he were an outlaw entering into a saloon.

“Give it back,” Max demanded walking right up to Trevor who was sitting on the edge of his bed.

“You mean this thing?” Trevor asked holding the device in his hand.

“Yes,” Max yelped grabbing for the device yet Trevor quickly pulled it out of reach getting to his feet. Max took a step back seeing how incredibly big Trevor now seemed to him. “Trevor please, I need it,” Max mewled.

“I'll give it back,” Trevor said, surprising Max with his agreement. “But first I want some answers. Just what the hell is going on here.”

Max pursed his lips for a moment. He didn't see any problem with explaining what was happening after all if he had seen something like this he would understandably want some answers as well. Max then told Trevor and Brandon what the device was and where he had gotten something like it in the first place.

“So this thing actually made you get younger,” Trevor said looking at the device in his hand with some interest. There was no room for any skepticism after what they had all witnessed.

“Yeah,” Max said. “But it can change me back too, so now that I've answered your question can I have it back?”

“Hang on though, why didn't Mom seem to notice?” Trevor asked.

“Well I think that only people who witness the change will remember. Everyone else will think its normal. At least that what the guy said.” Max answered.

“So that's why she was acting so weird,” Trevor muttered to himself.

“Can I have it back now,” Max said growing annoyed with all the questions.

“One last question,” Trevor said his eye's narrowing a little. “Why did you buy this thing?”

“Well umm I uhh,” Max stammered.

“I knew it,” Trevor said with an accusatory glance. “You were going to use it on me, weren't you?”

“No that's not true,” Max protested. “I didn't even think the stupid thing would work. I thought that the guy had tricked me.”

“But you still bought it anyways,” Trevor said crossing his arms “So how old were you planning on making me?”

“I don't know,” Max said letting his arms slump a little. “Like I said I didn't think it was going to work. So does it really matter?”

“This was a really rotten plan even for you,” Trevor said shaking his head.

“For me?” Max said with some offense. “If you weren't such a jerk all the time I would have never even considered it.”

“So you admit you were going to try?” Trevor said like a lawyer who had just got caught a criminal in a lie on the stand.

“Look Trevor, the guy at the store got into my head okay. He was saying all this stuff about how us being the same age was the problem how we were simply just in each others way. I see now how stupid that was, I'm sorry.” Max said as he hung his head low realizing just how much of a terrible thing he had planned on doing when he had bought the device.

“Well he wasn't wrong,” Trevor said causing Max to lift his head surprised. “That guy was right. We are in each other's way so maybe this is the answer.”

“Trevor you can't,” Max said as a cold feeling overtook him realizing what Trevor was saying.

“I think I can,” Trevor said. “Even if you didn't think it would work the fact is that it did. If the situation was reversed you wouldn't change me back either.”

“No,” Max squeaked.

“And hey look at it this way you still look a little older than Brandon so you're still not the youngest and now you guys can play together all you want. Doesn't that sound fun Maxi-pad,” Trevor said with a big smirk before he raised his eyebrows. “Although I think I need a new nickname for you as that one is a little inappropriate for a little boy like you.”

“Trevor you can't do this, I won't let you,” Max said gritting his teeth. Trevor gave Max a devious look before picking him up. Max squirmed but couldn't break fee. Trevor carried Max back to his room. He set Max on the ground in front of his door.

“I think those clothes are a little big,” Trevor said. Max looked down noticing the pants and boxers he was wearing had slipped down his waist. “Let me help,” Trevor said lifting Max back up as he grabbed the waistband of the sweatpants and hooked them on the hanger on the back of Max's door. As Max hung in the air he kicked his feet trying to get free.

“See Max this is going to work,” Trevor said with a laugh. “Now we each have our own place in our little family. Don't worry you'll see how great it is to be my little brother. The only rule is you don't bother me and I won't have any reason to pound you into dust,” Trevor said with a smile before giving Max's cheek a couple of gentle swats. With that Trevor left closing Max's door leaving him hanging helplessly in the air. A moment later Max felt his door open.

“Max?” Brandon said walking in the door.

“Help,” Max whimpered as Brandon turned around to see him on the back of the door. Brandon panicked for a moment looking around before grabbing the chair by the desk and pulling it over to the door. Being able to put his feet on the chair gave Max enough stability to work the back of the sweatpants off of the hook allowing him to free himself.

“Are you okay?” Brandon asked.

“I'm fine,” Max spat back as he took a seat on his bed. Max looked at Brandon who was shuffling looking uncomfortable. Max frowned a little seeing that he had taken his frustrations out on Brandon.

“Thanks,” Max said more gently. “For the help.” Brandon seemed to perk up a little from the reassurance. Max put his face in his hands trying to figure out what he was going to do. There was no way he could let this stand.

“So did that thing really make you younger?” Brandon asked.

“Yes,” Max said with a groan flopping back onto his bed with his hands splayed out at his sides. “I need to get it back so I can reverse it. But you heard Trevor.”

“You should tell Mom to get it back for you,” Brandon suggested. Max lifted his head a little to give Brandon a skeptical look.

“That would never work. You saw how she acted. That device changes things. The only reason you and Trevor know is because you saw it happen. Everyone else will believe I've always been like this. Besides even if she did believe me Trevor would just play dumb. I mean who would ever believe such a thing existed.” Max said feeling a hopeless feeling begin to inflect into his words.

“Um Max,” Brandon uttered.

“What?” Max said with a weary sigh.

“Your pants,” Brandon said giggling a little. Max sat up to see his sweatpants down around his knees. The already too big waistband had been stretched out even more and when he had walked over to the bed they had completely fallen off. Max stood up holding his underwear up just before they slipped as well. Max pulled the sweatpants up high.

“This is a problem,” Max grumbled as he waddled over to his dresser. He figured maybe he still had some older smaller clothes he could wear pushed down into his drawers. As he opened one drawer he immediately sensed something was different.

“What the,” Max breathed as he began to open each and every drawer confirming his suspicions. As he looked over at the clothes contained within he picked up a t-shirt that had the symbol for the avengers on it. These were not his clothes. He had never seen them before in his life. Was the device to blame for this as well. Max grabbed the shirt and then a pair of plain jeans. He looked into the underwear drawer to find some solid colored briefs and some boxer briefs that were adorned with superheroes and mine craft imagery. Max turned his nose up and grabbed a pair of plain blue briefs thinking that on some level they weren't as bad as the boxers with their designs. He quickly got dressed. As he turned around he jumped a little seeing Brandon having forgotten he was even still there. He could see that Brandon had turned his head as to not watch him get dressed.

“I'm done,” Max said a little sheepishly. Brandon turned back to look at him as he took in Max's new outfit.

“When did you get new clothes?” Brandon asked knowing just as Max did that these were not clothes he had owned before.

“I don't know they were just in my dresser,” Max answered as he looked back at the open drawers with a perplexed look.

“Your room is different too,” Brandon observed.

“Really,” Max said as he looked around. At first he hadn't realized but now taking a closer look it seemed Brandon was telling the truth. His bed was the same as were the walls and the general placement of the furniture, but Max could now see things were definitely different. For one his bookshelf was still there but as he looked at the contents, everything was different. The books were now things that a kid in grade school would be interested in reading and Max also saw some comic books stacked up on a shelf. He remembered when he had been younger his Dad would always make a stop at the comic book store on Saturday afternoons when he would take Max to the office with him in the morning which is the only time his Dad could find to do a lot of the office work he couldn't do during the week. Yet when Max had turned twelve he had stopped reading comics altogether and had sold off his modest collection. Max leafed through a couple of the books. Some of them were the same but a lot of them were different than the ones he had had. Max then turned around walking over to his desk. His expensive laptop that he had bought last year was gone and now he saw a carrying case with the local elementary school emblem embroidered on the front. He opened it up to see a basic cheap laptop which the elementary school and middle schools assigned to students. Max also saw that hanging on the back of the chair was a backpack however this too wasn't the black one he usually used this one was instead a plain red one that didn't seem to have a lot of stuff in it which was different from his own which would have been stuffed with heavy books.

Max began to pace back and forth in deep thought. Had the device really done all this? He racked his brain trying to remember everything about the events that had transpired. It hadn't been an instant change. He was certain that even after he had been regressed his room had been the same. Could it be that after everyone had left that's when the room had changed? Max was staring to see just how powerful the device was. If there was one thing that he was sure of it wasn't something someone like Trevor should have. Just then Max heard a car pull into the driveway. He ran to his window to see his

Dad walking towards the front door. Max bolted out of his room.

He didn't care what changes he had seen. If there was one person who would see that something was wrong it was his Dad. He was his Dad after all, he had known Max all his life, no way the device could change that.

Max ran down the hall as he bounded down the stairs where he could see his Dad walking through the front door.

“Dad!” Max yelped as he ran down the steps. Getting close to the bottom Max hit the tender spot on his foot where the glass had stabbed him. He felt a jolt of pain shoot up his leg as he fell forward a little but to everyone else it would have looked like he had leapt. His Dad looked surprised but was able to catch him with little problem.

“Woah there, Super Max.” His Dad said calling him by a nickname he hadn't used in years. Max hugged his Dad tightly. For some reason it felt great, for a moment it felt like all his problems weren't so big, that everything was going to be okay. His Dad was here to fix everything.

“I'm happy to see you too buddy,” Dad said slightly taken aback by the greeting as he set Max back on his feet on the bottom step. “But I think you might be getting a little big to have me catch you like that, I'm getting to be an old man you know,” Dad said with a chuckle.

“But can't you see?” Max asked looking at his Dad with panicked look. “I'm small.” Max said holding his arms up.

“Not that small,” his Dad said ruffling his hair up a little with his hand. Max was starting to be hit by the cold realization that his Dad didn't see anything wrong.

“No, this is bad,” Max said he began to feel his heart start to beat faster. He looked at his Dad who seemed to be the same as ever. He was a tall man with a balding head and some stubble that hadn't been shaved in a couple of days which allowed a few stray gray hairs to stick out in his whiskers. The only difference from when Max had seen him this morning was the fact that now he only came up to about his Dad's stomach and he had to look up to see his face.

“Did you say something bad happened?” his Dad asked with a hint of concern in his expression. Max stood trying to find the words but simply couldn't.

“He is probably referring to this afternoon,” Sheila said coming into the front hall from the kitchen.

“What happened this afternoon,” Dad said a sense of dread in his voice.

“Well Max was apparently swinging around a baseball bat and hit the mirror in his room causing it to shatter and he got a little piece in his foot.

“A bat?” Dad said with some surprise as he gave Max a look that said I can't believe you did that.

“Now now, Craig it was just an accident, I'm sure he didn't mean to break anything. I think him and Brandon were just playing around.”

“That's not an excuse,” Dad said putting his hands on his hips. With his tone and demeanor Max knew his Dad was a little upset with him.

“Dear, please,” Sheila said putting her hand up. “It was an accident and everybody is okay. Besides apparently Trevor was in the room and did nothing to stop it, if anything he is the one I'm disappointed in.”

“Its not Trevor's job to go around making sure everything Max does is okay.” Dad said turning towards Sheila. “Besides you don't need to coddle Max like this. At ten he is plenty old enough to know better.”

“Craig,” Sheila said slowly as she gave Max's Dad a weary look. Dad pursed his lips before letting out a defeated sigh.

“At the very least there is one thing that needs to happen,” Dad said turning back to Max. “Don't you think you owe your Mom an apology for causing some un-needed trouble?

Max hung his head. Sure he had caused her some stress but its not like he didn't have a good reason, not that he would ever be able to convince them of the truth. At the same time though he did feel bad for causing her trouble especially since she had been so empathetic towards him after and even now.

“Sorry Sheila,” Max said as he looked up. He saw his Dad and Shelia exchange a look with one another as if they were looking at each other to confirm that the other had noticed the same thing.

“Its okay, it was just an accident,” Sheila said with an awkward smile. “Anyways I got dinner ready so how about everyone come and eat while its hot.”

“Hey, I could get used to this,” Dad said with chuckle. “My wife having a hot meal ready on the table for me when I get home from a long day at the office.” Dad said putting his arm around Sheila.

“Don't get used to it,” Sheila said as she and Dad walked off towards the kitchen giggling to themselves like two schoolkids on their first date.

At dinner Max sat picking at his food with his fork with his head down. His appetite was gone and he was feeling hopeless about everything.

“Max,” Sheila's voice rang out as he looked up to see her standing next to him with a pitcher of juice in her hand. “You want something to drink?”

“Yes,” Max said as he watched her pour the red liquid into his glass. “Thanks Sheila,” Max replied watching as she gave him a small forced kind of smile as if something bothered her about what he had said. Sheila then took a seat next to Brandon. “Whats up with that look?” Sheila asked looking at her youngest who seemed to have a strange expression of confusion on his face.

“Um well,” Brandon began rather hesitantly. “Don't you and Dad think anything is weird?”

“About what?” Sheila asked. Brandon fell silent looking like he didn't actually want to say what was on his mind.

“Its okay buddy,” Dad said giving Brandon a reassuring look. “You can tell us, you're among family.”

“It's Max,” Brandon finally said. “He's small.”

“Brandon,” Sheila said with a gasp. “That's not a nice thing to say. Max is a perfectly normal size for his age.”

Dad let out a little laugh.

“In a few years he'll be taller than me I bet,” Dad said ruffling Max's hair.

“That's not what I mean,” Brandon yelped out. “I mean he's younger than he was this morning. Don't you remember?”

“Looks the same to me,” Dad said giving Max a thoughtful once over.

“But its true,” Brandon said with some frustration. “He was the same age as Trevor but then Trevor used some weird thing on him that shot out smoke and now Max is younger...and Trevor wont let him change back,” Brandon said pointing an accusatory finger at the older boy who had a scowl on his face.

“Brandon knock it off,” Trevor growled which caused Brandon to shrink down in his chair a little.

“Well Trevor is it true?” Dad asked. “Did you really magically shrink Max?” Trevor let out a sigh as he waved his hand in the air.

“Its just some stupid game Max and Brandon are playing, they've been annoying me all afternoon with it.” Trevor said doing his best to look as if he had heard it all before.

“Brandon, really,” Sheila said with some annoyance.

“But its true,” Brandon mewled.

“Its all well and good for you and Max to use your imaginations to play games,” Sheila said putting a hand on Brandon's head as if it were and off switch. “But we do not play games at the table.”

Brandon's face fell into a pout as the conversation turned towards some other mundane thing. Max looked over at Brandon and gave him a small smile as if to say thanks for trying. Even though he knew that's exactly how it would play out Max was still grateful that Brandon had even attempted to help him. Dinner winded down as Sheila got up and started clearing away some dishes.

“Max are you okay?” Dad asked looking at the practically untouched food on Max's plate. “You barely touched your dinner.”

“I'm just not hungry,” Max said in a tone that came across as him moping.

“Max, your Mom worked hard to make that, you need to eat some of it,” his Dad said placing some extra emphasis on the word Mom.

“Its okay if he's not hungry, there is no need for him to force himself to eat,” Sheila interjected rather quickly whisking Max's plate away. Dad sat back in his chair with a slight groan giving Max a sort of ponderous look.

“Okay,” Sheila said clapping her hands. “Dinner is over so its homework time. Max, Brandon, remember to bring your completed work to me or your Dad so we can sign off on your planners.”

“You don't have to remind me every night,” Brandon said with some gruffness as he got up from the table walking off towards the stairs to go up to his room.

“And Trevor it would be nice if you could actually do your homework for once,” Sheila said with a nagging plea.

“That's what study hall is for,” Trevor said as he stretched back in his chair.

Max sulked off to his own room happy to have the opportunity to be alone. He came into his room and collapsed into the chair at his desk closing his eyes for a moment. It seemed the adrenaline from this afternoon had left him causing him to feel fatigued. Just then Max heard his door creak open. He looked over to see Brandon approach his desk holding a piece of paper in his hand.

“What's up?” Max asked rubbing his eyes.

“Um well, I have to do the second part of that assignment tonight and you said last night you would help me with it,” Brandon said sounding as if he knew that he was bothering Max. “But I get if you don't want to,” Brandon added quickly.

“Its fine,” Max said with a sigh motioning for Brandon to hand over the sheet. Max spent the next fifteen minutes walking Brandon through the worksheet which seemed centered around identifying contractions.

“So does it make sense?” Max asked.

“Yeah, I get it,” Brandon said with a smile as he took the paper into his hands. “Thanks for always helping me with stuff,” Brandon said.

“Hey I'm going to be your brother so I'll always help you out,” Max said with a grin. “That's what we big brothers are for.”

“Not all of them,”' Brandon said casting his eyes towards Trevor's room across the hall.

“Just the good ones,” Max said with small laugh.

“Um Max are you gonna be okay?” Brandon said worry inflecting his voice. “You know being small?”

“Yeah I'll be fine,” Max said summoning up some confidence. “Its not like I'm planning on staying like this, I just need to find some way to get that thing back from Trevor.”

“Mhmm,” Brandon said. “I'm still glad though that even though you got younger you're still old enough to be my big brother.” Brandon said with a smile. “But I still want you to change back soon.”

“Thanks B,” Max said giving Brandon a light punch to his shoulder. “But before that I guess I got homework of my own,” Max said getting up from the desk and grabbing the backpack on the back of his chair.

“But you went to high school today,” Brandon said watching as Max dumped the contents of the backpack out onto his bed. There were a few notebooks and some workbooks for Math and English as well as a couple of folders.

“Like I said that device changed things so as far as the world is concerned I'm not in high school anymore, although to be honest I'm not exactly sure what grade I'm even in anymore.” Max said. He surveyed the contents of the bag laid out before him. He spotted a red folder that had the words

“Take Home” in big letters across the front further down their was more writing that read. “Max Barnes Fifth Grade Mr. Lazoo”

“Fifth Grade” Max said wrinkling his nose a little. His stomach twisted a little realizing that he had been reduced to an elementary schooler.

“Oh you got Mr. Lazoo,” Brandon said reading the folder along with Max.

“Is he new?” Max asked not remembering the name from when he had actually attended the school himself.

“He was there last year too,” Brandon replied. Max opened the folder to see a couple of papers mainly concerning logging into different websites that were often used for homework as well as a weekly schedule that outlined what days of the week he had P.E, art, and music class. Max then spotted another book that said “My Planner” on it which was also labeled with his name and grade. He opened it up to see that each page was one week and had boxes with the date and listed assignments he was supposed to do and other miscellaneous task such as permission slips that needed to be signed or things he needed to bring in. He looked at the previous days to see Dad's or Shelia's signatures signing off on the bottom of each day. He turned to the current day to see that there was something written.

“Connections, pages 65 and 66,” Max read out loud. “What the hell is that?”

“Its math,” Brandon said as he eagerly grabbed the purple workbook and showing it to Max obviously happy to be of some help. Max took the book with some weariness. He flipped through the book some before going to the desk and grabbing a pencil.

“Guess I should get to work” Max said as he flipped to the page he was supposed to do. Brandon left the room leaving Max to his task. Max looked at the questions on the page. It all seemed pretty simple multiplication and division problems yet Max was having one issue. He knew how to get the answer but the way that the book wanted him to show his work was something he didn't quite understand. It seemed to Max that the book wanted him to break down the problems completely and then solve them. Max pushed some air out through his nose. He just did the problems normally as he always did. Sure, maybe given some time he might be able to figure out the exact way the book wanted him to solve the problems but he wasn't going to sit there all night working on this. After all it didn't really matter. In his estimation he was going to be back to normal soon anyways. Part of him even wondered why he was doing the homework in the first place.

He gave a look across the hall at Trevor's room, seeing the light was on underneath the door crack. Max knew he just needed to sneak into Trevor's room while he wasn't there to get the device back. That was if Trevor was keeping it in there, it was also a possibility that Trevor would carry the device on him. Max knew though that Trevor would slip up eventually, he after all wasn't a meticulous person Max just needed to wait for his opportunity, he needed to be careful though. If he alerted Trevor to the fact that he was waiting for him to get careless he would be put on guard, which was the last thing Max needed.

Max was finishing up the homework as he penciled in the answer to the last problem when his Dad appeared in his doorway.

“Hey bud, hows the homework going?” Dad asked.

“I'm done,” Max said pushing the booklet away from him.

“Let's see it then,” Dad said walking into the room and shutting the door behind him. He grabbed the booklet and looked it over for a moment. He then took a pen out of the cup of pens and pencils on Max's desk and signed that days box in Max's planner.

“Good work,” Dad said.

“I guess,” Max said gathering up the things on his bed and putting them back into the backpack. He was feeling a little weird with the whole thing. Doing fifth grader homework and having his Dad sign off on it. He didn't really remember having to do that when he had actually been in fifth grade. As Max turned back to hang the backpack back on the chair he felt his legs go wobbly as he stumbled forward.

“Whoa there,” his Dad said catching him before he fell. “You okay? You didn't hit your head when you were swinging that bat around did you?”

“No,” Max said standing up and brushing his Dad's hands away. “I'm just really tired, it was a long day.”

Max wasn't lying. He had been feeling exceptionally tired the whole time he had been doing the homework, so much so that he had been fighting to keep his eyes open. His limbs were starting to feel like wet noodles as well.

“You look pretty tired,” Dad remarked as he looked at his phone. “You got about an hour and half before bedtime but maybe it wouldn't hurt to get your pj's on and hit the hay early.”

“Bedtime?” Max said looking at his Dad with an incredulous look. Max hadn't had a set bedtime for awhile. Most nights he was up until one or two in the morning.

“9:30 is a pretty generous bedtime,” Dad said. “Sheila makes Brandon go to bed at eight thirty and he's only two years younger than you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Max said shaking his head a little for a moment forgetting that he was now ten years old.

“Anyways,” Dad said. “I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?”

Max just gave a shrug as he turned to face his Dad noticing the man looked a little uneasy.

“Its just I was wondering,” his Dad began. “Why you all of sudden switched from Mom back to Sheila.”

“Wha-” Max said not really grasping what his Dad was asking.

“I just noticed you were calling her Sheila again,” Dad reiterated.

“That's her name isn't it?” Max asked.

“But you've been calling her Mom for the last six months without a problem,” Dad said. Max was surprised to hear this. Never once had he called Sheila mom. When their parents had first started dating Max and Trevor had referred to each other's parent with Mr. Barnes, and Mrs. Jones respectively. It was only after their parents had gotten engaged that they had put their foots down saying they could not refer to them in such a formal way if they were going to be a family. Both parents had made clear that they didn't expect their prospective step children to call them Mom and Dad but they had to at least use their first names. Max and Trevor had kept to a first name basis with their soon to be step parent. The only one who hadn't was Brandon who had switched over to calling Craig Dad almost immediately. Max had never even considered calling Sheila mom. But as he put the pieces together he had no doubts this was another change that had been brought upon by the powers of the device. It did make sense in some way. At sixteen he felt it would have been weird to all of sudden start referring to Sheila as Mom but perhaps if he had been younger like Brandon it wouldn't have been as strange a concept.

“Is it because the wedding is getting closer?” Dad asked. Max bit his lower lip for a moment.

“Its not that, its just...” Max said trailing off not able to come up with any sort of rational excuse.

“Look buddy,” Dad continued. “I know it took you a little while to warm up to the idea and you felt a little awkward at first, but Sheila was really happy to hear you call her Mom. It made her feel like you had accepted her as family.” Dad walked over to Max and put a hand on his shoulder. “Do ya think you could go back to calling her Mom, you know she loves you as if you were one of her own.”

“Yeah I can,” Max said looking off to the side. It didn't really matter to him, as he continued to cling to the idea that all of this was temporary.

“That's my guy,” Dad said as he ruffled Max's hair. “Now get ready for bed.”

“But you said nine thirty,” Max protested.

“Right,” his Dad smirked. “I just said get ready not that you had to go to sleep.”

Dad then left the room.

Max grumbled a little as he turned to his dresser and started going through the drawers coming upon his pajama drawer. He was getting a little annoyed with the kid treatment. As he went through the clothes he was at least happy to see that none of it looked particularly kiddie. He pulled out a fleece pair of black and blue checkered pants and a plain black long sleeve shirt. He put them on before laying on his bed looking up at the ceiling fan spinning above him. He had come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be changing back tonight. The idea of going to school tomorrow didn't exactly sit well with him. As he continued to watch the spinning fan he felt his eyes close. He was so exhausted after all. Before long he had fallen into a state somewhere between sleep and awake. The next thing he remembered was coming out of sleep just a little feeling someone lifting up his legs and shifting him underneath the covers. Yet he was far too sleepy to even open his eyes. He then felt the covers pulled up over him before someone kissed him on the forehead and he heard the click of his lights being switched off. Max curled up underneath the covers before surrendering to a deep slumber. The next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by his shoulder. Max opened his eyes to see his Dad standing next to his bed.

“Time to get up sport,” Dad said. “Its time to go to school.”