I grabbed my purse and felt for the rock as I stepped out of the dressing room. It was thankfully still there. Jill was waiting for me in the outside the booth. "Getting anything?" she asked with a rather devious smile.
I shook my head, "I don't think so. Just wanted to try a few things on."
She nodded, still looking concerned, and we left the lingerie store. As we were making our way down the packed halls of the mall, she put a hand on my shoulder. "You been alright?" she asked. "You've been acting a little off today."
"I'm fine," I told her. I really didn't want her worrying about me. Reaching down into my purse, I touched the rock without really thinking about it and said, "I wish Jill wouldn't worry about me so much."
After the flash of light, I looked over at my older sister. Jill seemed to be in a much better mood. It almost seemed as though she was walking with a spring in her step. I smiled. At least without her scrutinizing every little thing I did, I could get on with my worrying in peace. That whole experience had been kind of creepy, and not just because Malcolm had followed me into the dressing room, or rather appeared in there after I'd gone in. I was a little bit surprised to find that, after the initial shock, I hadn't really minded him being in there with me.
No, it was the things he'd told me. I'd known my grandfather really well and I'd never seen him do anything remotely immoral. So what exactly had Malcolm been talking about? The more I thought about the strange man, the more I realized I didn't completely trust him. I had no doubt that he was telling me the truth, after a fashion anyway. I just wondered what version of the truth he'd decided to share with me. I also wondered what the hell he'd meant by unexpected side effects. This whole thing was starting to give me a chill. The best thing of course, would be to just get rid of the stone. I could bury it, or throw it into the river. Yes, the best thing would be just to count my losses, deal with all of the changes whether I liked them or not, and just move on with my life.
Except I knew I couldn't bring myself to do it. When I'd made the wish a moment ago, for Jill to stop worrying, it had been almost subconscious. I hadn't even thought about it, and that scared the hell out of me. Maybe he was right; maybe my inhibitions and caution were lowering every time I used it. He hadn't come out and said it when we'd been in the dressing room, but it was almost as though the stone wanted to be used; like it was doing everything it could to make sure that I used it.
"You should come back to my place tonight," I actually jumped. I'd been so engrossed in my own thoughts that I had completely forgotten that Jill was still walking beside me. I looked back at her. Her eyes were glued to some cute guy over by the food court, but I could tell she was still paying attention to me too.
"You're place?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise. Jill didn't have a her place. She was staying with us while she was on break from school. Obviously, this fell into the box checked side effects.
She gave me a weird look. "Why not?" she asked playfully. "It's been a long time since you and I have had any sister time. It'll be fun. I can invite a few friends over."
"I don't know," I said. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of this. On one hand, it would give me an opportunity to see how badly I'd screwed up Jill's life, but on the other hand, I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I'd never been incredibly comfortable around people I didn't know. In pre-wish land, I'd never known any of Jill's friends, not that she'd had very many. It was quite likely that I wouldn't know any of her current ones anyway. "It's a school night and everything."
She scoffed, "Second day of school Natalie. It's not like they're going to cover anything earth shattering." She paused, "Besides, if you're that concerned, I can give you a ride in the morning. Come on!" she begged. "Please, it'll be a really good time."
I sighed. I had the rock with me. I could probably fix anything that might go wrong Whoa! Arrogant much? So far everything I'd done with the rock had turned out wrong on one level or another. Except for the initial wish, I thought. As far as I knew, nothing too terrible had happened because of my sex-change wish yet. It was the rock that was making me feel like this, like I could fix anything, and I knew it. What worried me most was the fact that as much as I tried to fight it, I was losing.
"Fine," I told her, "We can go back to your place tonight." I thought about Karyn and how much I wanted to share with her. Aside from that first wish of course, I thought. I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of talking to her about that. Maybe someday but not yet. "But I definitely need to make it to school tomorrow."
"Deal," she told me. "I'll give mom a call and let her know you're just coming back with me tonight. Chloe's already with her, so I guess she can just spend the night and I'll pick her up tomorrow after I drop you off."
"Chloe?" I asked as we started walking again.
She gave me the most puzzled look I'd seen yet, and I'd been looking in the mirror for much of the time that Malcolm had been talking, so that was saying something. "Yeah " she paused, "Your niece? You know, little girl who's worshipped you for like the last two years. Ringing any bells?"
I stopped in my tracks. Niece? That meant, "You have a daughter?"
"Um, yeah. Where you been?" For a moment, I saw a look of concern just beginning to form on her face, but as quickly as I noticed it, the look was gone, replaced by a wide smile. "Anyway, let me call mom. We'll look around a little more and then we'll head back to my place." I silently thanked the wish I'd made. I knew it was the only reason she didn't start interrogating me about the niece I'd apparently forgotten.
Wow, so Jill's a mommy, I thought. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On one hand, she'd been doing really well in school. So, maybe I had ruined her life. I know I didn't like that feeling much at any rate. Still, maybe motherhood had been a good thing for Jill. Maybe I'd helped her. I did my best to try and look at it that way.
I was waiting for my sister to come back when a young man approached me. He was probably in his late teens or early twenties and he was a total hottie. He had short blond hair, dark blue eyes and a body to die for. I smiled at him as my body started to send out signals that I still wasn't completely familiar with.
"Hi," he said, "My name's Rick, and I have to say you are the most beautiful girl I've seen in here today."
"Thanks," I said. I managed to keep from giggling, but I could feel myself blushing. It was such a pickup line, but that didn't stop me from going completely weak in the knees. I stood there for a moment, just staring at him in all his delicious glory, before I realized he was probably waiting for me to say something else. "I'm Natalie," I finally managed, "and you're not so bad yourself either."
He smiled. "Hey if you don't have anything going on, maybe you'd like to join me at the food court."
"No!" I shouted, and the look he gave me told me that he'd misinterpreted me. "I mean, no," I said calming down a little, "I don't have anything major going on. I'd love to join you."
He smiled, but before he could get a word out, another voice interrupted. "I could definitely eat too. Mind if I join you guys?"
I turned around to see Jill. She was folding up her cell and putting it in her purse. At first I wanted to sneer, or shoe her away, or do something to get rid of her. Then I realized, given my experiences with Malcolm, how little I trusted myself in matters regarding the opposite sex lately. I forced myself to nod. "It's cool with me," I said, forcing every word.
Rick nodded, and we headed off toward the food court. Once again, without any thought on my part, my hand drifted down into my purse. "I wish "
