"Give me that," said Jonnie. She put her hand on the stone. Jen loosened her grip and let her take it.
"I wish," said Jonnie, "that nobody other than us two hears this wish or my next one. Now I wish that nobody notices us using that list, tries to take it or read it, or interferes with us using it."
Jen took a moment to digest the wish and said "You're really making sure, aren't you?"
Jonnie smiled. "Of course..."She lowered her voice, in case Zoe was listening. "We've got to be careful. What do you think would happen if Zoe, or Mom, got ahold of that list and wondered why we're trying to remember things we're supposed to know? We could be sent to a shrink. Shrinks, one for each of us. They could think we're on drugs." She turned around and reached for the door, then opened it. They both returned to the kitchen and ate in near-peace, although Zoe looked at them a little strangely.
It didn't take a list for them to figure out that they each had a lunch in the refrigerator even though they had, of course, only remembered making one. They took their lunches, got their bookbags--which had little rainbow flags on them--and left. The morning continued normally, sort of; Jonnie and Jen walked to the bus stop as Jon would, but occasionally looked at each other, to remind themselves that the other one was still there.
The first real difference was on the bus. Samantha Gill was sitting in a seat with half a person's space on each side of her. The girl was a brunette, wearing shirt and jeans and not a lot of makeup. Jon had never considered going out with her, but then, she was known to like girls. Upon seeing them, she moved over to open one space.
"It's your cue," said Jonnie. "Go meet her."
Jen sat down. Or rather, was greeted with a kiss, which surprised her briefly until she remembered to pretend this was normal, and then sat down. A thought occurred to her and she got her copy of the list from her pocket. She read down it... Yes, Samantha was her girlfriend. No, they weren't having sex. Yes, both of their parents had met them and knew they weren't straight. No, she didn't know about the stone. The list stopped there. "Guess I'd better see how it works," muttered Jen.
"Hm?" said Samantha.
"Nothing," replied Jen.
"So did you study for that trig test?"
"Math is hard," replied Jen.
"Ooh, my Mom hates that expression," replied Samantha. "There used to be a big fuss about dolls being programmed to say that."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really. Now, what I heard was that the trig class last year...."
It continued normally. Very normally--with one big difference. Not that they were lesbians--Jen just acted normally and that was no trouble. Lesbians didn't go around saying "I'm lesbian" all hours of the day, after all. No, the big difference was that Jen was talking to someone who knew her well enough that they were dating--but it wasn't real. None of it was. Samantha hardly talked to Jen, the real Jen. Not that they hated each other, but they were in completely different social circles. The kiss was based on a fake memory. The necklace Jen was wearing wasn't really a gift from Samantha. Jen certainly hadn't met her parents for real. She was suddenly glad that they weren't having sex....
