"Gender Flu: A Slam Dunk Love Story"
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It was another scorching summer afternoon at Riverdale High, and the gym echoed with the rhythmic pounding of basketballs.
"Hey, Ben, over here!" I called, tossing the ball toward my best friend.
We'd always been an unstoppable duo – me, the agile point guard, and Ben, the towering 6'5" black guy with a slam dunk that made the crowd roar.
Until, of course, Ben caught the Gender Flu.
"I'm open!" Ben shouted, but his voice sounded a little different. Higher. Softer.
He caught the ball and, for a second, I saw a flicker of the old Ben. Then, he stepped away from the basket and winced.
"What's the problem?" I asked, jogging over.
Ben looked down at his newly petite, 5'5" white-girl form and sighed dramatically. "Bro, I think I broke a nail."
"Again?!" I threw my arms up. "We still have an hour of practice left!"
Ben glared at me, blowing a strand of long blond hair out of his face. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to dribble with these... ankles?" He pointed down. "And don't even get me started on the boobs. They bounce everywhere!"
I tried to stifle a laugh. It wasn't funny—okay, it was a little funny—but Ben had a right to be frustrated. This whole situation was bizarre.
"Let's sit down for a minute," I suggested.
We plopped down on the bleachers, and Ben immediately began to fuss with his ponytail. "My basketball career is totally over, man," he sighed.
"Don't say that," I replied. "We just need to figure out how to, you know, adjust."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Adjust? Seriously? I can barely walk in a straight line without tripping over my own hips!"
I gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, you know what? You still have that competitive spirit. And we need that."
"Competitive spirit? Last time I checked, a spirit didn’t score points."
"No, but it can cheer people on."
That's when it clicked for Ben, like a light bulb flickering to life. "Cheer squad, huh?" he mused.
"Yeah, why not? We could use that enthusiasm on the sidelines," I grinned.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Ben had not only joined the cheer squad but had become the captain. Determination could do wonders, even in a body that felt foreign.
"So, Captain Ben," I whispered, leaning in as we gathered for a team huddle, "Ready to lead the cheers tonight?"
"Please, it's Becky now," he corrected, adjusting his cheer uniform. "And yeah, I've got this. By the way, nice pass earlier. You looked almost as good as me out there."
I chuckled, shaking my head. The rest of the guys hadn’t figured it out yet, but amidst the laughter and confusion, something else had changed between us.
Ben... sorry, Becky, and I had grown closer, and now, well, we were dating.
As we jogged back to the court, I looked at Becky and squeezed her hand. “And, whatever happens, you’ll always be my MVP.”
Becky grinned, flipping her hair. “Right back at you, partner. Now let's go show them what we've got!”
And as the game commenced and Becky led the cheer squad with electrifying energy, I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, everything was turning out just right.
This story was generated by user zach3 with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
AI Prompts
Prompt: Write a story with dialogue where my buddy and I were elite high school basketball players when my friend got gender flu, which was a flu that swapped peoples genders. My friend went from a 6'5 black guy to a 5'5 white girl. For some reason the flu could swap races too. My friend was in shock his basketball career was over. We tried to practice but he kept complaining about breaking a nail and that his boobs were to big and hips were wide and that threw him off too. Well he wanted to keep cheering us on so he joined the cheer squad and became the captain of the team. We haven't told the rest of the guys on the team yet but were dating now.
Response: It was another scorching summer afternoon at Riverdale High, and the gym echoed with the rhythmic pounding of basketballs. "Hey, Ben, over here!" I called, tossing the ball toward my best friend. We'd always been an unstoppable duo – me, the agile point guard, and Ben, the towering 6'5" black guy with a slam dunk that made the crowd roar. Until, of course, Ben caught the Gender Flu. "I'm open!" Ben shouted, but his voice sounded a little different. Higher. Softer. He caught the ball and, for a second, I saw a flicker of the old Ben. Then, he stepped away from the basket and winced. "What's the problem?" I asked, jogging over. Ben looked down at his newly petite, 5'5" white-girl form and sighed dramatically. "Bro, I think I broke a nail." "Again?!" I threw my arms up. "We still have an hour of practice left!" Ben glared at me, blowing a strand of long blond hair out of his face. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to dribble with these... ankles?" He pointed down. "And don't even get me started on the boobs. They bounce everywhere!" I tried to stifle a laugh. It wasn't funny—okay, it was a little funny—but Ben had a right to be frustrated. This whole situation was bizarre. "Let's sit down for a minute," I suggested. We plopped down on the bleachers, and Ben immediately began to fuss with his ponytail. "My basketball career is totally over, man," he sighed. "Don't say that," I replied. "We just need to figure out how to, you know, adjust." Ben rolled his eyes. "Adjust? Seriously? I can barely walk in a straight line without tripping over my own hips!" I gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, you know what? You still have that competitive spirit. And we need that." "Competitive spirit? Last time I checked, a spirit didn’t score points." "No, but it can cheer people on." That's when it clicked for Ben, like a light bulb flickering to life. "Cheer squad, huh?" he mused. "Yeah, why not? We could use that enthusiasm on the sidelines," I grinned. Fast forward a few weeks, and Ben had not only joined the cheer squad but had become the captain. Determination could do wonders, even in a body that felt foreign. "So, Captain Ben," I whispered, leaning in as we gathered for a team huddle, "Ready to lead the cheers tonight?" "Please, it's Becky now," he corrected, adjusting his cheer uniform. "And yeah, I've got this. By the way, nice pass earlier. You looked almost as good as me out there." I chuckled, shaking my head. The rest of the guys hadn’t figured it out yet, but amidst the laughter and confusion, something else had changed between us. Ben... sorry, Becky, and I had grown closer, and now, well, we were dating. As we jogged back to the court, I looked at Becky and squeezed her hand. “And, whatever happens, you’ll always be my MVP.” Becky grinned, flipping her hair. “Right back at you, partner. Now let's go show them what we've got!” And as the game commenced and Becky led the cheer squad with electrifying energy, I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, everything was turning out just right.
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