It seemed strange to Scott (#2). He was sitting on his own bed next to a woman who he had never met before the other day, with her seeming twin entering the room and about to give them a piece of her mind.
Only the one he was next to wasn't a stranger. It was him. Just as much him as himself, knowing all his private thoughts and desires, all his secrets, liking all the things he liked. She looked hot, and the idea that she liked him and was like him certainly didn't make her less attractive--except he knew that she was less approachable than any other teenage girl--unless he was a girl too, which he wasn't.
And the other one was Dad. No boy ever thought his dad was cute, until now.
His dad spoke up. It sounded like his "sister", but there was little in the way of the relatively friendly tones of someone his own age.
"Scott, Scott, I don't know what to do with you." Scott snickered; the use of his name twice for emphasis could be taken in a far more literal manner. "This whole thing is crazy, but I have to admit it's the truth. I can't not admit it. Your mother and I have talked it over and we've decided that you're grounded until you change me back and make up for what you did.
"But Dad..." said Scott #1. The voice was identical but the tone wasn't.
"No buts," said their dad. "You told me I may be able to change back today and be better than before. Well, when I can, the punishment is over."
"What about me?" asked Scott #2. "I didn't do anything at all!"
"You're both Scott, and you're obviously working together. even if only one of you had their hand on the medallion. You're both grounded until you change me back and that's final.
#2 was waiting in his room when #1 came up the stairs again. "How was breakfast?" he asked.
"I was worried that I would have to hide forever and I could never eat again, so breakfast was pretty good."
"Yeah. And at least Dad didn't take away the medallion, sister."
"I'm not anyone's sister."
"But it's so weird calling you Scott. First, you're a girl, and second, Scott means me. It always has."
"Come on, we don't have a sister. Calling me that is just as weird. You know, I think we have to live with this. Exactly how could the medallion change us back? It could change me into you, but there would still be two of us."
"You mean forever?"
"I don't know. I think so. But not with me as your sister. No way. We're going to have to decide who gets everything. Split this room down the middle. Then we need to figure out who gets to be called Scott to our friends, because there's no way we can tell them about the medallion. One of us has to be the 'real' one. And what do we do about school? Spring break isn't going to last forever."
"Lemme guess," said #2. "One of us has to be the real one, but don't dare say it's you just because you're a girl."
"You guess right. I'm not trying to argue with you since you're me and all... but look at it from my side. This isn't my body. It's the body of some girl we don't even know."
"Chill out, okay? Maybe you should test the amulet again. I'm not going to steal being Scott from you and once you change back you won't have to worry so much anyway. Your period could end any time. It could be five days long but your body already thinks it had four days and 23 and a half hours."
"I don't think so."
"If you don't keep trying, we're going to be at each other's throats." A thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute. Are you acting this way because you're on your period?"
"I am not," she said acidly. "But all right, I'm trying again." She got up and headed for the same closet as before, touching it to the same shirt as before.
They watched and it didn't, of course, work. "See?" she said.
Given that they were already in Scott's room, it was time to play video games. Seldom would Scott (either one) have as equally matched a partner, and it helped pass the time. At about 10, the redhead left to go to the bathroom.
Scott #2 imagined his "sister" in the bathroom, slightly puzzled just like he was when he was the blonde and in the bathroom. She came out and returned to his room. He said 'hi' and she nearly ignored him.
"Hold on," she added.
"What?"
"There was hardly any blood. I think I was on the borderline. I'm going to try again." She headed straight for the closet and touched the medallion to a shirt. When she sat down and her arm started to transform, it stayed that way. Her arm began to grow, or so it seemed, and a wave of newly darker hair spread over it, then down to her hand and up to her arm, and past the edge of her shirt.
One transformation later, there were two Scotts.
"Now that I'm me," said #1, "how about you be the sister?"
"Oh, don't be funny, just because you think you're me... wait a minute, you weren't serious, were you?"
"As a matter of fact I was! I've been a girl for long enough and besides, you changed first. You can transform again at about 6 PM. Dad can transform at about 9:15 and me not until 10 PM. We can't do things outside the house when both of us are Scott--people would wonder why there are two of us. One of us has to transform before it's safe to go out. You can transform first so it has to be you."
"You're forgetting something, ... Scott."
"What?"
"Dad."
"What about Dad? Oh. Yeah. We can't go out until we change Dad back anyway. So if we go outside with me transformed it's only 45 minutes after we could go out with you transformed. Still, 45 minutes is 45 minutes. And I've been a girl for longer than you...."
