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Chapter 7 - Ethan - The Top 1%


A couple of days had passed since the meteor crashed, apparently, life remained the same. 


As the alarm clock sounded Ethan woke up instantly. Since Mrs. Collins reprimed, he was trying to get to school on time. He went straight to the bathroom, put on his clothes and washed his face. 


“Anyone here?” Lauren knocked on the door. They didn’t have a locker in the bathroom so checking if it was occupied was a must. Although the home was huge, even having a swimming pool and a basket for themselves outside, they only had one bathroom. 


That of course, led to more arguments.


“Yes” Ethan answered


“Come on hurry up or I’ll be late” She said


“Go have breakfast and leave me alone!” As many other days, they didn’t start it in the friendliest way.


“Orgh!” Lauren complained as she went downstairs.


Ethan couldn’t avoid smiling. He loved bothering her, when they were younger he lowered her trousers in front of her friends, shoved her in the swiming pool or destroyed her favourite toys. 


Eventually, she grew beautiful and popular and it was harder for him to tease her around. That is why he still enjoyed these little moments at home.


As Ethan went downstairs finding her finishing breakfast. 


“Good morning! You can go to the bathroom now, hurryward” He mocked her, as he went to the worktop to prepare his breakfast.


Without even looking at him, Lauren ended what remained of her coffee and went to the sink to leave her dishes. 


Being next to her, Ethan realized that today she seemed as tall as he was. He looked slyly to her feet, wondering if she was wearing trainers with thick soles. Instead, she was wearing flip flops as she wasn’t dressed for school yet.


“What are you looking at weirdo?” She told him 


“Nothing, I just thought I saw something on the floor…” Ethan said defensively. 


She didn’t seem to realize any difference, she wasn’t paying him much attention since she was still mad. He decided that he was just being paranoid. She rolled her eyes and headed upstairs.


Ethan ended his breakfast and met Seth on his way to school. Although they lived together, the stepsiblings never went home together. Ethan had been doing this path with Seth since he repeated the course while Lauren always went with Brooke.



Their parents always told him that he should scort his sister but neither he or her wanted that. Moreover, his neighborhood was a safe place generally. 


There were a lot of yoga studios and gyms. Companies found out that in these kinds of neighborhoods in many cases men worked around the clock and mothers stayed at home, trying to stay fit so his husband didn’t bang his secretary. So, it was a safe place for women as any suspicious men activity would be called off to the police immediately.


Ethan saw Seth on their usual corner and started working side by side.


“Three days in a row being on time, very mature of you” Seth joked around


“Shut up!” Ethan laughed “Hold on one second” He checked his height near his best friend. He could check that he was taller than him, as usual.


“What’s on your mind?” Seth looked at him 


“Actually, it’s nothing. This morning I just felt as if Lauren was taller than before” 


“Girls don’t usually grow when they are 18 years old. Besides, she is 5’10 already.” As Seth said that he passed his arm on Ethan’s neck. “But I would hallucinate too if I lived with such a goddess!” 


Here we go again Ethan thought.”I told you many times, don’t talk about her in that way. Eww! If you lived there you would see how annoying she is.” Ethan couldn’t admit in publicly and to himself that she was that hot.


“Bah! Whatever, did you see the results of the elections?” Seth asked


Ethan was a little ashamed to admit that he not only didn’t know who won, he didn’t vote either. Neither candidate was worth the time.


“Candidate Miller?” He half answered, fearing the answer.


“Yeah! Finally we get a president who actually cares.” Seth said trymphly


Ethan had argued many times with his friend that she was no different than any other politician. She used misinformation and populism on very hard to deal subjects: Feminism, inmigration, patriotism, abroad conflicts… He knew that, as the other candidates, she was only there because of her own agenda and career, not because she cared.


He took a glance at the piece of news that Seth was checking on her mobile phone. Mrs. Miller appeared in a picture giving her opening speech. The headline: Women of America, fear no more, this is our time!”



Chapter 8 - Lauren - What if…


It was the last class of the day and Lauren was ready to go home. 


Bored with her last class, she just scrolled on her social media timeline of her phone. She had already deleted the 3 or 4 guys that added her on a daily basis. She didn’t even have her pictures public, but her profile picture showed her in a bikini. She loved it on that beach and liked the picture, but found herself wondering if she should change it to avoid stalkers.


She should be able to be herself without guys requesting to chat with her with bad, sometimes disgusting, pick up lines. Even in that, she was so different from Brooke...She loved posting sexy pictures. I don’t know, having 10 thousand followers that would die to be with me and follow my every command makes me turns me on Brooke, she told her when asked about it.


She hoped that within decades men would understand to respect women. Lauren didn’t want a matriarchal society in which men are servants to a female overlord (although... she would watch that movie). She just wanted a fair world where women had the same opportunities that men. That is why she believed in the current president, Mrs. Miller.


As she scrolled down, she found a post of @GirsForEqualiity that said 


This scientific states that he has discovered that men of the state of Kansas are losing height. Kansas here I come!” followed my 3 emojis laughing.


Lauren saw Brooke’s like on the post. 


“Pss” She called her, who was sitting on her left. “What is this about?” Lauren asked, showing her phone to her sneakily.


Brooke smiled “Oh it's just a post from a doctor that claims having received a few men that have been losing height lately. According to him, all of them had lost around a 1% of their original height” She said quietly “Which is obviously bullshit, but I couldn’t help being amused by the thought” She chuckled


Lauren felt attracted by the idea. A world where men and women shared an equal size. Or even better, a world where men were smaller than women. Because as they were more careful and civilized, the society would improve as a whole. 


She knew that the physical superiority decades ago, where strength was needed for many jobs, led to a society led by men. Even though the world has changed, the inheritance of that past still reflects on the board of directors or the politicians being mostly guys.


“Okey so that would be all for today folks.” Mrs. Collins said, ending the class. “And by the way, congrats girls on having the first female president. I am sure she will work as hard as she promised.” People clapped, both boys and girls. Not knowing yet how everything was going to change, big time.

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