Jon still felt half asleep, so at first he was pretty sure he was still dreaming. That was the only explanation his brain could come up with, anyway. The pink bandage skirt, lacy white tank top, and heels would've looked hot on any of the preppy girls at his school. But seeing the look on his father made him freeze in his tracks.
"Morning sleepyhead!" the man greeted with a bubbly lilt. He leaned against the counter, perched effortlessly in stilettos as though it was perfectly natural. He beamed at Jon, batting his long, mascara coated lashes.
"Dad... what?" He was still trying to shake the grogginess, but was getting the feeling that this wasn't a dream. He was beginning to remember that he made a very ill advised wish the night before.
"Dad?" His father asked with a confused look. "You must've been, like, having some weird dreams or something. It's me, Ashley!"
Ashley? This had to be the stone's doing. Jon wanted to smack himself for making such a stupid, vague wish. He turned to go back up to his room, and found himself face-to-face with his mother.
"Oh! Morning Jon! I didn't see you coming around the corner. I didn't think you'd be up this..." she trailed off when she looked past Jon and saw her husband in the kitchen.
He waved, giggled, and smiled. "Morning Mrs. Madison. You look lovely today."
Jon's mom frowned, and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my. I was worried about something like this."
Jon was surprised. Had she known about the stone and his stupid wish? He looked from his ditzy father to her. "What do you mean, mom?"
"Well it's... don't you remember?"
"Remember what?"
She turned to her husband. "I'm sorry, would you excuse us..."
"Ashley," Jon told her.
"Yes, Ashley, would you excuse us for a moment?" The man shrugged and nodded and Jon's mother dragged him into the next room.
"Do you really not remember the Nanite Storm years ago? I thought they taught that stuff in school."
"Nanite Storm? What?"
"It was supposed to be a huge breakthrough - microscopic machines that could change anything on a molecular level. Only they got out of hand, started replicating. We were lucky they were able to get them under control before they turned the whole planet into a ball of grey sludge!"
"Oh... right," Jon said, trying to play along in hopes that things would become a little clearer.
"Well, they're mostly under control. But sometimes there can be localized glitches. It seems like a few got into your father. And now he thinks he's a girl named Ashley."
"You seem awfully calm about this."
"It's nothing that can't be fixed," she said. "Though I'm not sure how quickly the nanite techs can get to town. At least he's still mostly himself, physically - glitches aren't always so tame. I'll have to call The Agency. In the meantime, I'm afraid we're going to have to play along."
"Play along?! You mean we need to treat him like some teen bimbo?"
"If that's how he perceives himself, then yes. If the nanites start meeting external resistance, they can spread and get unpredictable. Right now we just have to go with the flow. Besides, there's probably a stabilizing field around him that will make other people more accepting of his new state"
Jon still had more questions than answers, but his mom seemed content with her assessment and went back into the kitchen. Jon carefully followed behind.
"So, Ashley," Linda said calmly. "What brings you by so early?"
"Gee, Mrs. Madison, I didn't, like, mean to intrude. I just really wanted to see my boyfriend before school!" He said, then turned his eyes to Jon.
"Boyfriend!?"
