The family walked toward them, and in full view of the entire group, changed. The kids were actually walking a few paces ahead of their parents, and at short range, started to change. Buffie, who was very fashion forward, had noticed a lot of detail about both of them. The girl...or rather, the boy who looked like a girl, was about twelve or thirteen and had many inches on his apparent sibling, who was probably about eight with blonde hair in a ponytail. The parents, or so he assumed, were a rugged looking sort with the facial hair of a werewolf and a...woman with large breasts? A lot of things here didn't make sense. For one, the woman dressed and looking like a man...that shoes with that dress? Maybe reality was on the fritz.
The little girl crossed first what seemed to be an invisible line in the floor (in reality about ten feet from the group) and suddenly began to change. Buffie could see her shoot up, growing at least a foot, if not more. The small amount of makeup on her face vanished, the baby fat on her cheeks shifting to a much leaner configuration. The ponytail morphed into a short crew cut. She turned. "Hurry up," she insisted to the slower members of her family behind her.
Buffie gawked in absolute shock at what he saw take place. Nessa was similarly shocked, but not surprised, while Jade and Jonatha looked on and saw, for the first time since the initial wish, a transformation take place right before them.
The little girl didn't look so little any more...but she now looked much more like she belonged in Buffie's view of the world. Even more strangely, the girl had been so white that she could have been featured on a milk carton, and now she had a much darker complexion. She had a much more serious look on her face as she looked at her wristwatch, waiting for the others to catch up.
The pre-teen boy hurried to do so and suddenly started to expand like a cartoon character. Breasts didn't normally spring out like they were under pressure inside one's chest. Buffie looked down at his own chest, suddenly self-conscious. Was there a reality where I had a chest that flat once? Buffie thought, suddenly on board with the concept that had seemed so crazy a few moments earlier.
The boy reached over and looped his arm around the girl. His rear was noticeably larger. Buffie had only noticed the front, but now he was able to take in the entire set of new proportions. Damn, he exclaimed in mental disbelief. This boy—although, looking like that, man was probably more accurate—looked like he could get any girl drooling over him.
"We don't want to be late for the movie," warned the woman who had only a few moments ago been thinking more about playing with dolls than anything else.
"We're not seeing another action movie," the man insisted, in a slightly whiny voice. "What about a comedy? Maybe a romantic one?"
Nessa looked at Buffie, who was still squeezing his hand...only it was starting to get very tight. "I...maybe we should stop them or something...but it's going to happen no matter what," he remarked as the two unchanged parents strolled toward that same dividing line. "Maybe we should...move on?" he suggested.
Elsewhere at Ridgefield Mall, a girl walked the halls with one goal in mind.
Sarrah scanned through the stores, hoping that not too much had changed.
Finally, she saw its familiar black and white striped facade. Sephora. She was not going to care what others thought.
Welcome to Sephora, the boys behind the counter chirped with a tone of hesitation after seeing a girl in black blow right past them. Sarrah didn't care. She was buying the makeup she needed. If she could reclaim her face, she could reclaim her life.
When she was done selecting items, she brought her purchases to the register. "Are you...sure you know what you're doing?" the boy asked her. A girl buying makeup? Maybe it's for her boyfriend? he hoped. Or she's an actor.
"I fucking do," she growled back. The boy, deciding not to engage her any more than he needed to, simply completed the purchase.
"Have a nice—" he went to say, but when he did, he found that the girl had disappeared quickly after paying for her makeup. She must be on some mission, he thought.
