Heavy metal music blared from a cell phone on the nightstand. It was six in the morning, and in the adjacent bed, Sarrah McMillan stirred.
Yesterday had been a chain of surprises. After Nicole’s wish turned her into a nobody with very few friends, the rest of the day just got worse. She was almost marked as absent in one class. Her shiny pink convertible had become a small, black sedan with fading paint. When she came home, she learned that her encounter with Nady Ferguson at lunch was just a taste of what was in store.
Her bedroom was extremely dark. Black walls. Blackout curtains on the windows. Black bed sheets. Her wardrobe was black and gray, with almost no options. Not just that, but she had gone from an only child to having three older brothers. They were all triplets. And they all reminded her of...herself. They had been cheerleaders in high school, popular people who made the McMillan name famous at Lake Point High and now at Gamma Delta at Sapphire State University. The J-Boys of Joshelle, Jacobelle and Jeremielle. Now here she was, sullying it.
Not only had she felt the loss of every “feminine” asset she ever had, she had also lost everything that defined her life. She was thin and not very athletic. This girl had accomplished nothing, ever, besides looking drab, lifeless and without anything to live for. She was reminded of this every time they said her name. Sarrah, like car-uh. It sounded so wrong, so off key. Then again, that was the story of this world. Off key.
She came downstairs for breakfast and ate next to nothing, but her parents didn’t seem to care. She showered and threw on a black T-shirt — it almost took her too little time to get ready. Everything sparkly and promising in her life had been replaced with darkness, with a family that had lavished all its attention on her brothers and had none left for her.
Faced with the wish that changed everything, some people were trying to adapt. Sarrah McMillan was going to try and rebel.
Jade Duncan awoke the next morning feeling hot and flustered, unable to shake the dream that he had had last night.
He was in some sort of castle wearing a long green dress, his long blonde hair falling past his shoulders and reaching the floor. He was panicking for some reason. He could hear fighting going on outside his room.
Jade tried to open the door but it was locked. He went over to the window, intending to climb down, but he was too high up. So instead Jade went back to the door and started banging and screaming for help.
A few moments later Jade heard someone shout. He could just make out someone telling him to stand back and so he did.
Jade gasped when the door suddenly burst open and in stepped a knight. The knight, was of course, a girl. Jade thought that he recognized her, but he couldn’t put a name to her face. She was wearing a shining suit of metal plate armor, her face covered in sweat.
She went down on one knee when she saw Jade. “My lord.” Jade recognized the voice. It was that Ash girl from Mount Valley, the one who gave him her number.
That’s when Jade woke up with a start.
All anyone could talk about at Lake Point High School that morning was an event that had gained a name: the brawl.
A bench-clearing brawl was absolutely unheard of, after all. It had been years since one happened in a game involving Lake Point. But last night, for whatever reason, the Mount Valley Vixens just snapped.
“I still cannot believe what happened,” Jonatha expressed in shock. “What a mess!”
Jade, who sat next to him in the locker room changing for the morning gym class, agreed. “How does that happen?”
“I don’t think that happens without the wish,” Jonatha whispered. “Everything that has happened since is surreal.”
“Speaking of surreal… I had a dream last night.”
“Oh?” Jonatha was caught off guard as he attempted to hook his sports bra together.
“I had a dream that I was in a castle and a knight in shining armor burst through.”
“That sounds so lovely,” Brandi Brittain chimed in.
“You won’t believe who it was.”
“Who!?” Jonatha interjected.
“So, you know how we had to separate the fans after the game?”
“Yeah?”
“One of the Mount Valley players walked up to me and gave me her number.”
“You gotta be kidding me. How does someone from Mount Valley find a Lake Point cheerleader cute?” Brandi seemed incredulous.
“I don’t know, but I have the number of that Ash Miller girl.”
“Send her a text! It wouldn’t hurt, especially if she thinks you’re cute.”
“Ummm…” He blushed at the mere idea of him being cute. “I guess…” Jade turned his head to Brandi, who was nodding up and down.
Jade pulled out his phone and began typing up a text to Ash Miller. “Hey Ash...you around?” He hit Send nervously, wondering what situation she was in.
