"...think things over, check things out, and see what's different before making any further changes." Kevin finished.
"I suppose you're right" Jon said. "After all, everyone who doesn't hear the wishes will think the changes are how things have always been."
"Yes. So where are we?" Kevin began. "For starters, I now have memories of two lifetimes, one as Kevin and the other as Karyn, but as far as everyone else knows I've always been Kevin. This is because I started out as Karyn, but you made a wish for me to be your male friend. I wasn't there when you made that wish, so the only reason I remember how things were before is because you wished for me to remember after I came to you for help with what turned out to be a blonde wig and fake breasts."
"And then you wished for me to be able to switch sexes at will though thanks to the previous wish, I'm normally male. So that means no one outside this room knows who Karyn is, right?"
"I think so." Jon said. "Should I make a wish so that everyone remembers Karyn?"
"I don't know." Kevin said. "I think we should test things out first. See what people DO remember."
"It's going to be pretty weird if we just go out and ask people on the street or at school 'Hey, do you remember Karyn?'." Jon noted.
"I've got an idea. I'll shapeshift into my girl form and see if anyone recognizes me." And with that, Kevin shapeshifted into his girl form, which resembled the pre-wish Karyn with short red hair, green jumper and scruffy old slacks.
Jon and Karyn then headed off to school. At the schoolyard, they ran into Jay Duncan, the thin tech nerd with glasses, and Kyla Leeson, the geeky girl acquaintance of theirs. "Is that Karyn?" Kyla asked Jay.
"Looks like it." Jay said. He turned to Karyn. "You're Karyn, right?"
Karyn was startled. "Uh, yes, I guess."
"Nice to finally meet you in person. I'm Jay Duncan. You friended me on Facebook a while back."
"Me, too." Kyla said. "Nice to meet you, Karyn. Weird how even though we go to the same school, we've never met each other till now."
Karyn was trying her best to avoid saying "WHAT?" out loud and making a scene. "Really?
"Really." Kyla said. "I don't know when you friended me, but you're in many of the same Facebook groups as me. I would have thought we'd have run into each other in the halls long ago, even if we didn't have any of the same classes."
"I ... I guess it IS weird." Karyn said, trying to play along.
"But the weirdest thing is, some of your posts imply we ARE in a few classes together." Kyla said. "I don't see how that could be the case."
"Uh, maybe I made a mistake." Karyn said, trying to cover. "Sometimes we hit the send button without proofreading our posts first. Happens to most of us."
At this, Kyla laughed. Jay just smiled.
"Well, it's nice to finally meet you." Kyla said. "Are you related to Kevin Black, by the way?"
"Kind of." Karyn said.
"He's a nice guy. I don't know why he's dating Sarah McMillan. The two have nothing in common." Kyla replied.
"Maybe he's trying to see if she's not such a bad person deep down." Karyn said.
"Have you asked him why he doesn't seem to have any social media accounts?" Jay asked. "Everyone else at school has one. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. They're all on at least one of the A-list social media sites."
"Uh, no. I'll tell him you asked, though." Karyn replied.
"Anyway, it's nice to chat with you in person. Maybe we'll see you later in the day." And with that, Jay and Kyla went off into the school to meet up with their classmates and prepare for the first of their classes.
Karyn turned to Jon. "That was .. weird." She wasn't sure how else to put it, as this had to be the most awkward conversation she had had in her life.
"I know." Jon said. "But I think I know why. The stone has a range. I'm still not sure what that range is. It could be 50 miles, it could be a 100 miles. But I think Facebook's servers, and most other social media servers, are outside of that range. That's why Karyn still has a Facebook account, but Kevin doesn't and probably won't unless you create an account for him or unless we go to within range of the servers and make a wish."
"The first option would be simpler, I guess." Karyn replied. "But do you know what this means? It means records of Karyn exist outside of the stone's range limit. Do records of Kevin exist within that 50 to 100 mile radius? Are there records of both Karyn and Kevin even though my family doesn't remember Karyn and everyone else only knows Karyn as someone they've only seen on social media until today?"
Jon sighed. "Looks like you're going to have to be living a double life for a while. The thing is, while the big social media site servers are outside the range of the stone, the school records ARE within range. So it's most likely that only Kevin's on the records as a student here."
"Oh no..." Karyn said. "I've been in some of the Lake Point Facebook groups with a few of the teachers. They might now be wondering who this Karyn person is."
"I think the safest thing to do is to find a place where no one's looking, and shapeshift to Kevin, and attend school as Kevin." Jon said. "As far as everyone else is concerned, Kevin's always been around. They're used to Karyn being someone they've never seen. AND you still have that date with Sarah McMillan."
Karyn sighed. "I suppose you're right. Give me just a moment to decide what to do next."
