Jon only had a moment to take in the look of his new Asian sister Zoe, before she practically sneered at him and pushed past him towards the stairs. "Outta the way, freak," she uttered, then headed up the stairs. Okay, while she looked just like herself from the family portrait upstairs (wearing a similar conservative blouse and long skirt and flats, basically making herself look as dowdy as possible), her attitude didn't really seem all that different than her original self before Jon had made his wish - his biological Goth sister. But the reason for her attitude problem was vastly different. A moment later, he heard her door slam shut. Okay, maybe she wasn't going to be joining them for dinner after all.
"Was that your sister?" came his dad's voice.
"Yeah," Jon said.
His dad sighed. "She better not stay up there all night. I told her what would happen if she didn't join us." He then returned to the kitchen.
For a time, it seemed like Zoe was indeed going to stay upstairs, even after both Jon's dad and mom called up to her to get her to come down. Meanwhile, through eavesdropping and observation, Jon learned some things about his new altered family, as he waited for dinner to get done (normally, his mom would be the one to cook, but in her new state, she didn't seem to be all that interested ... it was actually Alex who did the cooking). His mom and dad had an open marriage from the start. The only reason they got married was to appease their parents, as Jon's mom (Linda) had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. It was on their honeymoon that Linda told her new husband that she was actually homosexual. Fortunately for her, he was understanding enough to allow them to have an open marriage, allowing Linda to date women on the side. He didn't feel that it was fair that she should be locked into a relationship with a man she didn't love or desire. That wasn't to say that she didn't like his company, though. With an open marriage, they could still live together and raise Jon together, but have separate romantic relationships with someone else. For years, Jim hesitated to date someone himself, as the open marriage idea was solely for Linda's benefit. But eventually, he started dating, sometime after they adopted Zoe and Mikey. The thing was, he tended to go for much younger women, around the same age as Linda had been when they first met. Maybe he was trying to recreate the dating experience that he had back then, or maybe he just preferred women in their 20's instead of his own age group. Whatever the case, none of the lovers that either Linda or Jim had on the side were ever serious, more like a series of long-lasting flings. It was just a way for the married couple to cope with the fact that they couldn't be intimate with each other. And for the most part, everyone in their family was okay with that.
"Dinner's almost ready," Alex announced.
"Jenny, go upstairs and make your sister come down here," Jon's mom ordered.
Reluctantly, Jon headed back up the stairs, still having a difficult time walking in heels, even worse when he was trying to use the stairs. When he reached her door, he knocked. "Zoe, dinner is almost ready. They want you to come down now." He then turned back towards the stairs, hesitating for a moment as he looked at his bedroom door. Should he grab the stone? After all, he was already up here. But he decided against it.
A few minutes later, Jon, with the rest of his altered family, was sitting at the expanded dining room table (to accommodate nine people, instead of their usual five or six), when Zoe walked into the room. Everyone just stared at the Asian teen. She had changed clothes, now wearing a T-shirt with the words GOD IS LOVE, GAY IS NOT.
"You can't wear that," her dad said, looking upset.
"Why? This is a free country," she said.
"Because it's completely inappropriate," he said.
Now it was Zoe's turn to look upset. More like incensed. "Inappropriate? Inappropriate?" She slammed her hands down on the table. "What's inappropriate is all of you! This entire menagerie of freaks! You and you!" she yelled, pointing at her father and her aunt. "You're both dating women that are way younger. Dad, she's young enough to be your own daughter! And you, Aunt Racheal, everything about you is wrong. And mom too. Women are supposed to be with men. Period! It's so disgusting!"
"That's enough!" her mom yelled.
"No way, I'm just getting started! You and dad are supposed to be married to each other, not having relationships with other people. Marriage is supposed to be a sacred thing. But you treat it like it means nothing! Til death do you part ... yeah right! And you," she said, spinning towards Jon. "I thought you were normal, until you decided to become a girl."
"Hey, Jenny's always been a girl, on the inside," Racheal said, which made Jon cringe. After all, while occasionally he did feel effeminate, he knew that it was just his wish that was making him feel that way. Everyone else might think that he was always meant to be a girl, but to Jon, it was something that just recently happened.
"Please God, take me away from this sinful place," Zoe said, looking up at the ceiling. "I swear. It's like I'm the only normal one around here. Why did I have to get adopted by the most perverted family in town?" She then lowered her gaze, her eyes just happening to fall onto her little brother Mikey. She became infuriated immediately. "You little freak. You're the worst," she said, then lurched across the table to grab him.
"What the hell, Zoe?!" her dad yelled, watching plates full of food being shoved aside, falling on people's laps and on the floor.
"Stop looking at me like that, you disgusting pervert. Everyone else might be okay with your behavior, but I'm not," she hissed at Mikey.
"Jenny, get your sister outta here!" his mom yelled.
"Hey! That's your brother," Krista said. "You shouldn't treat him like that."
Jon managed to pull Zoe off of Mikey, who looked freaked out, and pulled her out of the room, kicking and screaming. "You're all going to Hell!"
Jim and Linda stood there, looking down at the mess that their daughter had created. Dinner was ruined.
"Get off me, you freak!" Zoe yelled, trying to struggle free from Jon's grasp.
"Zoe, please, just calm down," Jon said, exasperated.
She then stomped down on one of his heeled feet, causing him to gasp in pain. It was enough for him to lose his grip on her. She took the opportunity to run upstairs and slam her bedroom door shut.
Peering back into the kitchen, he saw everyone hovering around Mikey, trying to see if he was hurt in any way. Being so close to him, bending over to check for injuries, Alex, Krista, and Vicky were all showing off a lot of cleavage. Jon could see the look on Mikey's face. It wasn't anger, or worry, or confusion. It was joy. He was obviously getting off on all the female attention, not to mention all the boobs he got to see up close and personal. In his mind, being attacked by Zoe was the best thing that could happen to him. These three hot women wouldn't otherwise show him this much attention. Jon could imagine what was running through Mikey's head and it disturbed him. But he could also imagine that given how his family was now, they'd forgive Mikey for being a pervert well before forgiving Zoe of her self righteous tirade.
This family was truly fucked up, and Jon finally made the decision to do something about it.
So with that, he went back upstairs to his bedroom and grabbed the stone. He took a bit of time to come up with something, then said "I wish ..."
