John felt sick as he stared at the stone in his hand. Sarah didn't realize what she had just done. Now everyone in the world was going to think he was a girl and had always been a girl. Even Karyn! For the rest of his life! He was going to have to spend the rest of his life pretending to be "Jen." That thought was a terrible one. John shivered.
John frowned at the stone. Maybe it wouldn't actually be permanent. Maybe he could still wish his way out of this. He didn't want to risk making some stupid wish and screwing things up worse, though, so he decided he would give himself some time to think things over first. Maybe he could tell Karyn, convince her he was really a boy, and they could think of a way out of this together. For now, as uncomfortable as it might be, he decided it was best to just stick things out as a girl. Who knows? It could be an interesting experience, as long as it wasn't permanent.
Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, and watching over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking, John stepped into the girls' locker room. He felt incredibly embarassed, but he was glad to see that no one else seemed to notice him. The girls in the locker room went about their business as though they didn't even care he was there. And why would they? After all, to them, he was just another girl.
John felt a flush of excitement as he looked around at a room full of half-naked girls. None of them were truly naked, but several of them were dressed only in their bras and panties, or shorts and a bra, and a few were even completely topless, apparently having opted to go braless today. A smile crept over John's face despite himself. Maybe this situation had some perks after all. This WAS most guys' fantasies, and he was living it in the flesh. (The soft, bare flesh.)
John's attention was finally tugged away from his new classmates by a flicker of motion from the corner of his eye. He turned and realized it was... himself. Or rather, his reflection, caught in a full-length mirror along one wall. It still reflected him, him as he saw himself, him as a boy. He looked just as out of place here as he felt.
Suddenly he was curious. Very curious. He reached into his pocket and touched the rock. "I wish I could see myself in the mirror the way other people see me," he whispered.
He looked instinctively away from the mirror. When he looked back, the mirror showed a completely different reflection. John found himself staring into the eyes of a girl his own age, her long, sandy-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a pink tank top, capri jeans, and flip-flops. Her hand was in her jeans pocket. John pulled out his hand, and she did the same.
He looked down at his hand, then at his body. He still looked like a boy, and he was still wearing a male t-shirt and jeans. Out here, he was still himself. But in the mirror.
He looked back, and she met his eyes. She was pretty... very pretty. Not hot, not in that Sarah McMillan way. She might blend into the background in a room full of girls. But she was unquestionably pretty, the perfect girl-next-door. John might have fallen for her, had he not BEEN her.
He was amazed to think that this was what everyone would see when they looked at him. She looked so... feminine. So completely different from himself. He saw traces of himself in his reflection... his ears, his chin, the family nose. His hair looked exactly like Zoe's had a year ago, before she'd gone all goth and dyed it black. But he never would have believed he would have looked like this, never could have extrapolated himself into the girl he saw looking back at him.
John had just decided he looked a lot like Jennifer Love Hewitt with paler hair when he heard someone call his name from a few feet away. He turned and saw...
