(Author's note: This is fairly long. Explaining the previous episodes is hard!)
Jon made his wish. "I wish I was in my own clothes and that no-one would think there was anything strange going on - particularly Mum." In a flash he transformed back to himself.
That was a very close call, thought Jon. He could really mess things up with an unwise wish.
Hmm. He needed some safety. "I wish to be unaffected by any more wishes I make on the stone..." He wouldn't want to permanently cripple the stone in his quest for safety, and added "until Karyn gets here or it's the end of the day." That should be safe.
Jon waited, and waited. He really wanted to go outside, but didn't want to miss Karyn. He toyed with the thought of just wishing her into his room, but he had already made her mad by changing her body; he wasn't going to push his luck any more by teleporting her out of a shower or something and pissing her off.
A good chunk of the morning passed while John fiddled in his room, played video games, tried to call Karyn but found nobody home, and, since he hadn't had breakfast yet, got hungry. On an impulse, he said "I wish I was downstairs where I could get some food from the kitchen."
Nothing seemed to happen. "Fine, be that way" he said to the stone. "I guess sending me downstairs counts as affecting me. I wish there was a bowl of cereal, a glass of milk, and a piece of buttered toast in front of me."
The cereal appeared. So did the milk. And so did the toast. He had forgotten to specify a plate and it fell on his desk, making a greasy spot on his math textbook since it had landed buttered side down.
Finally he got fed up and decided to go out looking for Karyn. And then it occurred to him. His first wish had put him into Karyn's waitress outfit. Which means that Karyn must be a waitress at the restaurant. Jon wouldn't be surprised if Karyn's shift had started and she was already here.
He took the stairs down and looked into the kitchen. Karyn wasn't there, but he could ask the cook. "Excuse me," he asked, have you seen Karyn around?"
"She's outside putting letters on the sign."
Jon thanked the cook and left. He used the back door to avoid the lunch crowds and walked around to the front of the house, which he had never seen before in its transformed state. There was a parking lot out front and the building was much larger than before. On top was a neon sign advertising "Mom's Restaurant." There was no way Karyn could be up there, he thought.
He looked around the parking lot. Eventually he saw another sign at the other end, at ground level. It read "HOUSE SPECIAL WITH SPINAC" in plastic letters and the rest was blank. Karyn was there with a metal bucket of letters, which she was using to replace the words.
"Karyn!" he yelled while walking towards her.
"I can't talk now!" yelled Karyn back. "Not until my shift's over!"
Jon made a quick wish. "I wish Karyn knows that I made this a restaurant, and that she's no longer a waitress."
And the bucket vanished, the sign had words from top to bottom, and Karyn was wearing her normal clothes. She was also running. She hadn't started running, she was already in the middle of a run as soon as the wish took place.
Karyn ran until she reached the front doors, then entered and looked around, astonished at the transformation, which affected the inside as much as the outside. She walked to the counter and sat down.
"Oh, Karyn! Thank god you're here!" said her friend Shelley.
"Oh, Hi Shelly, I'm not having anything today, I'm just here to see Jon."
"Well, this is kind of embarrassing," said Shelley, "but... Oh my God!" She stared off towards the swinging doors that connected the counter with the main area.
Karyn looked around to see what was there, but it was just Jon. "Hi Karyn!" he said. "Hey Shelly, what's up?!"
"Oh, not much Jon," replied Karyn, while Shelley was staring, saying nothing at all. "Let's go up to your room and talk..."
Karyn and Jon left the room. They had been discussing the stone and the situation for fifteen minutes when the door opened. Jon's mom, Shelley's mom, and Shelley were standing there. "Shelley," said her mother, "you've got something to say to Jon, don't you?"
Shelley reddened.
"Jon," said Jon's mother, "She won't say it, but Shelley really likes you. I'm sure she'd go out with you if you asked."
Jon thought it over. His mother wouldn't lie about that, and Shelley was obviously embarrassed. She must really like him. And Karyn was more of a sister to him and his mother knew it. "Sure" he said. "Shelley, would you go out with me to the fall dance tomorrow night?"
Shelley didn't answer, until her mother poked her. "I'd be glad to," she said, though she seemed to be grimacing a little bit.
"Well, we'll leave you here with your new boyfriend" said Jon's mom. "I know you don't smoke, Shelley, but let's call it a cigarette break."
"Have fun!" said Shelley's mom, grinning.
The two mothers left and Jon's mother closed the door behind her.
Strangely, Shelley was getting mad. She stepped forwards and made a fist, about to take a punch at Jon but stopped. "This is all surreal" she said. "Tell me what's going on, you fake! He's not Jon. I'm Jon!" She pulled out a stone from her pocket, which Jon recognized as identical to his own, and said "I wish I knew what was going on here." Then, she sat down against the bed and slumped while she tried to consider the knowledge that was passing through her head.
Jon decided that things were confusing enough that a wish like that was a good idea. He clutched his own stone. "I wish that Karyn and I knew what was going on here."
It was, if not simple, not impossible to understand either.
Jon had wished to be unaffected by more wishes. He had also wished to be downstairs. Somehow the stone had figured out a way to grant both wishes at the same time. How could Jon be unaffected and still be downstairs? The wish couldn't teleport him, or even force him to walk. Well, he had earlier wished to be in his own clothes. If that wish was interpreted in an unusual way--if it had been interpreted so he was Jon in Jon's clothes and Shelley in Shelley's clothes--that would satisfy all three wishes. Both Jon and Shelley were in their own clothes, Jon (up in the room) was unaffected, and Jon (now Shelley) was downstairs. They were both equally the real Jon, which is why they both had the stone. In fact it was as if there was only one stone in two places at the same time.
And while everyone remembered Shelley as if she was always around, Shelley hadn't existed the day before. Shelley's mom only had one child, Kelly, who was now Shelley's younger sister.
"Wow, you really screwed that one up," said Karyn.
"And I've got a date with myself tomorrow" pointed out Shelley. "And I know how Mom is. She's going to mention it to someone from our class, and word's going to spread. If only Shelley's mom hadn't been out there in her car to give Mom the idea...."
"And I've got..." said Jon. "Never mind, you said it. Um, I guess I'd better call you Shelley..." He gave Shelley a sympathetic hug, but couldn't help noticing how attractive she looked at the same time.
