As the pair walked down the sidewalk toward the bus-stop, skirts swishing in the breeze, Jon was lost in thought about his apparent failed wish. There was no reason from his perspective that it shouldn't have worked and yet he currently had nothing to show for it. Maybe the rock was broken, or out of power or something. He didn't have a way to test that though, as he had left the rock safely at home. He figured that was probably for the best, he didn't want to make any more broken wishes, who knows what could happen.
All this thinking meant that Jon slowly began to lag behind Karyn. She noticed him slowing down and called back over her shoulder, "Hey! What's up? We're going to miss the bus if you keep walking so slow."
"Sorry, I'm just still thinking about the wish", he said, "I can't figure out why it won't work"
"Look Jon, it was probably just a dud wish", Karyn replied as they reached the bus-stop and each took a seat on the bench. "But if you're so worried about it why don't you just try the nuclear option"
"Nuclear option?" Jon said with a hint of skepticism in his voice.He knew Karyn was probably about to give him a bad idea.
"Yeah, just start saying a lot of wildly untrue things, that way you'll have a better chance to see if anything changes", she said with a grin. Jon meanwhile scoffed at the idea.
"It's not going to work Karyn, I'll just look crazy"
"C'mon just give it a try! for me?", She looked at him with feigned puppy-dog eyes.
"Ugh, fine", he looked around to try and find something he could lie about. Conveniently a jogger rounded the corner across the street. "See that jogger? She's got really weird blue skin!"
"Jon I said lie, not make rude comments about people's appearances", Karyn said as she watched the jogger go by.
"Sorry, then how about this one. That guy over there is fat and hairy and only wearing a skirt!", he pointed at a well built man in a suit and skirt walking past them.
Karyn just sighed and said. "Jon is this all that this mall trip is going to be? Just you making weird comments about people's appearances?" Meanwhile the newly changed man continued his walk, albeit at a slightly slower pace, completely unaware of how he used to look.
A few minutes later their bus came along the road, Karyn quickly stood up and held her hand out for Jon's. As soon as he grabbed it, she pulled him up off the bench and they got on the bus. They took their seats in the back of the bus. By this point Jon was frustrated. "What do you want me to say Karyn? Clearly nothing is working."
"Look Jon, all you've done is say things about other people, maybe the wish only works on yourself?"
"Karyn, just stop, it's not going to work. i can't just keep saying weird things all day. I can't just keep going 'Hi my name is Jon i wear bras because i have big boobs'", he motioned to his chest. "Mostly because it's true! Because it's always been true!"
"Alright i get it, my idea was dumb. We can drop it then. We'll figure it out later, let's just get to the mall so we can do some shopping", Karyn said as she took out her phone.
"Alright, thank you. By the way when we get to the mall we should try and find Zoey, so we can make sure she hasn't bought anything. You know how she can be." Jon said as he leaned back into the seat and turned his attention out the window.
"Gotcha, I'll text her and see if she wants to meetup"
The bus continued on its route towards the mall.
