School

You feel mentally overloaded, like your brain is trying to reboot. The future of humanity depends on you, or more specifically, your super sperm. What the fuck?

You sit there in bed for a long time, breathing through the confusion. Your heart pounds like it wants to burst out of your chest. You desperately need your normal routine. If you keep thinking about alien invasions and super sperm, you might just lose your mind.

So, you get dressed. You pull on jeans and a shirt. You brush your teeth, even though your hands are still shaking. You shove everything into your backpack and **** yourself to step out into the world like it’s any other day.

Outside, the sky looks painfully ordinary.

By the time you walk through the school gates, you almost believe the morning was just a messed-up dream. No time machine. No future you. No talk of impregnating a hundred women to save the planet. Just lockers, fluorescent lights, and the smell of cafeteria waffles.

You sigh in relief when everything is exactly as you remember. Students rush to class. Teachers drink coffee like their lives depend on it. The hall buzzes with gossip about tests and parties and nothing world-ending.

For a moment, you really think you imagined it.

Except there is one difference.

The boys treat you exactly the same. They walk past you. They talk around you. No one cares.

But the girls? They notice you.

It is subtle at first. A glance. A double-take. Eyes trailing along your body like they are scanning territory. Your skin prickles. You feel heat roll low in your stomach. You have never been noticed like this before, and the shock almost knocks you off balance.

"Hi, Lucas!"

Evelyn Park, the class representative with perfect grades and the future valedictorian, smiles at you. Before, you were just a face in the crowd. Now, she stares at you with a smile. Bright. Intent.

Her voice is soft and genuinely warm. She pushes a strand of black hair behind her ear, and the gesture feels slow-motion, almost flirtatious. You swallow hard.

"Hi, Evelyn."

She keeps looking at you. Like she wants to keep talking. Like she is hoping you’ll start something.

She's not the only one. Amber Collins, the cheerleader captain and popular girl, is also staring at you. Blonde, blue-eyed, curvaceous. She is dressed in a cheerleader uniform that leaves her long legs and midriff bare. Before, a girl like her would never notice you. Now, her eyes are glued to you, and she also smiles when you look at her. It's the kind of beauty you used to avoid because looking at her too long hurt your self-esteem. Today, her gaze lands on you and stays. She smirks. She tilts her head like she is curious.

You were invisible yesterday. Now Amber Collins smiles at you like she might pull you under the bleachers and test your stamina.

Your brain fries.

You turn again and catch a different stare. Black lipstick, pale skin, dark eyeliner that could cut glass. Iris Knight, the goth beauty dressed in a black crop top and black shorts. She watches you like you are a new obsession. Like you are a secret she wants to unwrap slowly.

More girls glance. Classmates with boyfriends. Girls who never spoke a word to you. Even young female teachers brush past and do a tiny double-take, looking at you like you smell delicious.

The pheromones are real.

You have to admit, you enjoy the attention.

Who do you approach?