Another week had passed. Jon had started his new life as a girl in January. She started at age 1, so 14 weeks later she had just turned 8 years old.
Everyone saw her as a child, of course. Pretending to be a child in school was strange. Somehow she had to pretend to have a child's handwriting, or a child's knowledge. At one point she had to use the stone when a teacher got too suspicious of her.
But there was one complication she hadn't planned upon. She had received the stone right before the end of spring break. But she had wished that she'd be one year old starting with January. It was based on the old idea of the new year being embodied in a person who was born at the start of the year, aged during it, and died at the end. Except that she wasn't aging quite fast enough for that.
It would also mean she would be sent back in time a few months--to a time before she had gotten the stone or made any wishes. As a result, Jen found herself in a household with her parents, Mikey, Zoe... and the Jon from that earlier time period. None of them knew, of course, that Jen was aging every two weeks, since they found it all normal. None of them knew that Jen's rock was really a magic stone. Not even her twin brother Mikey--at least someone who would be her twin brother for the next two weeks before reality changes again.
She must have changed the past in several different ways just by being there. And any change she made would have itself changed every two weeks--whatever change she made to history by being 7, if she was 8 it would make a different change to history. But now there was a problem. Spring break was ending soon, which meant that her "brother" Jon would receive the magic stone. Maybe he'd just make the same wish and this would be a time loop. Did she even want him to? Or maybe he'd receive the stone, realize that his sister had a similar-looking one, and begin to wonder what's up. That could be trouble.
She kept the stone with her, hidden in one of the few pockets in her clothes. After dinner, she had to make a sandwich for her next day at school. She liked many of the same foods as Jon, needless to say, and she and him grabbed for the last fun-size bag of barbecue potato chips at the same time.
"Hey, give me that!" said Jon.
Jen and Jon were the only people in the kitchen at the time, so this was a perfect time. But a perfect time for what? She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to Jon or make a wish. She let go of the chips and....
