Chad woke up to his alarm at four in the morning and immediately hopped out of bed and started on his morning pushups, sit-ups, and squats. After finishing two sets of one hundred of each he got dressed in some light workout clothes and stopped by the bathroom on his way to the stairs. After making his way downstairs and grabbing a banana he took a moment to enjoy the quiet darkness as he ate in the kitchen and started filling up his water bottle. Banana finished and bottle filled, he grabbed a grey hoodie and left for a quick morning run.

  Somewhere along the run he actually woke up and began contemplating the day before him.

  It was Friday which meant he had calculus, U.S. history, AP literature, and weight training today. Except there was also a pep rally in the morning that would eat up a large portion of his calculus class.

  Chad couldn't help but grin a little at the thought of missing his least favorite class. He really did his best, but he somehow never got his grades higher than a B in math, and his calculus grade was barely hanging in there at a C+.

  His run was just about finished and the sun was rising on a new day as he ran down the sidewalk towards the Rich household. Through the front windows he could see his mom getting breakfast ready and his dad sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Chad chuckled at how his parents seemed to enjoy being as stereotypical as possible and ran upstairs to take a quick shower.

  It was still before six AM when Chad sat down at the breakfast table.

  "Good morning sweetie! How was your run?" His mom asked with a bright smile as she set out plates full of eggs, bacon, and hash browns.

  "It was cold, which is pretty nice for a summer run."

  "I'm so proud of you, my big baby boy."

  Chad cringed a little at being called a baby boy, but he knew his mom meant well and responded with a crooked smile.

  "Thanks mom."

  "What about me?" Chad's dad put his paper aside and looked over his glasses at Chad's mom.

  "What about you?" Chad's mom responded cheekily as she went to grab a jug of milk and cups.

  "Oh come now. You know perfectly well that I have a crippling need for validation from my beautiful wife."

  Chad rolled his eyes and started on his breakfast as his parents continued back and forth. The sound of someone trudging down the stairs prompted Chad to turn and watch his sister shuffle over to the table and begin eating in silence.

  "Are you leasing out your hair to small animals?" Chad asked while staring at the truly impressive tangle of brown atop his sister's head.

  "Shut up you morning freak. Leave me to my bacon."

  Chad's mom took a break from her flirting to make a face at Chad's sister. "It's not nice to call your brother a freak sweetie."

  At this point Chad was already finished with breakfast and he stood up to finish getting ready for school. "See you at school mop top."

  He stood in front of the mirror as he brushed his teeth and shaved. He was almost too tall for the mirror at six and a half feet tall, 'not to mention almost too attractive for the mirror' he half-joked to himself. His eyes were a warm brown, his features were defined and symmetrical, and his hair was dark brown and stylishly cut. After he was done brushing his teeth he grinned, revealing a row of white even teeth. And with that he was off to school, driving his dad's old truck.

  An hour later he was walking from the school parking lot and towards a few friends from his weight training class.

  "Hey guys, ready for the pep rally?" Chad asked.

  "Chad! My dude!" Said friend A

  "Looking forward to it Chad." Said friend B

  "I kinda hate pep rallies to be honest." Said friend C

  Chad patted the last guy on the shoulder. "Just bear with it. Some people love pep rallies like you love gaming."

  "Weird, but fair." Said friend C with a shrug.

  "Sorry to bail guys, but I gotta help set up the pep rally." Said Chad with a bright smile.

  "Yo! You hate calc that much?" Asked Friend A with a look of slight disbelief.

  But Chad was already running at the mere mention of the dreaded subject.

  "Hey Chad!"

  "Good morning Chad."

  "Chad Rich!"

  Chad was bombarded with greetings as he walked down the hall and towards the gymnasium and he responded to all of them with at least a smile, making sure to single out friends or cute girls for handshakes, back slaps, or hugs. He was easy to single out given how tall he was. The attention might've been overwhelming for most, but Chad loved every second of it. He knew he was the coolest, nicest, and hottest guy in school, and everyone knew it.

  "Excuse me, Mr. Rich?"

  Chad turned around and saw a rather petite woman wearing a tracksuit and glasses walking towards him.

  "What can I do for you Ms. Hayes?" Chad asked as he recognized his weight training teacher.

  "I need some help moving some of the equipment later. We're finally going to get the leg press machine away from those treadmills. It would've been so much easier if the outlets were in a more convenient spot, but it can't be helped."

  "I'd be happy to help my favorite teacher. What else are these muscles good for anyway?" Chad asked, flexing a rather large bicep.

  "Oh... Um, hahaha yes. By the way, you're turning eighteen next month right?" Ms. Hayes asked slightly breathily.

  "That's right, on the fifteenth. Why do you ask?"

  "I just thought it would be fun if we celebrated it together. I mean in the classroom! With other people around!"

  Chad already knew Ms. Hayes was interested in him, and she was by far the hottest teacher in school. But he figured it was best to feign ignorance. He wanted to finish his senior year strong, and getting involved with a teacher never ended well. Probably. She was hot though. Chad excused himself and continued into the gym and started helping to set everything up for the rally.

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  half an hour later he was still helping set up some sound equipment along with a few other students and a couple teachers. In just a few minutes everyone would get called to the gymnasium for the pep rally to try and get everyone excited for the upcoming year and sports season.

  'I can't wait for this year' Chad thought with a light smile. And then, as though to shatter his hopes and dreams, he heard a gunshot. He froze for a second, unable to believe what he was hearing. Then there were screams, and more gunshots. Chad thought of his sister for a moment, imagined her getting gunned down in her classroom. Before Chad made any conscious decisions or even thought about what to do, he was already running through the halls. Not towards safety or a place to hide, but straight towards the sounds of gunfire.

  'What the fuck am I doing?! If I die it's all over, there's no coming back from that man! Why am I still running?! Why is time moving so slowly?!' Chad felt sick to his stomach, and every sound other than the gunshots seemed to fade as his mind seemed to come into focus.

  Then he turned a corner and saw the student standing in hallway, a pistol in his right hand and a rifle slung over his shoulder. The student was facing him and started to say something and raise the pistol, but Chad didn't even hear what he was saying. There were students laying on the floor in pools of their own blood, but Chad didn't notice them either.

  Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Chad ran straight at the shooter. He vaguely recognized him, but that wasn't important. Chad ran harder than he'd ever run before, but it felt like he was running through molasses. The shooter looked slightly panicked and aimed the pistol at Chad's chest, but it seemed like he was moving through the same molasses that Chad was. Then the gun fired, and Chad felt a tearing sensation in his gut, but he kept running. The gun fired again, and Chad stumbled as something slammed into his left shoulder, but he was almost there. The gun fired for a third time and Chad felt something hit his chest, and he started feeling cold. Then with a final surge of strength Chad threw himself at the shooter and slammed into him.

  There were a few things that Chad didn't consider that ended up proving fortunate. First he was a full foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than the shooter. Second he avoided getting shot in the head, knee, or spine. And finally, the shooter was standing in front of several metal lockers. And so he slammed into the smaller student like a battering ram, and a loud slam and a sickening crunch sounded through the silence and Chad could hear the screams again as he lay on the floor. He had to get up, he had to stop the shooter.

  But there weren't any more gunshots, which was a pretty good thing by Chad's estimation. Especially because he couldn't seem to move, or breath. He heard some people calling his name, but they sounded farther and farther away.

  'Who would've thought? Chad Rich giving up his life to die a hero?' He tried to laugh, but he just choked on his own blood. The hall seemed to be growing darker, which was odd. He felt tired, so tired. He closed his eyes, and everything just fell away.

  Chad felt warm, which was odd because he was pretty sure he was dead. Then he realized he couldn't feel his body, which was odd because he felt warm. Chad existed in this general state of confusion until something strange popped up and shocked him out of his funk.

  Would you rather stay dead, or be reborn?

  The words just popped into existence in his mind as text. Chad was taken aback, but he supposed it made sense for the afterlife to work that way if the options were die or reincarnate. 'Guess I'm really dead then.' he thought with some conflicted feelings. He was a little bitter at being killed so young, but he supposed there weren't a lot of better ways to go out. After spending another moment to feel sorry for himself he decided to choose to be reborn. And as soon as he chose, the text changed.

  What is your favorite color?

  'What the... Is this some kind of online quiz or something? Yellow, or black I suppose.'

  What is your ideal family size?

  'Okay, this is getting kind of weird. Why am I getting quizzed? Are they trying to psychoanalyze me? I'm gonna throw a curveball and see if I can throw off the test results. Fifty thousand.'

  What is your favorite food?

  'Still more questions. Maybe bananas, no they're not my favorite. Should I say the blood of my enemies? Actually that sounds super gross... Something sweet I suppose, like a dessert or something? Do I have to choose something specific?... I'll take that silence as a yes. I like baklava.

  What is your favorite book genre?

  'Adventure fantasy.'

  Would you give your life to save others?

  Chad's thoughts froze at the question. Then anger swept through his mind at whoever was asking these stupid question. Wasn't the answer to the question obvious? Why else would he be here? If he could have been gritting his teeth, then he would be right now. 'Yes...I would.'

  Searching for ideal life based on the preferences of Chad Rich...

  'Uh, what?' Chad was at a loss for a moment as he realized how relevant the stupid quiz actually was to his reincarnation. He could have figured it out with two seconds of critical thinking, but he had just been shot and died. After agonizing over his own stupidity, Chad roped his thoughts back on track and tried to remember his choices. Yellow or black, family of fifty thousand, baklava, adventure fantasy, and self-sacrifice... 'That's a bee. I don't know about the adventure fantasy angle, but everything else equals bee.'

  The ideal life for Chad Rich has been located. Initializing soul transfer.

  Chad felt his mind beginning to slip away in a similar fashion to when he died, and he was cursing at himself and the quiz with his last thoughts.

  Chad felt awareness return to him and he felt warm again. 'Oh for the love of...' At first Chad thought he was back in the strange space where he had no body, but he quickly realized that he felt pressure in addition to warmth. Also he could see some hazy light, and hear some strange loud noises.

  Chad was somewhat used to abrupt awakenings given his regular schedule, and he tried to shake himself awake. It worked a bit to clear his mind, and he did shake a bit, but something was pressing around him and preventing him from moving much. He felt some compulsion to move in a certain way and considered whether this was an instinctual compulsion or some kind of mind control by the voice in his head.

  Ultimately Chad couldn't move or see anything clearly, so he decided to just go along with the compulsion. He felt something in his face or head flex, and was shocked to see some material in front of him tear open. He could see flashes of something happening through the tear, so he kept flexing his face and generally moving instinctually. After what felt like too much effort he felt himself pulling out of his confinement. The movements felt a bit strange but natural at the same time, which was itself strange. Then he could see the world around him, and to him it looked like a painting of hell.

  Chad had emerged from what he now saw was a vertical wall of honeycomb that gave him an excellent view of the carnage below him. Two massive bears that must be over a hundred times his size were tearing through an army of bees. Actually maybe the bears were ridiculously small if they were out-massed by a few hundred bees. The bears were an unremarkable brown and looked like normal bears, except for the red streak along their head and back. Oh, and they were breathing fire. The bears were surrounded by the corpses of what looked like thousands of dead bees, that were constantly joined by the most recent victims of the bears' claws and breath.

  Chad was shocked at the sudden violence of his new life, slightly despairing at the fact that he'd probably die minutes into his new life. He also faced the fact that he was a bee. It was kind of obvious earlier, but he was still shocked by everything that happened since hearing the gunshots at school. He stood watching the carnage for what felt like minutes, before he had another realization that struck him at his core.

  'Those bees are my family.' The thought seemed to echo in his mind and stir something inside of him. But before figure out what to do, he realized he was already moving. Unfortunately this resulted in him falling off the wall. He flailed futilely until he slammed into the ground upside down, and promptly passed out.