Karyn found herself waiting longer than usual for Jon at their meeting place, and he was running to get there when he did arrive.
"Did you bring the stone?" Karyn asked immediately.
"Shoot," Jon got out between gasps of air, "I wasn't even thinking about the stone when I woke up this morning. It's at home."
Karyn gave a light huff. "Well, I guess I'm coming over to your place after school, then."
"Hm." The boy straightened himself after catching his breath.
"Hey, Jon?" Karyn noticed that his gaze was elsewhere. "Jon?" She turned to look where he was looking.
Ah.
"Making dove-eyes at Jay again?"
That got Jon's attention. "What do you mean?" He hadn't quite realized it until Karyn said it, but he was staring at Jay Duncan, who was walking on the other side of the street.
"You always do this when Jay's around. I don't know why you don't just ask him out."
"What!?" Jon had no idea how to react to that statement. "I never look at--" Jon stopped mid-sentence as, right in that moment, Zoe's spell of inattention wore off. And suddenly he could feel unfamiliar sensations coming from down below that he didn't quite understand. His eyes lost focus and he put one hand on the wall for support, even as he pressed the other against the top of his thigh and pushed inwards. "Something's strange."
Now it was Karyn's turn to be taken aback. "Did you make a wish?"
It was almost the same sensation as you get when you're very thirsty and finally drink some water, but it was coming from the entirely wrong part of Jon's body. He hadn't wished for anything like this, had he? "The only wish I made last night was for my clothes to fit. This can't be related."
The sensation Jon was feeling was his body receiving, and accepting, brand-new orders to produce large quantities of estrogen. Those messages had gone unnoticed while Zoe's spell was active, but now things were working in overdrive. Or ovary-drive, as it were.
But as the seconds passed, Jon developed a sinking feeling that he'd need to take a more intimate look at himself to figure out what was happening. "Karyn, do me a favor. Turn around and look away for a second?"
She did, and Jon turned to face the wall, unbuttoned his jeans, and sent an exploratory hand inside.
It came back out very quickly. And as it emerged, that was when Jon noticed the scalloped waistband, and the light blue color.
"Karyn," he said with a wavering voice as he re-secured his pants, "I think... I think my dick might be gone."
A burst of laughter escaped from Karyn's mouth as she turned around, but her expression went stony as she saw Jon's face.
"And I think I'm wearing panties."
"Are you sure you didn't wish for anything?" Karyn took a careful step towards her friend. "You've never had a dick, and you wear panties because that's what fits you."
Jon's eyebrows shot up. "Fits me? That must be it, somehow." He stood up again, his eyes intense. "I wished that clothes would fit me, and then when I tried on a pair of jeans that were too long, my legs got longer to fit. That has to be what's going on here, somehow."
"You look exactly as tall as you always have."
"No, that's it. You didn't hear the wish, so you wouldn't notice. And also I'm not wearing those jeans now. But why am I wearing panties?"
"Because you always wear--"
"I don't!" Jon's breath was suddenly ragged again. "You just didn't hear the wish!"
"Okay, Jon, just calm down. Take a deep breath. I believe you." She wasn't sure that she did. "But are you sure you didn't make any other wishes last night? Maybe you made a wish in your sleep."
Jon closed his eyes for a moment. It had been a few minutes, and the sensations he'd been feeling had died down. His internal chemistry was approaching a new equilibrium. He didn't know that, but he did know that it was getting easier to think.
"I had a dream last night," he realized.
"What kind of dream?"
John tried to recall, but the more he thought about it, the stranger he felt downstairs. "I don't know," he blushed. "I think it was a sex dream."
"Maybe you made a wish in your sleep?" Karyn shrugged.
"Maybe." Jon didn't think that he had. "In any case, I can't just change my underwear in the middle of school, and the rock is at home. Listen, Karyn, you're going to have to help me get through today. Everyone else is going to think everything's normal, but I don't know what to expect."
Karyn nodded. "I'll do what I can."
And with a slight churning of his stomach, Jon pushed off from the wall and finished the walk towards school, Karyn following behind him.
