John tried to get the stone back for the next three days. The first day she continued to try to reason with Mikey, begged even, to just make her older and hopefully male again. He could keep the stone, she promised. She hadn't really expected it to work and it didn't, but it was useful to engage Mikey in conversation to get some clue of where he might keep the stone or what he had done with it. Mikey had just been starting to get irritated by her pestering when their mother showed up and whisked "Joan" off to ballet practice of all things!
John hadn't been sure if this was just some naturally occurring facet of her new life or if Mikey had wished for it while she was out of earshot, but she spent the next two hours doing echappes and piles. By the time Mom had picked her up, got them both something to eat, and made it home Mikey was already out for the evening. John took the opportunity to do some snooping in his room, but didn't find the stone. She doubted he had even left it there, but felt compelled to check. A few moments later, not only had she wished she had left well enough along, John also had confirmation that Mikey had wished the ballet practice on her. Mikey caught her snooping and angrily ordered her out of his room. John fearfully scurried off to bed.
The next day she was enrolled in Girl Scouts. Mikey warned her at breakfast that he'd keep finding ways for her to stay out of his business if she didn't stop trying to get the stone, but jst to keep things interesting he hadn't wished she couldn't use it. That way she could keep trying if she was really that dumb. Feeling the walls of the prison that was her life closing in on her John decided for to try one last thing. She called Karyn.
Thanks to Mikey's wish, only he and John knew who John really was. In fact, Mikey had essentially taken John's place in Karyn's life, but Karyn still knew about the stone. She remembered accidentally using it to wish for hair and boobs like Sarah. If John could get her to listen, to make her believe, she might convince the older girl to "borrow"it form Mikey and set things right!
It was her last chance...
