"Dammit Zoe!" Jon cried out. He stumbled after her, unfamiliar with both his new body, and clothes. The jeans were WAY tighter than he was used to, and kept his movement constricted to a mince, and his shoes, while flats, still gave him a 1 inch platform boost.
He stopped in front of Zoe, but she simply walked around him like he was a puddle on the sidewalk. Growling his frustration, he started to walk along side her, suddenly realizing his own stride was just as long, or rather just as short, as hers. He held his hand in front of her. "Give me your hand Zoe."
"What?" She quipped. "You want me to hold your hand? Aren't you a little old for that?"
"Raaagh! That's not what I mean. Let's just finish the bet already. I don't even think we can do this!"
"Well." Zoe ponders, with a growing smirk. "We're doing it right now."
"Yeah, but we've never done anything like this before!"
Zoe snickers. "I know. It's kind of exciting, isn't it?" Her brisk pace doesn't slow as she responds.
Jon makes a series of noises that almost sound like words as his desperation tries to find a voice. "W-well!" He finally stammers, before stumbling on a pothole. He barely catches himself, then scurries to catch back up. "If you won't finish these games, I won't bet you back to normal!"
"Oh well." Zoe shrugs. An act that's more subtle than she's used to thanks to her already compressed posture.
"O-OH Well?!" Jon shouts nearly in a frenzy. "I thought you wanted to change back."
At last Zoe stops, planting one heel firmly on the cement, and turning sharply. Jon nearly tumbles into her. "It doesn't matter if I want to change back." Zoe states with a shrewd patience. "What matters is... Whether or not YOU want to change back to normal more than me." A spontaneous laugh bubbles up, and her expression glows mirthfully. For the first time since Jon's wish that morning, Zoe's smile stretches from ear to ear. He'd be glad to see her that way, if it weren't at his expense.
"We have to finish the bet eventually!" Jon insists.
"I'm not so sure about that." Zoe ponders, her tone becomes less sinister, and more thoughtful as she continues. "I've thought about this before. You remember when we were kids, and bet on who could count out loud to one million first?"
"I..." Jon paused and searched his wish granted memories, finding a vague recollection of playing minecraft together with Zoe in his room. They had just gotten their report cards in and were bragging about who was smarter, when the idea of a bet started to bubble to the surface. They both started counting rapidly, but neither even reached 1,000 before throwing in the towel. "Yeah... Now that you mention it."
"Neither of us won... Obviously." Zoe laughed. "Otherwise, one of us would have had green hair for a week, if I remember the bet."
"Green goopy hair." Jon corrected her, and laughed despite himself. As his laughter fades, he continues the thought. "So... If I count to one million...?" his voice trails off.
"I don't know." Zoe responds. She chuckles. "Maybe I get green goopy hair, just like we bet all that time ago." She smirks. "And maybe, you get to stay a goth girl, until I decide to finish our thumbwars."
"It's not fair." Jon declared into the open sky. Zoe watched curiously, Jon waited hopefully. "The game... I mean." He clarified before repeating himself to any invisible forces that may be listening. "The game isn't fair. I don't agree that it's fair." Seconds passed, but there was no sign of the supernatural powers of the bet undoing his transformation.
"Nice try," Zoe purred, looking like the cat that killed the canary, "but there's only one way you're getting out of this."
Jon looked up, trepidation drawing a long pout across his face.
"I'll play you in a game of thumbwars. Just one." She puts her hand on her hip, and cocks her weight out to one side. "No matter who wins, I go back to my normal height and weight."
"What if I win?" Jon asked meekly.
"Nothing." Zoe states. "You're one game closer to finishing our best of 5."
"No way!" He stammers. "I'm not giving up my advantage for free."
"It's not really an advantage anymore is, it, Sis?" Zoe emphasizes the last word heavily.
"I..." Jon pauses as he reflects on his predicament. "No way. That's too much."
"Suit yourself." Zoe shrugs one of those small compressed shrugs again, and starts to walk away.
Jon stands in silence as he considers the deal. Then growls and starts to trot along side Zoe. The pair walk in silence for most of the rest of the way, until Jon finally speaks up. "How are you doing that anyway?"
"Doing what?" Zoe asks.
"The heels. I thought you couldn't walk in them."
Mirth overtakes her, as she half cheers, half chants, "You. Got. Played!" She starts to laugh. "Boots like this have been stock standard ever since I was turned goth" She pauses. "Maybe not quite this tall, but it's no biggie. All that tip toeing? That was me weaving my spiders web, and you flew right into it, little butterfly."
"Don't call me that." Jon mumbles bashfully.
"If I bet anything more serious, I was worried nothing would have been 'Fair' enough for you to accept." Zoe continued. "Truth be told, the only reason I decided to give it a shot was because you refused to flip the coin this morning."
"Huh?"
"Even though we already agreed to the bet, you could just... Not flip the coin, and I was stuck. So I thought I'd try the same thing" Zoe trailed off and tittered. "Now, you're stuck."
"Whatever. I was just having a bit of fun." He complained.
"And now I get to have some fun." Zoe concluded. The pair had nearly reached the front of the school, and Zoe was panting by the time they stopped, but her mood wasn't diminished for the hardship. If anything, the tight breath and chafing corset had become a battle scar, from a fight well won.
"You can have your height back." Jon offered, as they passed a chain link fence and neared a side door to the school building. "Before school starts. It'll save you a lot of trouble." He pressed the hard sale. "You won't have to get in trouble with the teachers for your heels, and it won't be as easy to walk around a crowded hall, as a flat sidewalk."
A calculating eye fell on Jon, sizing him up, before she countered. "Weight First. I go back to my usual weight, and I'll play a game of thumbwars."
Jon grit his teeth. He didn't want to give up his ace so soon. "No way." He stated without conviction, but stood still waiting on Zoe.
She just smirked, and cocked her hip to one side again.
"M-maybe... Maybe if I win, you just get your height back, but if you win you get your weight back?"
Zoe sighed, and looked away. "Fine. I'm not really interested in waiting on you to decide you don't want to be a girl anymore." Zoe shrugs. "If I wait too long, maybe you'll find out you don't want to change back."
"NO way." Jon emphasized, crossing then cutting his hands in utter rejection of the idea.
Zoe held out her hand, and Jon clasped it with a sigh. Again they recited the words, and again the fight began! Zoe was just as aggressive, and Jon almost got his thumb pinned twice, but the slender digit slipped away far more easily than he expected. He started to laugh. "Oh! Not as easy as you thought!" Unfortunately his slender thumb proved a double edged sword as Zoe slipped away just as easily. The fight lasted longer, but right as Jon's thumb was nearly pinned, and all hope seemed lost, He turned it side wise, and slipped on top of Zoe's digit. "Yes!" He cheered, but even as he did, his victory soured in his heart. Zoe swiftly shot up 6 inches, like she had stood up tall on her toes, and Jon realized his only real victory was being one step closer to shedding his goth girl body.
Zoe scowls. "I guess... The shoes weren't included in that bet."
Jon looks up to meet Zoe's gaze. "Oh... wow. You're tall." Jon appraises his sister for a moment, then concludes. "Now that I think about it, no, weren't."
"Oh well." Zoe laughs. "Thanks for the game, sis. I'll see you around." She pushes through the door to the school, letting it swing shut with a resounding clang.
Jon looked at his reflection in the window of the door as it locked shut, suddenly faced with the semi-permanence of his new body. The conversation, and competition had soothed the shock, but now he was left alone to live with the imminent undeniable reality. "Fuck" He stated flatly as he met his grey eyed gaze in the window. Before he could sink too deeply into his depression, the door swung open, and a voice sounded out, shrill and amused.
"Oh My God!" Laughter followed. "Jon?! How did you mess this up for yourself so bad?"
Jon grit his teeth and looked at the girl standing in the open doorway. "Hey Karen." He responded dryly.
