School had been weird to Joy. Everyone seemed to think she had always been this strange girl. Mostly they accepted her, having known her for a while, except for the usual suspects. Sarah was actually paying more attention to her than usual; she usually considered Jon to be an annoyance.
Sitting on her bed with the stone, Joy wondered about the stone. If a wish is made when someone isn't there, they think it's real. And Karyn had had the stone for an awfully long time....
"I wish I had a list of the wishes Karyn made after she stole the stone."
In front of Joy appeared a sheet of paper. Let's see, she thought. First, wish a girl had black hair... Probably a way to test it. The nails wish... No wonder they couldn't take the nails off themselves. The "become like your disguise" wish. Then... what? Joy and Alan falling in love?
But it seemed so real....
"Why did you call me over?" asked Alan. "You just said it was important, and you wouldn't tell me what..."
Joy hugged Alan and seemed almost about to cry, but her life as Jon and the idea that boys are discouraged from crying like girls made it hard. "Alan, we've got to..."
"Got to what?"
"We have to stop. It was a wish. I love you, but it's so wrong... we're just being forced..."
"Joy, get ahold of yourself. Calm down, I'm here..."
"Alan, it was a wish! A spell! It's just as if we swallowed a love potion. We don't really love each other. Think about it... would I really be interested in a guy? Would you be interested in a girl who looks like a guy with breasts and hips?" She reached for the list of wishes. Alan let her go so she could take it, and she handed him the list.
Alan read off the wish: "I wish that once Jon or Alan takes off the disguise and the other becomes a girl, the two of them will fall in love with each other." There was a long pause and he said "It doesn't matter, Joy, I really do love you. No matter what caused it."
"All I know," said Joy, "is that I can hardly trust the way either of us is thinking. Maybe we should get rid of it and decide if we want it back. I'm sure there's some way to do that."
"You don't really want to," said Alan.
"No, I don't," said Joy. "But what I feel about you never has been what I'd have expected myself to feel, and knowing it's a wish explains that."
"Can you really reverse the wish? And can we really reverse-reverse the wish later if we want to?"
"I think I can do that." Joy got up and picked up the stone.
Alan approached Joy and said "If we can just wait a little longer..."
"No! Alan, you're too convincing! You'll make me look at you, and not bear the thought of losing you, and then tomorrow we'll go through this whole thing all over again. I have to do it now!" Alan hesitated, and didn't even try to stop Joy from making the wish. "I wish that Alan and I are in love because Karyn's wish zapped a love potion into our food, and this potion wears off tonight."
There was an irritation in their eyes, and a flash. It was done. Or it would be done by next morning.
