Jonatha made the whole trip from the hotel back home in silence, like the other boys. He noticed Jade was too busy on his phone, as were Jaymee, Jordina and Brandi. Rielle was busy reading Gaia Shrugged (again), and strangely, he was the calmest person on the bus. Maybe Rielle's one of those psycho people that they keep talking about on TV, he thought.
But his mind was overtaken by guilt. He knew why Maddie had gone to the hospital, but for some reason, he didn't run to help him or anything. What a great half-brother I am, Jonatha said to himself. Why didn't I help him? I should be with him and not here. He looked out silently at the passing cars on I-5. _I really wish all this didn't happen... Wait! A thought emerged to him. I still have that wishing stone. But... I can't reverse wishes. Grandpa...or I guess grandma?...said so. But I can lighten my burden. He thought about what Maddie Carlyle and his dad must be going through right now.
Jonatha spent the whole bus ride mentally writing the wish. It had to be a definitive wish, but with a failsafe. A way to escape from it if things just went from bad to worse.
"Hey blonde head," Jade called to Jonatha, interrupting his thoughts. "Wanna hang at my place later?"
"I was thinking about doing the opposite," Jonatha replied. "Why don't we hang at my place. I swear, my sister is not going to annoy us."
"Deal," Jade said, already thinking about how to tell Jonatha about Connora.
An hour later, Jonatha finally arrived home. Zoe was sitting in the living room with a large tablet in her hands and papers scattered all about.
"Hey bro, how were regionals?" Zoe asked her brother without taking her eyes off her work.
"We got second place," Jonatha explained as if it were nothing.
"First loser. Poor you... Glad I didn't bet money on you," she replied as she continued working on what appeared to be a presentation.
"By the way, Jade is coming." He looked at Zoe, who was focused. "Can you give us some privacy?"
"Of course. I'm preparing to argue to mom why I should do an unpaid internship. I've even selected the company where I want to intern."
"Aren't you a little young for that?" Jonatha asked his sister.
"Nah... Look at Gene Rometty of IBM. She started about my age and now she's heading up one of the world's largest technology companies," she explained defensively.
"I'm sure mom will say no, but..." Jonatha sighed. "It is your life, after all." He walked up the steps and to his room, pulling out the stone from the drawer in his nightstand. He looked at the box for a moment and wrote down the wishes he had thought of on the bus ride. For the first time in a long time, he was anxious. This time, he felt, he had the power to help a lot of people and make their lives better.
"Jonatha! Your playdate's here!" Zoe called up from downstairs in her husky voice. By the time Jonatha made his way down the stairs, Jade was already sitting in an empty chair in the living room.
"Hello again."
"So...second, right?"
"Yeah, second place, but still plenty enough to compete at state. You know, that's not the best thing that happened to me over there," Jade began.
"What do you mean?" Jonatha asked, surprised.
"I think I...found someone there."
"Hopefully she's not a hothead."
"Well, this time it's not a she."
"What!?" Jonatha tilted his head in shock.
"He's the captain of the South Everett Boy Lionesses!" Jade looked dreamy-eyed. "He's so amazing! Boyfriend, I don't know where to start."
"Wait what? The team that won state?" Jonatha's facial expression clearly conveyed how much of a time he was having processing the news. He remained silent.
"You're spacing out. Jonatha, you OK?" Jade asked, worried that he had done something to hurt his relationship with his best friend.
"No, yeah, I'm fine," Jonatha mustered weakly.
"You don't...sound like it," Jade replied, starting to get up. "I think I'm gonna get going—"
"No!" Jonatha shouted. "Please stay. I'm just not used to thinking of you as gay or bi. I mean...you used to be so...I dunno, normal."
"And now I'm a unicorn. Great point," Jade added sarcastically, getting up in a huff.
"Let me fix it," Jonatha begged.
"Alright," Jade sighed. "You have one chance," he said with some anger.
"I'll tell you more in my room." Jonatha got up and motioned for Jade to follow him back upstairs.
"What is it?" An annoyed-sounding Jade sat on Jonatha's bed.
"What you brought up is part of the reason I invited you over," Jonatha explained, closing the door behind him. "I think we need to let go of all this old world baggage. Not everyone's like you in embracing all this so quickly." He took a seat beside Jade. "Take me, for example. I remember you being a short-haired straight guy who easily got distracted by fictional women and never dared to venture into romantic or sexual turf. Now you're a sexy and confident boy, still book-smart, but athletic and with a romantic life more intense than any reality show celebrity. I mean, these things come to you naturally and don't surprise others, but they still surprise me."
"So... You're not shocked by me dating Connora!?"
"Jon would be. I'm not," Jonatha replied. "He does have a cute name, I gotta say." He chuckled a bit. "But, like... I remember you as open-minded, but my mind throws up two sets of memories at every turn and it's difficult. I want to end this struggle."
"And who are you now?" Jade replied, confused.
"Jonatha with Jon's memories? I dunno." He looked around nervously. "Sometimes I'm full-on Jonatha, sometimes I feel like I'm a guy who looks like a girl. I bet the others who remember are suffering in the same way."
"I did too, Jonatha." Jade put an arm around his friend. "I may not be confused or scared, but those memories of the way things used to be come back to haunt me from time to time. Now I have a family that doesn't judge me or worry that I might be dating a boy. I'm just Jade Duncan, my father's good son. And I feel better than ever."
"That's the point. I want to be happy here and not swimming in other thoughts. They're preventing me from focusing. I feel like I'm starting to let others down. My teammates, Maddie—"
"You're not, but go on."
"So I've come to a decision." Jonatha pulled out a small box with a rock in it. "This is the wishing stone that got us here. I can't undo what's been done, but I can make my life and my friends' lives easier."
"You sure? It seems to have led to a bit of a disaster already," Jade commented skeptically.
"This time, I wrote everything down carefully." Jonatha handed him the piece of paper with both wishes written on it. Jade looked at the paper, careful not to read the wishes aloud.
"So you're setting a...time limit on the wish? What if we like it and everything gets better? Does everything go back?"
"Take a look at the past part," Jonatha replied, pointing to part of the note.
"It says that, after the day following the state championship, this wish can continue if nobody complains or suffers harm based on the wish's effects."
"I wrote this carefully. Word by word. And I added failsafes."
Jade looked at Jonatha with some trepidation. "And...are you sure about this second wish? Are you sure you want that to happen, Jonatha?"
"I feel really guilty for not helping Maddie today," Jonatha added. "And I feel I owe it to him and to the squad to save him from impending disaster."
"If you say so."
"I think I'm ready." Jonatha unfolded the piece of paper and grabbed the wishing stone. He took a deep breath and began to read.
"I wish that, as of tomorrow morning, I, and my friends on the cheer squad, would forget everything we remember about the old world. These memories would be dormant and resurface two days after the state championship. This wish may be extended indefinitely if none of the people affected complain and no harm is caused by any side effects of the wish."
The stone flashed with heat for a moment. Jonatha took another deep breath and read the other wish.
"I wish that, as of tomorrow morning, Maddie Carlyle and I were twin brothers because Maddie's dad married my mom, that he was always part of my family, that no harm or pregnancy happened to him, and that my siblings would remain our siblings."j
