"You should come back to my place tonight," Jill suddenly said. 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.
"Your 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 "unexpected 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 ... at least yet. It was the rock that was making me feel like this, like I could fix anything, and I knew it. What worried me the 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 coming to my place tonight. Then tomorrow morning, I'll just drop you off at your house. Okay?"
"Sure."
