TTA: Stage fright

The Travelling Apprentice: Stage fright

"Ok, ok, calm down. It's just a presentation. You can get over this without utterly failing it… Now, you know the project? maybe not much, but I made my flashcards. Think Al, those thinks never work, remember the exposition about international commerce?"

Those were Alphonse Chacon's thoughts as he checked his flashcards. He spent all the night before writing them, more like scribbling though. The idea was that they would help him in the middle of the presentation when things weren't to work. And that was because he needed something to give him confidence he lacked. Right now it was just the moment class would normally start: around 7 a.m. and he was early, already dressed in the mandatory formal outfit the teacher asked for the presentations he was almost ready to begin. Trying to close the eyes and imagine the crowd in front was all he could do before the real thing. With the cards tapping on the desk he subtly mouthed the words he meant to say.

"Ok, ok, now the process of motivation is the following, the relationship between expectative and the output or exercise, then there is the relationship between reward and output or work and… I wish this day was over… that's my motivation. I have to finish this properly so I can move on to the next homework. "

He looked around as the rest of the class arrived, most of them taking their seats away, more towards the back. Sighing as he sat down, putting the cards away he started checking himself out, the teacher was really critical when it came to projects. He practically proved how frail the internal logic in each presentation was.

"Last time, the teacher simply demonstrated how paper thin was that guy's theory was. I have to get ready. Yesterday I should have studied, I should have practiced, turned off the computer and the TV and practiced talking to the crowd… but it's now too late. Well, I know the parts, I just have to keep cool. Easy task" Alphonse thought to himself.

He continued trying to focus but he was now starting to feel the pressure as he heard the distinguished sound of the teacher's footsteps as he arrived into the classroom. The short small, lightly plump man looked at the rest of the class with that confident smirk on his face that told everybody he came here to fail students. People could easily assume he loved the power by the way his behavior. Running his hand over his short crop cut hair and taking a seat at the back of the class for better appreciation, he got himself prepared to call a student to the front of the class.

"Ok, ok, clothe check,  clean shirt, tie, fancy pants and jacket… I'm dressed as it is demanded and I feel like I'm gonna faint. I bet I'll be with the face the color of a tomato when I go. Breath calmly, you are smart and capable. Just pronounce clearly and … oh god, my pronunciation sucks, I'm well aware I stuttered and take long pauses, but this is the first time I do this with a separator in my mouth. I'll end up spitting everyone in the front row!"

He gulped nervously as Mr Arditto cleared his throat "The quicker we do this the faster we are out of here." He looked at me and with a loud tone of voice "Mr Chacon! You were next on the list, right?" Alphonse nodded, that was him, "Then head out to the front, boy, and start since we don't have the whole day" he said in his usual friendly voice, maybe it was his idea, but it made him feel that he was something sadist about him. As if he enjoyed destroying the work of people.

Standing up and adjusting the neck of his shirt he moved over to the front of the class. On the way, he noticed something was amiss. The tapping of an object against his chest making him to glance down, he noticed it was the necklace he got not long before the arrival to university. His mind started to wander back to the morning, while waiting for the bus at the station where he met a stranger sitting by him also killing time waiting for the transport. He introduced himself as traveler salesman, an odd profession, Alphonse thought at that time. The man, who introduced himself as Damon, showed him the bags he carried, each containing various items that ranged from common to creative. The bus was late and they started chatting. Alphonse eventually talked about his presentation when Damon noted his monkey suit. After a talk, the stranger offered to sell him a special small circular necklace with a full moon carved on it that supposedly would make this task easier every once in a while just by wishing it. Usually buying silver jewelry from strangers wasn't a good idea, but at a price of 5 bucks it was a great deal. If this was a good luck charm, he would certainly need it. Eventually the bus came over and I had to depart, bidding him farewell he wished me luck.

"Mr Chacon! Are you starting today or gonna wait till the end of the class?" Mr Arditto spoke in the normal tone he used to call the attention, bringing the student back to reality.

Alphonse started preparing his presentation while making a making a silent wish "He wishes us to do this as if it was a real job, the difference is that one gets paid in the real world *sigh* I really wish this was easier for me."

He got the presentation ready and shown on the projector and moved forward closing his eyes to take a deep breath as the teacher said: "Begin"

"Ok, my name is Alphonse Chacon and I'll start talking about the sales area in the A-Aventis pharmaceutical business. I-I'm gonna start to…" He paused to checked his flashcards "… t-to t-talk, to talk about the… making an introduction with the business" By this time he was starting to despair. The attention of the crowd was something he could never keep up with. And the teacher wasn't making things easier on me, his expression told everything, stern and serious, shaking sideways while saying now and writing notes down. Things were bad…

His necklace started glowing lightly under the shirt. His mind was so focused on trying not to choke or let fear get a hold of him he missed it.

Alphonse took a deep breath and stuttered a couple of words trying to concentrate on how to proceed. He cursed having panic attacks like this. A cooling feeling emanated from his chest, yet again he was too worried to be aware of that. "To-o make sure that the studied business' does a great job with the recruitment area…" He continued talking about the process, while people on the front row, mainly a couple of guys and one girl were starting to look weird.

The two guy's faces were beginning to lose their stubble as their clothes were shifting lightly his jacket one was wearing was starting to shrink, it's material starting to look more like a cotton sweater  than a leather jacket  while the pack of  the other folk started shifting, becoming more leathery and smaller, as well as stylish. Al's glance fell on the girl on the front row too as he continued "th-then… going on to the…" he trailed off he noticed her growing… a beard. Making a double take he glanced at her over all body. Her long blonde hair was no more as it was now shrinking and darkening lightly. She was looking manlier? by the second as her features grew rougher. Alphonse felt like pointing it out to the girl and at the class in the process or excuse himself to get his brain checked, this couldn't be possible. But part of him was thrilled in seeing how would that turn out and how much it would take to the girl to notice her breasts were shrinking. Her shoulders broadened and her figure filled out eliminating her hourglass figure. His mouth fell as he saw her? more likely, his fashionable change and shift becoming a plain T-shirt with a 'billabong' logo on it. He shook his head starting to question his own sanity.

"Mr Chacon! If that's how you would behave in a real world business meeting, I assure you, in less than an hour, two if lucky, you would be finished piling things up in a box and walking out the main doors of the building" Mr Arditto joked bringing Alphonse back to earth again. The whole classroom laughed at it, two giggles brought his attention down to the front row again where there were two girls. One with blonde long hair wearing what could have been a rather stylish outfit, while the other one with cute face and short brown hair. He was almost sure there were two guys on their seats!

"Has there always been a guy on that seat? What the hell is going on…" he thought worried, barely believing it, "…and what's with those two girls? I've never seen them before" His mind raced  but he still had to do a presentation with the teacher was glaring at him in disappointment. He couldn't stop. "…And with that, the business is m-managing to, uh, take the initiative in the career plan for the sales personal, I mean, Aventis has defined the following career lines." He continued talking, now more confident which resulted in a more fluent speech.

Alphonse was now noticing something else. The girls on the second row were starting to look, different. First clue was when the nail polish of one started dissolving as her bracelet was growing thicker and more complex, the head of it growing bigger till becoming a wristwatch without her noticing how unnatural that was. That was something that creeped him out, why was he the only one noticing the obvious difference? Still as the change moved on he could see more and more the guys taking in the reverse effects, becoming girlier and more delicate as the girls started changing. Chest puffing and pushing out under the stretching clothes while others flattened. It was all worrying.


Alphonse could only wonder what was happening down there in the midsection as the changes progressed. He noticed the change was occurring from the front row to the back, he could have almost guessed he was the source. Looking at the other end of the classroom, a grin drew as he spoke. There was the teacher, writing notes while shaking his head. He only hoped that he would be hit by whatever was causing that slow change.

With anticipation strong in his mind, he continued speaking "I'm gonna take some time on talking about each role the employee has to be in before reaching the sales management area, a.k.a. the career… starting with the assistant post…" He continued making as much depth as he could in the presentation as possible. The powerpoints in conjunction with his now slightly more focused speech were making a great job with keeping the rest of the audiences interested while he glanced the people changing.

The progress of the 'wave' was slow as he continued to speak. By the time he was talking about the sales program, the second row was gender switched. None of them seemed to notice anything at all. By that time, he could see the 3rd row falling under the effects. The changes were interesting enough to have Alphonse take a glance at the guys as they became girls he would definitely ask out… if the matter wasn't already weird enough to him. He kept on talking as girls started growing Addam's apples and their features became firmer while guys lost their toughness and became soft and frail looking. Oddly there seemed to be a relation between the body structures. Short guys made cute petite girls while taller and robust ones tended to make more *ahem* shapey and tall women and vice versa with the new guys, though Al avoided looking at them for obvious reasons.

"And now, I'm gonna go over the third problem of the company…" Al spoke after a while, by then almost all the rows were gender bend and keeping himself entertained looking as the changes progressed, now about to reach the teacher.

The first thing in the line of the change was the teacher's briefcase, the wave hit lightly as a strap appeared making it more like a purse. His shoes started changing along with his hands. His footwear, the classic black business shoes started shrinking, the tips growing into points as the small slope became tall heels as small buckles appeared in the front. Slowly his pant's legs were starting to go up his legs, receding and folding, starting to merge into a single fabric, as that happened his legs started growing slenderer and hairless. No matter how much he tilted his head, Al wouldn't be able to see his pants changing into a fashionable short skirt. The change seemed to have altered his age. That was something that he didn't picked up on the other students, but it was more likely due to all being under 40 years old. Meanwhile as that happened, Mr Arditto's hands were writing a couple of notes they entered the 'invisible wave' and started changing like the rest of the people of the classroom (except Alphonse). Her, judging by what was going on down there, hand's changed becoming delicate and manicured as a nice ring appeared on her finger. Al recalled Mr Arditto was married… what was the reach of this thing?

Alphonse grinned as he purposely made a mistake he saw another guy make before "…As for the solution, one of them is hiring more personnel for the direct sales role, according to the solutions presented in the previous slide, the company would be required to hire and select 2 more folks, you understand right?" and just as expected she raised a hand as an objection


"Mr Chacon! As I have told Ms Jones before. You can't really do that, you can't really ask a directive in a meeting if 'he understands, right?' that is…" she kept on, but Al was more interested in the changes, trying to hide her smile as a pair of breasts grew on her chest making a decent cleavage as her shirt became a shirt with an open button. All that happened while she kept lecturing me even when her voice changed into a mature yet obviously female one "…Bottom line,…" she coughed and continued with a more friendly voice as her face changed, her cheekbones rising up as wrinkles disappearing as she gained a youthful appearance. Her lips grew pouty as his nose shrank smaller and perkier as her eye lashes curled and grew. In a matter of seconds her hair grew longer and styled as her transformation was finished "…you should try to avoid to say that, or that will be reflected on your grade" she said cordially.

Alphonse wanted laugh but managed to restrain himself. This was the man that made everyone fear going up to the front. Watching the change sweep across was interesting, and a tad interesting "ok, sorry Mrs. I'll take the advice." He cleared his throat and continued "As I was saying…" He smiled, feeling himself more confident and relaxed by the time he started saying the conclusions, the class was interested as he started to loosen up and now that the teacher was giving reassuring nods instead of disappointed shooks. After finishing the presentation people clapped for him as he took his seat he got over his stage fright, and still surprised by the way he did.

---

Two more expositions went by and things went fairly smooth. Alphonse simply relaxed watching the aftermath surveying what happened. It was interesting seeing people he knew were the opposite gender. They acted pretty normal, as if they were natural they went by different names behaving normally, girls were girls and boys were boys. The teacher, certainly had changed as well, she was no longer tough and strict against the students, but actually learned empathy by losing his manhood. Eventually, on class was over as the final expositor finished the presentation.

Alphonse stretched and smiled "great morning" he muttered to himself as he packed up his stuff, people seemed to head out to continue with their lives, he wondered how severe the change was? And why he wasn't affected? Will their families change to fit this? The moment he stood up he felt something hot against his chest. He took his time to unbutton part of his shirt to take a look at the necklace he bought earlier that day.  He remembered it having a moon embedded, but now it was missing and instead "Wishes granted. Full-moon-wish-granter" was written in cursive were in its place. Al gasped as it started to make sense, his wish was that this was easier for him… and it worked, leaving aside to odd way it happened. He started to imagine the possibilities with something like that. "But, it says once every full moon. So it's out of power… but I'm keeping this" he muttered. As the students started leaving he stumbled upon some guy.


"Hey, nice presentation, bro" He comments greeting Al. He was already aware that one was previously a girl, yet it was hard to know who he used to be and since he didn't knew most of the people he could even be talking over to a stranger. "there was a huge difference between the beginning and the end."

"Yeah, I was sort of nervous at the beginning" He admitted as we moved out of the classroom. "by the way, my name is Andrew." Knowing that the next logical step was that the guy would introduce himself as a response.

"Seth, and I really wonder,  what happened on between, it was like they were two people. Seth by the way" says offering a handshake, thing which Alphonse accepted. Right then, he noticed something was off. His grip, it was a tad more delicate, and his skin was softer. Upon inspection Al noticed it wasn't normal, Seth had girl hands.

"Uh…, I sort of tried to distract my mind and not think too much on the problem nor on the teacher's eyes on me. He answered as Seth's black hair started to grow longer down her neck. His features were feminizing, becoming sort of cute as breasts started to grow under her changing shirt. Her whole figure was that of a petit girl with a sweet smile. Al wondered why the change back did take barely seconds. Glancing at the back he could see people starting to revert too… girls becoming guys and viceversa. That was really freaky. Then again, he didn't have to worry about altering history and no one was freaking out.

The new girl, formerly known as Seth giggled "that was  quite funny, let me know how you do it, it's really intimidating, and I'm going next class and I still have to prepare my dress for it" she whispered as the teacher passed by. Mr Arditto waved at him giving him a discrete thumb up. It seemed that they all recall or were aware during the presentation. The teacher seemed to have a good impression from the second half of my presentation, yet didn't seem to notice all that went on.

Alphonse smiled and lead the way to the exit of the building "I'll teach you. Well what I did. First, you have to imagine the audience change... "