Zoe Gibson had been completely erased from existence. And since she was never born, her inheritance from her grandfather went to someone else. And that person was a girl named Jessica ... Jessica Gibson.
The circumstances involving Zoe's birth changed so that Zoe was never born, but a year later, Jessica was born. And she grew up having a much better life than Zoe did. She got along with her parents better, she got really good grades in school, and even joined her school's girls basketball team. She wasn't a girly Prep like Sarah McMillan or Melissa Smith, etc., but she was fairly popular, nonetheless.
And since she was one year younger than Zoe, she still attended the middle school down the street. She was in eighth grade, though, so in the fall, she'd move up to high school. And she was really looking forward to it.
Jessica was still at home, eating breakfast. School for her wouldn't start for at least another forty-five minutes. She had plenty of time to get to school on time. But even if she didn't, she could still use the inheritance she got from her grandfather.
The wishing stone was an unbelievable thing, but it did work. It really was real. She made a few wishes the previous night. They were small ones, but they all came true. Today, she was going to bring it to school to show it to her best friend. The stone was going to knock her friend's socks off.
