Before Jon knew what was happening, her mother had dressed her in an old denim jumper of Zoe's, with a plain white T-shirt and a simple pair of panties underneath. "Wait," she protested, "I can't go to school like this!"
"Of course you can, dear," her mom laughed. "People do so all the time. And I'm not having you miss school for something so minor. Come on, breakfast time."
Under her mom's watchful eye, Jon ate a hurried breakfast of cold cereal. Before she could rush back upstairs to grab the stone and wish herself back to normal, her mother handed her her backpack and rushed her out the door in the direction of the bus stop. "Make sure to talk to the school nurse!" she called. "Ask how long this will last, or if it's permanent!"
As Jon stood there, trying to sort out her thoughts, Karyn came bounding down the sidewalk. Literally. She was on all fours, doing a cat-style front-legs-together, back-legs-together run that made her move in large bounds. Coming to a stop, she stood up and looked around. "Phew," she said, "I thought I was going to miss the bus for sure." She turned to look at Jon, then did a double take. "JON!?" she yelped. Jon nodded. Karyn began to snicker.
"It's not funny!" Jon protested.
"Sorry, sorry," Karyn said. "Yeah, I guess it does suck for you, being stuck like that. It's just so funny, you suddenly being a little girl."
"I'm not sure about 'stuck' yet," Jon said. "From what my mom said, it sounded like this is temporary. But she said it also might be permanent. And yes, it does suck."
Karyn nodded. "Temporary, huh? That's good, I guess. I personally wouldn't have a problem staying this way, but I suppose you'd disagree. Anyway, we've got the stone to help you if it does turn out to be permanent. We ought to try and alter the wish anyway; I don't want to see a bunch of peoples' lives screwed up because of this."
The bus pulled up, and they both got on. After a short ride, they were at school.
With the kids off to school, Jon's mom set about cleaning the house. "It's a pity Jon's so hung up on this," she murmured to herself. "I know it's hard at first, but I'm sure she'll be fine with it in a week or so." As she began to clean Jon's room, she noticed the stone sitting on his dresser. "Boys," she muttered. "What a mess they make. I'd forgotten how nice it is having a little girl around the house." She put her hand on the stone to pick it up. "I almost..." she whispered. "I...I wish this was permanent; I know I shouldn't, for Jon's sake, but I really wish this was permanent. I think she'd make such a nice young lady once she got used to it."
She didn't know it, but her wish had been granted; Jon's change was one of the few of the many changes that took place that year that were permanent. "More than that, though," she said, "I wish this junk wasn't lying around his room." She lifted her hand, only to find that the stone she thought she had seen was nowhere to be found. She blinked at the spot for a moment. "Too much coffee," she muttered, then went back to cleaning.
