Zoe’s last two classes for the day were art and creative writing, neither of which were separated by grade. If they had been, she might have noticed a different set of students populating the room than normal, or perhaps she would have found herself in a new room altogether.
But as it stood, a reasonably-distracted Zoe Gibson did not pick up on what few clues there were that something had changed. Which hand-outs she had been given. Which classmates were talking to her. Little things.
And if she had known the girl for longer than a day, it may have seemed strange when, after classes ended, she was greeted by a Sarah McMillan who was almost the exact same height as her, instead of being a few inches taller.
But she didn’t notice these things, and instead simply followed Sarah’s lead when the cheerleader suggested they return to the mall.
Briefly, Zoe thought to text her mom and to text Athena, but something about each of those felt wrong. A moment to contemplate would have revealed an internal voice that said “18 year-olds don’t need their mom’s permission,” and another saying “Athena is Jon’s friend.”
But Sarah’s enthusiasm swept the girl up so rapidly that any hints of any magical shenanigans were simply left in their wake.
If she was being honest with herself, Sarah didn’t even know why she found herself doting on Zoe, buying her clothes, taking her everywhere. She just knew she was having fun. There was something in the back of her head about Zoe’s brother, but she had never met Zoe’s brother before. She had only known Zoe for a day, why would she have anything to do with some random sophomore?
But all of these thoughts were buried in an avalanche of clothing and credit cards. And the two eventually returned to Zoe’s home and giggled their way into her bedroom, where, finally, it all came crashing down.
“Was that red rock on your nightstand yesterday?” Sarah asked.
Zoe looked at the stone. It seemed familiar, but she knew it hadn’t been there before. There was a note underneath it, which Zoe cautiously read.
“It’s from my grandpa,” she relayed. “He says that this stone grants wishes.”
Sarah was incredulous. “Wishes? Can I see it?”
Zoe handed it over.
“There’s no way this grants wishes,” Sarah said upon examining it. Zoe wasn’t so confident. “I mean, if it did grant wishes, I’d say I wish you were a cheerleader with me so we could spend more time together, but it doesn–”
A glow emanated from the stone, and a cheerleader uniform appeared on Zoe’s bed.
“Holy shit!”
“Sarah…”
“It’s real!” Sarah’s usual confidence came from knowing exactly what to expect from every situation. Now she had no idea what to expect, and she was panicking.
“Sarah, please put it down.”
She did so. That made sense. It was one less thing to panic about. She looked at Zoe. “Do you want to be a cheerleader?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m so sorry, I would never have–”
“I know. We’ll figure it out.”
“I… I need to go home. I’m sorry. We’ll talk tomorrow. I’ll help you fix this.”
“I know. It’s okay. Go home.”
Zoe escorted her friend out the front door, but as she returned to her room to think, her brother passed her in the hallway, in what was once Zoe’s black dress and nothing more.
He was shorter than her. Was it her wedge sandals? Zoe looked down, but she was barefoot.
“Jon?”
“Yeah?” the boy turned around.
“Come here a second.”
He did so. She could see the top of his scalp. Zoe’s own words from two days before came back to her:
I just wish I knew how to get under Jon's skin. I wish I could make him understand what it's like to be the little sister.
The stone! That was the thing she’d picked up from the coffee table! A wish was in effect, and since she was the only person who’d heard her wish, she was the only person who knew something was wrong!
A knot formed in Zoe’s stomach. “Thanks, Jon,” she said as she retreated back to her room.
