Gently, slowly, Jen handed the magic stone over to Sam. Holding his hand, she asked him, "Have you thought about what you want to change about yourself?"
"All day long," Sam responded, as the sun began to dip below the top of the school building.
"I know it's not my original life," Sam said, "But at this point, I know this one better than my old one. And I like it better than my old one. I wish that I was a 17 year-old girl named Sarah McMillan, daughter of Belgian immigrants Leon and Micha McMillan."
The stone glowed, and Jen was forced to look away. When she turned back, the person before her was younger, shorter, and definitely female. She had the same elegant features that Sarah had this morning, and was wearing the same baby blue polo that Sarah had worn since geography class. But her shoulders were broader, muscles tauter.
"Anything else?" Jen asked.
Sarah nodded. "I wish," she said with a heavy accent, "that I spoke fluent English."
The stone glowed again, but there was no outward change in Sarah.
"I wish," the accent was almost gone now, "that I had a professional-level singing voice."
The stone glowed again, but again nothing visual happened.
"I wish," Sarah had the same voice, but it sounded more refined, "that I was friends with Jen, Karyn, Jamie, Kyla, Renee, Isabella, and Biff, and that we'd stay close for the rest of our lives."
Sarah was silent for a few moments, watching as the sun fell completely out of sight. Jen asked gently, "you done?"
"Yeah, I guess I'm done."
"Are you sure?" Jen prodded. "You're not going to be able to make any more changes to yourself later on."
"Family and friends are all I need," Sarah said. "Everything else is icing. I won't have any regrets."
"Alright. Now I need to lift your curse." Sarah handed the rock back to Jen, who said, "Something interesting has definitely happened in the last few days. The hierarchy of the school has been turned on its head. I've become friends with people like Renee and Isabella, who I hadn't even known existed, and Sarah and Biff, who I used to hate. All of my friends have new lives, particularly Sarah. If I had wanted something interesting, then it has definitely happened. So, because of this," Jen looked over at Sarah and gave her an appreciative look, "I wish that any magic effects currently active on Sarah McMillan would cease, and that following this wish, no magic would ever be able to affect her further."
"That should do it?" Sarah asked.
"That should do it," Jen replied.
The two girls heard a car horn beep from the parking lot. "Oh crap, mom!" Jen said, rushing down the bleacher and running back to the parking lot.
Sarah followed quickly and caught up with Jen, who had somewhat of a head start. The two girls made it into the car, and Jen's mom said, "So what did you two need to do in the field?"
"I, ah, needed to help a friend with something," Jen said, sliding the stone into the gym bag between her feet.
Jen's mom pretended not to notice the action and said, with a touch of light mom-sarcasm, "Okay, sweetie. Sarah, you need a ride to gym again tomorrow?"
Sarah was caught by surprise. Was she a gymnast, too? She quickly and discreetly lifted the bottom of her polo shirt to find her belly covered with knit spandex. "Um, yeah. Thanks." She thought quickly, "But I might skip on Friday."
The headlights of Mrs. Gibson's Camry represented the last light at the school as final tinges of twilight disappeared. The adventure, at least for Sarah, was over, and an aura of normalcy was falling over the campus. The car pulled out of the parking lot, pulling with it the very last illumination from the campus, and entered a quiet, empty residential road.
Sarah wasn't sure how many more surprises she'd run into, but within the safety of the car, a capsule of light in the surrounding darkness, sitting behind her friend Jen, owner of a magic stone that could do almost anything, Sarah felt, for the first time in two days, like she had some measure of control over things.
