I couldn't get home quickly enough. I ran into the house, barely waving at my mom as I hurried up to my bedroom. At least, I think it was my mom, can't say I was really paying attention. Shutting the door, locking it, and sitting down on the end of my bed, I opened my backpack and took out the stone. For a moment, I simply sat there staring at it. What had we done?
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't really fault Karyn. Anybody in her place might have made the same mistake. Besides, making her feel bad about it was a rather mute point, given the fact that everytime she looked in a mirror, she was going to remember what she had done. I'd been thinking about nothing else on the way home, and was pretty sure I'd come up with some possible fixes for her situation, but I wasn't sure about using them.
I mean, I had to make sure that Karyn was more careful, right? I was pretty sure I could reverse it, but it might not be a bad idea to let her live with the consequences of her actions. Just for the night. I'm not a monster. Tomorrow I'd meet her at school and we'd fix her hair and newly enhanced endowments. For now, I just wanted to think. There were so many things I could do with this stone. Grandpa wouldn't have left it to me if he didn't want me to use it. There had to be some way I could use this thing for the greater good.
After a time, probably only a few minutes, my thoughts were interupted by a ringing phone.
"I've got it!" I shouted, picking up the phone by my bed.
"Hello?"
"Johnny boy, it's me," Karyn's voice said, "I gotta tell you, this is freakin weird."
"What'cha mean?" I asked, sitting back down and looking at the stone.
"What, aside from the whole wishing stone thing?" she asked sarcastically, "I just walked in the door about twenty minutes ago, and nobody's noticed anything different."
"I told you, that's how the stone works. Anybody who's not in earshot of the wish won't even notice the change." I tried not to sound too annoyed. I tried to imagine how hard this must be for Karyn, when I realized that she didn't sound the least bit stressed. I commented on that, "You seem much calmer than earlier."
"Well, when nobody noticed anything odd, it kinda took the edge off. I do have to admit though, these things are gettin' kinda heavy Johnny, and I don't have a damn thing that'll fit over them without making me look like a slut."
"I wish Karyn had some everyday clothing, and undergarments," I added quickly, "That would fit her new body comfortably." The stone flashed brightly, and on the other end, I heard the sound of a door being opened.
"Wow!" Karyn said, "Thanks Johnny, this'll work much better." Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was changing her clothes. I tried very hard not to dwell on it. "Anyway, you think of any way to fix this, cause this is definitely not the look for me."
"I'm working on it," I told her, "I'm hoping to have something worked out by tomorrow."
"Thanks John," she told me, "and thanks for trusting me with this... even though I kinda mucked it up," she whispered the last part.
"Your my best friend Karyn, of course I trust you."
"Well, thanks. See ya tomorrow."
Click.
"Oh, how precious," I looked up to see my older sister Jill standing in the doorway. Her coal-black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and the blue lowcut top and black miniskirt told me she was getting ready for a night on the town. Contrary to what you might expect, Jill and I had a pretty good relationship as far as brothers and sisters went.
Still, we never missed a chance to mock each other.
"What are you doing in here?" I asked in a deadpan tone.
She smiled, "Well, I was waiting for you to get off the phone so I could call Derrik."
Derrik was her boyfriend of the week. Truth be told, my sister was kind of a slut, but for the most part, she didn't really pretend that she wasn't. She was the type of girl who liked to go out, have a good time, and not be chastised by society for it later.
"What is that anyway?" she asked, walking over and taking the stone from my hand before I could stop her, or really react in any way.
"It's from grandpa," I told her.
"He left you a rock?" Sometimes she had issues with tact, but to be fair, her relationship with him hadn't been that tight. She looked back at me, "So, was that Karyn on the phone Johnny?"
Oh great. "Yes," I admitted.
"Have you asked her out or anything yet John, cause honestly you can't pine over her forever."
Jill was the one person in the world I'd talked to about my true feelings for my best friend. She also had very strong opinions on the subject.
When I didn't answer, she continued. "John, you're never going to get anywhere with her if you keep acting like some shy wallflower. I wish you'd think and act a little more like a typical guy your age." Shaking her head, a little disoriented by the blast of light, but apparently not worrying to much about it, she tossed the stone back to me, and walked out of my room.
