The Photographer

Chapter 5
Checking on Jenny

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Chapter Description: Marcus ties up loose ends, in math class and in the empty room down the hall.

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Monday, 1:45 p.m.

Whoops, Marcus thought. What the heck. Let’s roll with this.

Betty, whose physical appearance had completely gone back to normal, tugged and tugged, trying to get the top to cover her exposed navel—and the small pooch of fat that came with it—but to no avail. In fact, Marcus was adjusting the top ever-so-slightly UP with each tug so that several inches now showed, meaning that virtually all of his former teacher’s hand was now touching her exposed stomach every time she tugged.

The laughter continued.

Time to move on, Marcus thought, standing up and programming the camera to reverse all of Betty’s changes.

Click.

Betty blinked, dismissing fuzzy memories of...being a cheerleader? That’s a weird daydream...and sat down at her desk, looking at the clock on the top corner of her computer screen. Wow, ten minutes left in the period already?

In the reflective screen, she saw...a blonde streak in her hair?

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This dream gets crazier and crazier, thought Annie.

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I need to move before ’invisible me’ gets bumped into during the class change, Marcus thought. Time to check on Jenny.

Marcus scooted down the hall, opened the door, and made himself visible.

Jenny looked up, and put a small mirror back in her cute pink purse. This camera accessorizes too, Marcus mused. He noticed that the infinitesimally small zit had been artfully concealed.

“Hey, Marcus! Big game tonight!” Jenny said bubbily.

“Yeah!” Marcus said. “Is your boyfriend coming?”

Jenny’s brow furrowed. She...remembered having a husband. Jimmy? But he seemed...so old.

“I’m...not sure,” she finally said. A hazy memory of making plans to go to the game surfaced, but for some reason she was picturing sitting in the bleachers, not standing in front of them with her junior captain’s megaphone.

Marcus sensed her confusion.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re single,” he said.

That made sense, Jenny thought, nodding.

“That’s a nice camera! Can you, like, take my picture?” she said, leaning forward a bit and posing with a cute smile and her chin resting on her fists.

“Yes!” Marcus said, quickly taking the gift of a free change. “Let me make sure my settings are right.”

Marcus set the camera to physically progress Jenny one year with each photo, with her mental attributes adjusting to accommodate each change.

Click.

Jenny was now a high school senior. The uniform top still fit, but better emphasized her slightly larger breasts. A little bit more of her flat stomach now showed, and it had picked up some additional muscle tone. Same with her skirt: a little bit more leg showed.

“Try a different pose,” Marcus offered.

“How about this?” Jenny said, standing up and putting her intertwined hands behind her head, which had the added effect of pushing out her chest and making her top seep even further up her washboard stomach.

“Yeah...that’ll do,” said Marcus. I love my life, he thought.

Click.

Jenny was now wearing a different, more revealing college cheerleading outfit, with TECH across the chest.

Amazing, Marcus thought.

“It’s, like, kind of weird being back here,” said Jenny. “Hard to believe I just graduated last year! But it’s nice to come back and talk to the students about college. It’s been sooo much fun. I can’t believe I made the football travel squad as a freshman. It’s just lucky that this fell on a weekend when the team was, like, not playing. Goooo Tech!”

Click. Click. Click.

Now Jenny was a mature senior in college. Not a lot of signs of the 16-year girl who had sat there a few minutes ago.

She filled out the uniform even better, if that was possible: clearly the camera had projected that Cheer Jenny would take her workouts to the next level.

She was a frat boy’s wet dream: long, blonde hair, perfect makeup, bigger breasts squeezed in and accentuated perfectly by the small, tight white top. Her stomach was perfect...her legs, toned. She had even grown an inch or two taller, which accentuated her features even more.

Definitely going to make sure THAT picture doesn’t get deleted, thought Marcus.

Click.

The cheerleading uniform was gone, replaced by a casual-but-cute top and just-long-enough-for-regulation skirt.

“So, this picture will go on my ID card for my guidance counseling internship?” asked Jenny.

“Sure...” Marcus said, playing along. “You look familiar...didn’t you used to go here?”

Jenny smiled confidently. “Yep! Cheer captain, Homecoming queen 2007! You don’t remember me?”

Click.

“So, this picture will go on my ID card for my student teaching?” asked a slightly more mature Jenny, her voice a bit deeper and more confident.

Deja vu, thought Marcus.

“Yes,” he said, and put on his best actor face. “Hey, didn’t you used to go here?”

Jenny smiled confidently. “Yep! Cheer captain, Homecoming queen 2006!”

Click. Click. Click. Click.

Now Jenny had returned to her ’original’ age...but she was wearing her college cheerleading outfit again, although she had put a white long-sleeve T-shirt underneath it to cover up the more revealing aspects.

“Why are you wearing that?” Marcus said. Smooth, he thought.

Jenny giggled. “Silly...I lost our bet, remember?”

“Bet? What bet?” Marcus asked.

“On the State-Tech game! If State lost, you had to wear a Tech jersey for a week at work. But Tech lost, so I had to wear my college cheerleading uniform to work on casual Friday and you got to take a picture of it!” Jenny said. “Class change is any second, so take it quick so I can get back to work!”

This, I can definitely live with, Marcus thought, quickly changed the settings back to regular camera mode. “Okay...but you can’t just sit there! This is supposed to be embarrassing, remember?”

Jenny laughed, and mock-sighed. “Okay, fine,” she said, putting her arms up in the air like she was in mid-cheer and shining a perky smile. “Better?”

“Much,” Marcus said. Click.

Jenny got up, and brushed Marcus lightly on the shoulder. “Maybe after our date tonight, I’ll show you my pom-poms,” she whispered in his ear. She walked out the door with a wink, leaving a stunned Marcus in her wake.

I REALLY could get used to THIS, he thought.

He scrolled through his camera menu.

“’Save settings’? Don’t mind if I do. ’Guidance Counselor Ex-College Cheerleader Girlfriend’ is worth exploring later.”

 

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