My walk to Karyn's was both short and uneventful to a observer, but painfully long and fraught with decisions to be made for me. First off, I had neglected to grab a bra, because I wasn't thinking clearly and because I wouldn't know how to put it on anyway, but now I knew why girls wore them. The incessant jiggling was ridiculously annoying, and I couldn't see anything good about what yesterday I might have insensitively called "fun bags." Even without that bother, the time to cross the block and reach Karyn's house felt like it took an eternity. I did take that time, however, to make one important decision: I reasoned that since Karyn wouldn't remember Jon at all, I should do my best to act like Jamie for the time being. With that in mind, I put my hand into the pocket of my jeans that contained the stone (or at least as much as the unreasonably tight female pants would allow), and said, "I wish that I am easily and at will able to switch between the mannerisms and personality of Jon Madison and Jamie Madison."
There was the usual sensation of something being in my eye, but with the subject of my wish being myself, and since I wasn't really looking at myself anyway, it didn't affect anything. When the feeling went away...I didn't feel any different.
Well of course. I made the wish so I could switch between the two, and I hadn't yet. Not quite certain how it would work, I tried willing myself to switch. There was a snap in my brain, then everything was simultaneously different and the same.
Imagine if you had been seeing the world through a blue tinged lens, then suddenly someone switched it to a pink one. All of a sudden, I wasn't Jon woken up in Jamie's body, now I was Jamie, with Jon being no more than a dream. I still knew that up until last night Jon was the only real one of the two of us, and I could still only remember everything that had happened to me as Jon. But even that wasn't true, because I had these lingering phantom memories of almost and sort of, as if the Jamie memories, my memories, were just there out of reach. I was considering using the stone to wish them into reality, but at that moment I arrived at Karyn's house.
I was just about to knock on the door when I saw her mother stepping out into their open garage with car keys in hand. It seemed that yesterday's wish had done a number on her too. To clarify, it was Karyn's ill-begotten wish for big boobs and blonde hair that I was referencing, not my own blunder. Karyn had received her features in those areas before the wish from her mother, and it looked like the stone had modified things to make the same true after the wish.
Trying to avoid staring at the cleavage that her formally conservative attire might once have hid, I walked towards her and called out a greeting. "Hey Mrs. Black, is it okay if I come in?"
"Oh sure Jamie," she replied cheerily. "Mr. Black has already left, and I'm heading out to work now, so it will just be you too girls, but I know that's how you like it."
"Okay..." I said as she stepped into her car, a little unsure because as she said that she had given me a sly wink. My mind was once again abuzz trying to solve this latest strange problem, but I made the difficult choice to shelf it until I had more information.
I took the long memorized path through their house and up the stairs, only to find and unusual hick-up on the landing. Karyn's door, which customarily was thrown wide open in friendly invitation, was closed. When I tried turning the nob I found that it was locked, for the first time in as long as I could remember. Nocking softly, I called out, "Hey Karyn, it's me, Jamie. Can I come in?"
There was a sudden thump, then I heard Karyn's panicked voice call out, "Uh, nyat nyet. Um, just wait therrrr a moment." As I tried adding this newest clue to the growing puzzle of weirdness, I heard more muffled thumps, panicked scurrying, and then what sounded like and angry cat noise.
"Karyn, are you okay in there?" I asked nervously.
"Just a minute," she called back. Not long after the lock turned and Karyn stepped back from the open door to admit me into her room.
If I thought I had dressed haphazardly this morning, it was nothing compared to what she was wearing. She had thrown on an old pink blouse, very old, judging by the holes torn in odd places and how it wasn't all that blouse-y up top. In contrast, her sweat pants were ridiculously loose, literally held up by a sweatshirt string she must have just pulled out of a jacket. These too were mysteriously torn. To cap it all off (pun intended) she had pulled a knit sock hat low over her forehead.
"What's up?" She asked, trying and failing to sound nonchalant but failing miserably.
"I'm having an unusual day," I began.
"Oh rrreally, I wonder what that is like." Karyn retorted, the sarcasm pooling on the floor.
Suddenly my own concerns became trivial in light of there being a friend in need. "What's wrong Karyn?"
"Nyathing," she coughed nervously. "I mean na-thing." For some reason she had difficulty properly pronouncing her "n's", and I was starting to figure out what the problem was, at least the one troubling Karyn, but I needed a few more pieces to finish it.
"Is it...these," I asked, pointing at my own breasts. "I would guess you still aren't used to them being bigger. And heavier too I imagine."
"Nyes of course," Karyn answered with a nervous laugh. "The twins put on some weight, and it's harrrrd getting comforrrtable with them."
Karyn was a terrible lier, and if nothing else she had at least convinced me that bigger boobs were not her main concern right now. "So the weird thing that happened to me was this: when I got up this morning, I heard a terrible scream, ran into Michelle's room and found she had turned into a cat-girl overnight."
Karyn had been walking towards her bed, but turned at my words, her face contorted into an "oh" of surprise, and...was that recognition? She collapsed onto the bed, but immediately was back on her feet, screaming in pain like, well, like a cat.
"Are you okay," I asked. I moved over to comfort her but she put her hand up to stop me.
"Wait, Jamie. I owe you an explanation." She put one hand to her cap and the other down her sweatpants, and when she pulled them both back she revealed that, like my brother/sister, my best friend was sporting some feline appendages.
"Oh Karyn." Then she was in my arms and I was engaged in my second emotional cry-fest of the day, albeit this time I was the comforter. She had her arms wrapped tight around me, so I put my right arms around her waist and gently rubbed her back with my other hand. "Hey, it's okay," I whispered softly into her ear. "I've got you. I've always got you."
In spite of everything else going on, I couldn't help but notice just how close we were. Her legs were slightly entwined with mine, and our breasts were mashed together in a not unpleasant way. Which felt very strange and powerfully arousing to a person who hadn't had breasts an hour ago. It was different than as a guy, more of a warmth throughout my body, and a stiffening of my nipples.
Never before that I could remember being this close, or this intimate with my best friend. Perhaps it was just the closeness that came from us both being girls, or perhaps it was something deeper. I hope for the first and feared the later.
Or was it the other way around?
After too long a time but not nearly long enough, Karyn sniffled back her last sob and leaned her back just enough that we could see each other's eyes. "Thank you Jamie. I, I don't know what I would do without you. You'rrre my rock, and I, I love you."
Shock filled me at her words. This wasn't just a friend love, or a sisterly love, this was so much more, and all I could say was, "I love you too." And them she was leaning in closer and I was tilting my head and something powerful was about to happen, and then, and then...
My stomach let out a loud and very unladylike gurgle. Karyn pulled back at the last second and said, "Silly Jamie, did you miss brrreakfast this morrrning?" Then she laughed, the purest, most innocent, light-hearted laugh I had heard in a long time. I couldn't do anything but smile sheepishly, until she started tickling my stomach and I was forced to laugh too. She pulled away and heard towards the door, but not before giving me a peck on the lips. "I'll go fix something for us."
Still in a daze, I said, "I...I'll be down in a minute." I pointed at my pants, as in my desperate search for an excuse for time to think I remembered that I still hadn't tended to he need that woke me I the first place.
"Alright, but hurrrry down," Karyn said with a sly wink and a playful wave of her fingers.
I stumbled into the bathroom in a haze of confusion over what we had almost done-- what she had done. It was my turn to ride an emotional roller coaster, and it was I good thing I now had to sit to pee, as I wouldn't be able to stand for long anyway. As the sensation of release that was both familiar and completely foreign washed over me, I realized I had to know. Barely taking the time to wipe and wash, I finally made the wish I should have done before I entered the house.
"I wish that I have all of the memories I should have if I had always been Jamie Madison."
My mind seemed to explode with hundreds, thousands of new sights, sounds, smells, tastes...and touches. And overriding them all was the most important sequence of events.
Karyn and I were five and walking home from Kindergarten together. We always held hands, but on a whim we decided to interlace out fingers. And it felt so right that we did it the next day, and everyday since.
We were thirteen, and both of us were wearing training bras, but Karyn had been developing faster than me, so her mom gave her some money and the two of us went over to the mall together. She blew the first half of her money on sensible stuff in the women's department at Target, but then I convinced her to go over to Victoria's Secret and a pick out some more flattering attire. I even got my first thong, though I knew Mom would never let me wear it. On the way home, my house was first, and as we hugged goodbye, Karyn gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. We started doing that at the end of all special occasions; we made excuses for there to be more special occasions.
Last year on the 4th of July, the two of us were laying together on the beach. We relished the opportunity to wear our new bikinis, and had broken them in properly with a full day of surfing. As soon as the lights went down we found the best spot to spread out our blanket. As we lay there our fingers were of course intertwined and we had intentionally moved as close together as possible. Then the first of the fireworks erupted into the sky and I knew, I knew with all of my heart that I would give anything in the world to spend eternity with this girl beside me. We turned to look at each other and I saw in her eyes that she felt the same. We leaned in closer and our lips met for the first time and the taste of her kiss was so sweet against my skin. I couldn't remember any of the fireworks from that night except for the first one, but that was still the first best night of my life.
I pressed my fists to my temple and closed my eyes as I tried to cope with the onslaught of new memories. It wasn't just my new relationship with Karyn, there were the different books I had read, the different games I had played, the different sports I tried out for...and actually made the team because I was much more for than Jon. I suddenly felt my first period and all of the subsequent ones, I knew how I felt when my breasts started developing, and how that strapless dress mom hadn't approved of made me feel sexier when I wore it. A thousand memories, a million sensations, all pouring into my head at the same time and demanding that I recognize them as the new truth, whilst the whole time the old Jon memories were hiding in back denying these things had ever happened. The pressure of it all made my brain ready to burst.
I needed some way to deal with this. Please give me some way to deal with this. "I wish I had a way to deal with this."
Then suddenly, it was gone.
I was Jamie. Older sister to Zoe and Michelle. Daughter of Kevin and Melissa. Best friend and girlfriend to Karyn. This was who I was. If I hadn't been the one to make those wishes, I might not even be able to tell that they hadn't always been there. And the old memories, the ones from when I was Jon? They were lurking in the back of my mind, inaccessible unless I brought his persona back in charge, something that would never happen.
Jamie sure was taking a while.
I was starting to think that something was wrong with her. She had been strangely rattled after I kissed her, and anyone would think that it was her first time. It almost made me wonder: could all of this be a lie? The stone could change memories; was it possible she had made a wish that created our love? No, no way. We were really in love, for real. One hundred percent, absolutely, totally. There was no way it could have been created by any other magic than the one between us.
It was probably just because she was still shaken up from the crazy stuff that was happening. I know I was. No one can understand how terrifying it is to wake up because you're laying on your tail, then suddenly remember that you weren't supposed to have a tail. The ears aren't all that annoying, and they came with the perk of much better hearing. Although, it was possible that was caused by something else, as all of my senses were much stronger: the smell of the pancakes I was making was very powerful, and I didn't have a cat nose or anything.
The worst part was by far the claws. For Jamie's sake, I always kept my fingernails cut very short; not that either of us was ready for that yet, but I wanted to be in the habit for when we were. Now they were dangerous little devils, filled down into wicked sharp tinny little claws. They weren't more than a 1/4 of and inch longer than before, but I'd already seen the damage they could do when I tried getting dressed this morning.
The skillet being full, I left the pancakes to cook while a grabbed a couple of plates. After setting the places I peaked into the refrigerator to see what fruit Mom had bought. Unfortunately all there was were some oranges. Usually I liked oranges, but these smelled absolutely horrible.
I had just finished placing the pancakes on one of the plates when I felt a familiar pair of strong but feminine arms wrapping around my waist, a girl's hips pressed against the curve of my butt, and her warm, soft breath on the back of my neck. "Mmm, what smells so good?"
I spun around in her embrace and when our eyes met, I saw that her spark was back. This was my Jamie, the playful, wonderful Jamie I had fallen in love with before the changes, and who I would love ever after. I let myself melt into her arms, like butter into a warm pancake. A warm, delicious, gorgeous pancake. She leaned in to nibble gently at my neck, but just as I was starting to reciprocate, she pulled back with a devilish smile on her face. I stumbled forward a bit as I unexpectedly had to support my own weight. "Jamie," I whined.
"Ooh, what's breakfast?" She asked as if she hadn't just lead me on. I tried to pin her against the countertop in another hug, but she was able to swipe the plate of pancakes from under my arm and dance out of my reach. "Come and get it," Jamie called out.
"Oh you had betterrr be talking about morrre than just the food," I fumed. Her response was a seductive wink.
After we split them between us, Jamie set about ruining my good work with about a gallon of syrup, and decided it was time to address the elephant in the room. Or rather, the giant cat-girl. "Well if you'rrre just going to keep rrrevving me up just to let me down, therrre is something we nyeed to talk about." Her head jerked up from her puddle of syrup, because my tone was deadly serious. "I knyow this was yourrr fault," I accused grabbing my tail, which had been swishing back and forth on its own under the table, and rubbing it into her face. "The only thing I can't figurrre out is why I cyan still rememberrr that I'm nyot supposed to have it. Unyess that was intentional."
Jamie set down the bottle with a sigh. "I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you." The she related the whole story. Her careless wish yesterday evening and how nothing had happened, but then finding out Michelle had transformed in the night. How she made the wish the second wish so the stone would answer her questions, and about the range fluctuated and people around the world had been affected. "So as soon as it told me that, I rushed over here to talk to you."
"Wow, that's crrrazy," I remarked. "All this because of one unthought out wish."
Jamie hung her head sheepishly. "I'm really sorry about all of this."
"You knyow, if you werrre bored you could have just cyalled me. I'm sure we could have found something to enterrrtain you." I put my hand on her knee and leaned forward seductively.
She smiled knowingly but the said, "I would have, but you were kind of acting weird after that wish you made yesterday."
Now it was my turn to be ashamed. I couldn't believe that I had wished that stuff yesterday. It was just a stupid, spur of the moment thing, made worse by the fact that I happened to be holding a powerful magical object. It probably wouldn't have been as bad though, if I hadn't run off and left her there.
"I cyan't believe I did that. I'm rrreally sorrrry Jamie. I just sorrrt of, frrreaked out, ya know."
"No I understand. It's okay, I get it." She scooted her chair closer to me and put her arms around my waist again, this time in a more comforting way. "But that's why we have each other, right? I help you through your though times, and you help me through mine. That's why I'm here right now, because it'll take the both of us together to deal with the madness the stone cooked up for us."
"Nyeah, I guess. You'rrre a rrreally good girlfriend to me Jamie." I snuggled up a little closer to her and put my head on her shoulder.
"And you're a perfect girlfriend to me," she countered. "Now let's make short work of this delicious breakfast."
"You'rrre such a guy." I laughed and punched her lightly in the boob.
"Ouch, hey!" She exclaimed. "If I was a guy, that wouldn't have hurt, so hands off the girls if you're going to play rough with them." We giggled together as we turned to our food.
Even though we were sitting so close one chair could contain us, we never had any problems bumping elbows because we were well enough in sync. I waited until Jamie had eaten some of her own, though, to see if they met her approval. She gave me a hearty nod and a thumbs up, so I began eating. I had barely gotten the first bite in my mouth, however, when I heard the most awful choking sound. Alarmed, I looked over at my girlfriend to see her coughing violently and pounding her fist against her chest. "What's wrrrong?!"
"Water, water," was all she could manage to croak out of. Without hesitation I grabbed a glass, filled it and handed it to her. She downed nearly half of it at once, and made short work of the rest. When it was finished she let out a relived sigh, shoulders heaving as she struggled to catch her breath.
"How do you choke on pancakes?" I asked, barely suppressing my giggles behind my hand.
"It's not funny. Something is really wrong."
"Whoa, you sound serrrious. What is it?"
She pulled the stone out of her pocket and asked, "Why the heck can't I eat?" I didn't hear any response, but apparently she did, as her eyes instantly widened in terror.
"What? What is it?"
"Karyn, don't be alarmed, but, apparently I'm a vampire."
