Jon swallowed hard as he turned a corner. His eyes were still burning from the frustrated tears he had shed on the way. It just wasn’t fair! This morning the world had been his oyster thanks to the wishing stone. He’d finally found the courage to tell Karyn how he felt…. well ok he’d been busy coming up with the best way to tell her when Sarah had shown up. But this time he’d have gone through with it, for sure! And now that chance was probably gone forever!
Because whatever Sarah had in store from him, would probably make him long for the time when his biggest worry was Karyn and Jay bonding over her book. Jon had been the first to read her manuscript of course, but he wasn’t much of a literature buff. All he could do was spellcheck it and point out scenes that felt off somehow. And then, as they were discussing her latest chapter during lunchbreak three weeks back, there was Jay. Swooping in with a head full of literary techniques and writing advice, after he overheard Karyn complaining how hard it was to get a certain point across.
“You look like you are about to have an aneurysm.” Jon jumped in shock when Sarahs voice spoke directly into his ear. But when he looked around the cheerleader was nowhere to be seen. She giggled “I used the stone to get a front row seat for your punishment, idiot. But watching you walk down this street is getting kinda boring. So I decided to tease you a bit more.”
“Tease?” Jon asked incredulously “You are ruining my life!”
“Yeah? Well it isn’t like your life was anything to look at anyway.” Sarah retorted unconcerned. “So tell me: What were you worrying about just now?”
Against his will Jon found himself saying “I was thinking how much time Karyn and Jay are spending together. And that I may no longer be the first person she turns to when you mess with her.”
“Oh.” Sarah cackled “Really? All the things I might do to you, and you are still worrying about her? Hehe, I can’t decide if that is sweet or just sad.”
It was all Jon could do to grit his teeth, instead of spitting back something that would get him turned into a toad or something.
Jon walked in silence for a while until Sarah continued “You know, that actually gives me an idea. Remember what I said about reading comics? Well as it happens I really like weird Japanese rom-coms with their love-triangles. The ones where the plot is set off by some accident with magic or strange gadgets to give it an exotic spin and maximize the fun for everyone involved. ”
There was a moment of silence before Sarahs voice returned
“Well you were right to worry. Your dumpy little friend was indeed crushing on nerdboy a bit. I took the liberty of ratcheting that up a few notches, just now. ”
Jon felt like he’d been punched in the stomach at the news. Unfazed by Jons anguish Sarah continued
“ So here’s the plot:
Thanks to my app, Karyn just admitted to herself she is crushing on Leonard big time. But it’ll be up to you Jonny boy to decide if you’d prefer the girl you love and your best friend to suffer in silence because like a proper manga-couple they will find it so very VERY hard to spit it out.
Actually, I didn't check how Jay feels about her. But I'd be surprised if he didn't latch on to the first girl that would give him the time of the day.
Quite the conundrum eh, and that’s before the magic comes in. They say love makes fools of us all. And Karyn is about to do something very foolish indeed. With the proof that magic is real stuck to her chest, she’s currently preparing a love-spell she remembers finding on a mysterious site on the internet, and which she didn’t double-check at all.
It’s just too bad she forgot to lock the door. Because that’s where you come in. Because now you are going straight to Karyns and you’ll arrive just as her mother is stepping outside to run an errand. She’ll let you in and you’ll go straight up the stairs and open Karyns door without knocking, disrupting her little ritual just as it is about to reach it’s climax.
And both of you will be caught in the backlash as the magical energies run out of control. When the smoke clears …” Sarah trailed of ” Well you’ll find that one out in a minute.” She added with a cackle.
Jon hadn’t even realized he’d reached Karyns house, until he found himself looking up and giving Ms. Black a friendly smile as she stepped out. “Jon! What are you doing here at this hour?” she asked surprised amending the statement with “Not that it isn’t nice to see you.”
“I uh,” Jon wanted nothing more than to run or plead for help, but instead he found himself shuffling nervously and saying “There’s something I wanted to tell Karyn. Is..is she there.”
“She is.” The older woman said with a knowing smile “Go right on up,” she continued holding open the door for Jon.
“You know…” she added as Jon walked past her “I was wondering why she asked if she could borrow one of my skirts.” She winked “Good luck, young man.”
Jons felt a pang in his chest at the thought whose attention Karyn was really trying to grab in this new reality. But his body just blushed, nodded awkwardly and then hurried up the stairs.
Without stopping to knock Jons body threw open the door with an elated smile. There was a scraping noise as the door swept against several items placed in a complex circle drawn on a mat in front of the door then a loud crash as it collided with a large wooden rectangle propped up against a chair in the middle of the circle. “Wha….” Jon began, instinctively stepping forward to catch the wooden panel before it could hit the ground. A moment later he realized he was holding the unhinged door of Karyns wardrobe.
He could see Karyn in the mirror, staring at him with a panicked look but her reflection was hazy, smudged. Then the Jon in the mirror began wavering as if someone had thrown a pebble into a still pond, and the two images in the mirror began to bleed into each other. Then, the whole world devolved into a whirlstorm of half-formed pictures and jumbled colors and Jon felt himself falling, fraying as the maelstrom tugged him this way and that.
Then: Darkness.
It took Jon some time to work out that he was lying on the floor. Why was he lying on the floor? He felt funny. Was he drunk? He had a vague memory of Karyn proffering a bottle of Tequila she’d liberated, Leonards sighing in defeat and raising his glass when his arguments met deaf ears, the taste of the stuff, someone suggesting they mix it with cola……..No. No. That had been new Years Eve.
Jon was pretty sure it wasn’t New Years Eve. Probably. Had he gotten drunk again? And why was it so dark? Because his eyes were closed. Duh.
