She looked up. Her friend was approaching her. She needed to share this with someone. It was too much responsibility for one person.
Melissa Smith was a very different sort of a girl than Sarah. Melissa was attractive, red-haired, and had a figure that had started developing early and didn't stop. Melissa had almost ended up in with the cheerleaders and their crowd. Sarah had worked very hard to keep her friend from turning into one of those bitches.
The two had been friends since grade school, and while they were physically similar, they acted very different. Melissa was a fashion geek. She loved clothes. She loved reading about fashion, watching shows about fashion, talking about fashion.
It didn't seem that two such outwardly different girls would be friends, but they kept each other grounded.
"Where have you been all day?" Sarah asked.
"Watching the head cheerleader. Honestly, what was she thinking? That top? I should tell her..."
"Melissa...no. Remember what happened last time when you went anywhere near those bitches? Do you want to be like that freshman she treats like her own personal slave?"
She sighed. "You're a good friend, Sarah. I just wish..."
Sarah stopped her. "I have something to show you," she said, revealing it. "You won't believe this. It's a wishing rock."
Melissa looked at her. "A what?"
"I know it sounds crazy. But this rock grants wishes. But the wishes can't be reversed. I'll show you. See that branch?" She indicated a piece of wood that had fallen off one of the nearby trees. "I wish the bark on that branch was blue."
Melissa's eyes closed for a moment, as if she was going to sneeze, then she caught sight of the branch. Which was bright blue. She stared at it, then at Sarah. It was either a trick, or...
"My god, it really works!?"
"The scary part is this..." Sarah wished for the branch to be red.
Nothing happened.
"Why didn't it work?" Melissa asked, still not quite in the know.
"You can't undo wishes, which is what makes this thing so scary to me."
"So...if you wish for something, and it turns out wrong, you can't fix it?"
"Not entirely," Sarah said. "I wish the branch was very dark blue." The branch was suddenly a dark, almost black blue, which was a lot more innocuous than the bright blue it had been moments ago. "I can make a new wish which didn't contradict the old one and have it work. The branch is still blue. However, if I was to try and change it back to its previous brighter blue, it wouldn't work."
"Think of what we can do with this," Melissa said.
"I'm thinking it might be too dangerous," Sarah said. "What if some terrorist got it, and wished America didn't exist? It's limited, but he could turn a town into a wasteland and keep driving and wishing till nothing was left."
"I didn't think of that," Melissa said. "Can I try it?"
"Be careful," Sarah warned, handing it over.
Melissa fingered the stone, passing it from hand to hand, feeling its smoothness. The first thing she tried was wishing the branch back to light blue, with no success, trying different word combinations. She was just contemplating wishing for a new outfit when she was interrupted by a shrill voice.
