Her second morning as a woman came as less of a shock; waking up in someone else's room was the more confusing part. It took Jon a moment to remember that she was sleeping over, and then another moment of boggling over all the experiences of yesterday, and particularly last night, before she could properly process the fact that Karyn was shaking her awake.
"Mornin', sleepyhead," she laughed. "C'mon, we've got two showers to fit in, and only the one bathroom."
Karyn went first; Jon needed a bit to psyche herself up for it. He'd always found using someone else's bath a bit weird; it was part of that territorial instinct. Still, it seemed less awkward to her now; she wasn't sure if that meant it'd been a guy-brain thing, or if this was a Joni-brain thing where Karyn's house effectively counted as "home turf." Meantime, she went down to breakfast.
Karyn's parents were already there; Mrs. Black smiled and indicated the coffeepot. "Good morning, Joni," she said. "Sleep well?"
"Uh-huh." Despite all her confusion, she'd slept very well indeed. Good food, good company, and relaxing personal attention had probably helped.
"Glad to hear it. Coffee's on, and we were making omelettes, if you're comfortable with that...?"
"Oh, uh, please," she said, pouring herself a cup. She added a bit more cream and sugar than usual; she just had a hankering. Her stomach growled as she caught a whiff of the omelette fillings frying up in the pan. She was a bit surprised at herself; the stereotype as she knew it had women as the ones with smaller appetites, but she was fairly ravenous. Hadn't she just had a substantial dinner and dessert last night...? Well, she was a teenager.
While she waited, Mr. Black glanced at his phone, and turned to his wife. "Afraid I'll be coming home late for the rest of the week, hon. They need a manager on-site, and Fatima started her family leave; you know how that is. They're swearing they'll have coverage starting Monday."
"Guess there's no helping it," she sighed, tossing the ingredients atop the scrambled egg and folding it over. "Fatima, though? I knew they were making plans, but I didn't know she and Eric finally took the plunge. When are they expecting the baby?"
"Late April, they think. She might be able to come back in part-time for the last couple months, but they'll have to clear it with the doctors and make arrangements."
"Of course. Wouldn't do to leave the poor thing all alone." She deposited the omelette on a plate just as a couple slices of golden-brown sourdough popped out of the toaster, and handed the whole ensemble to Jon. "Here you go, dear."
"Oh, thanks," Jon said, digging in. As surprised as she was by her appetite, she certainly had no complaints about the quality of food she was getting. "Thif if-" She swallowed. "Uh, this is fantastic."
Karyn's mother gave her a cocky grin. "Why, thank you," she said. "I try not to toot my own horn, but I do believe nobody in this neighborhood makes a better Denver omelette. But do thank your mother for sending the eggs over when you see her, would you?"
"Uh, sure," she replied, wondering if they'd run short at the grocery store or something. She scarfed down the rest of the omelette and was just finishing the toast and coffee when Karyn came down, still brushing her hair out.
"Shower's free," she said, "and - oh sweet, omelettes! - uh, there's a spare cap in the bottom drawer under the sink."
"...Right," Jon said. She headed back upstairs, puzzling over that one. She was vaguely aware that shower caps were a thing that existed, but she'd never been clear on the purpose...?
Oh, Karyn's hair hadn't looked damp, had it. Was this another girl thing? Zoe kept her hair short enough that it probably wasn't too much of a hassle to wash it every day, but for someone like Karyn - or her - it might simply take too long to fit it in on a busy morning. She'd have to ask about that later, but for the moment, she could just take the hint.
She felt another gurgle from her stomach and something shifted in her gut as she used the toilet; she hoped it didn't mean there was some kind of gastric reckoning brewing for all the food she'd devoured in the last twenty-four hours, but everything seemed fine for the moment. She undressed, and fished around in the sink cabinet 'til she found the cap in question. It took a bit of fiddling to get her hair all bunched up underneath it, but she managed.
It was strange, showering like this for the second time. Yesterday morning she'd been too caught up in boggling over the sheer fact of the matter, how she felt about it, and how she imagined she was supposed to feel to properly appreciate it, but it really was a whole new experience. She wasn't sure if her skin was more sensitive, or if it was just that her new shape had so many more nuances to it, but she felt like she felt the water running down her form in so much more detail; and the heat relaxed and soothed her muscles, calmed her mind...
Joni blinked; she was spacing out, wasn't she? But they had school, and she still needed to get soaped up... She sighed, scrubbed herself down, rinsed off, and stepped out of the shower. It was still weird to feel so matter-of-fact about seeing and handling a girl's nude body, but it was hers, wasn't it? Well, Joni's, but as far as the rest of the world was concerned they were the same person; and if even Karyn felt like she was near enough to being her...
Oh, there she went again. She shook her head, towelling herself off and gently patting her breasts dry; then she donned her pajamas long enough to duck into Karyn's room and rifle through her duffel bag. Yeah, no matter what Karyn thought, pants and T-shirts would do just fine. She had enough to deal with just getting her bra back on and working her way into the jeans.
After brushing out her hair, she finally made it back downstairs just in time for Karyn to grab her by the wrist and haul her bodily out to the bus stop. "Ye gods, girl!" she said. "Thought you'd died in there or something."
"Ah, sorry," Jon said, snagging her purse on their way out the door. She was pretty sure she'd left everything needed for the day in her locker yesterday; it'd seemed simpler than hauling her backpack all the way home, over to Karyn's, and then back to school. Anyway, there was no time to waste, it seemed; she'd just have to make do.
The ride to school was pretty much free of incident. Granted, the boys were still none too subtle about staring, but since she and Karyn were together this time, it wasn't her chest they were staring at...though she did get the feeling that there were a few lingering glances at her rear as they went past. God, had she ever been like that? She hoped not.
They hit the lockers and split up again, heading to their own classes. First period was as unremarkable as it'd been yesterday; moreso, even, since despite her annoyance she was sort of getting acclimated to the looks she received from the boys. It wasn't 'til second period that anything of note happened.
She had P.E. today, she knew; she'd reviewed Joni's schedule just to be sure it lined up more or less with Jon's. She was on her way over to the gym, heading past the nurse's office (whichever architect laid the school out back in the day had had enough sense to put them in close proximity,) when the door opened and she nearly collided with someone exiting the room. "H-hey!" snapped a girl's voice. "Watch it, dumbass!"
"Ah! Um, sorry," she said, springing aside and turning to look at the interloper. It was none other than Sarah McMillan; but she didn't seem to be quite herself today. She was usually imperious yet poised, at least by high-school standards; but currently, her hair was mussed, her face was flushed, and there was redness around her eyes. Had she been crying...?
For a moment, the two of them just stood there, not sure what to say to each other. Jon noted that Sarah was wearing another midriff-baring shirt today, with her navel on full display. She didn't mean to stare, but evidently Sarah took it that way. "What!?" she barked irritably; her face reddened, and she covered her stomach with her purse.
"Nothing...!" Jon said, flushing a bit herself. "Are...are you okay...?"
Sarah didn't actually fire lasers from her eyes and incinerate her with pure hatred, but Jon got the impression that she would've liked to. "I'm FINE, you IDIOT," she snarled, before turning and stalking off.
Jon watched her go in total bafflement. It was weird enough to see the school's queen bee so out-of-sorts, but she couldn't even tell why. Was she on her period? But you didn't need to go to the nurse's office for that, did you? ...Did you...? There were painkillers and...things...for that, weren't there? Normally he'd have just filed this under I Don't Get Women, but she was a woman now, and she still didn't get it...
She didn't have long to puzzle over it before a larger challenge presented itself. She had enough sense to guess that the girls' locker room was in all probability about like the guys', but it still held enough mystique about it, to the part of her that had been a teenage boy, for the idea of going in to feel intimidating. She couldn't shake that nagging feeling from yesterday: what if someone realized?
Not that it stopped her, but she really didn't need to worry. Nobody even noticed her entering; and while the room was in fact filled with teenage girls in various states of undress, the fact that they were all entirely casual about it (and the fact that it still smelled of sweat, albeit less strongly) robbed the scene of any titillation value it might've had. Besides, she quickly realized that the other girls' attentions were elsewhere.
"What!?" said one of them, in a low but excited voice. "Omigod, really?"
"That's what I heard from Lacey," said another. "Swear to God."
"Oh, no way, no way...!"
"You gotta be shitting me," came a third voice. "I mean, the way she dresses, we've all seen-"
"Plastic, girl, 100% friggin' cosmetic. Amazing what you can buy with Daddy's money, isn't it?"
"No way. Hell, mine doesn't even look like that."
"Kylie swears it's true, tho - and you know she knows what's up."
"Oh come on, Kylie doesn't know shit. She thinks Mr. Gleason's straight, for the love of God."
"Wait, what!?"
"Are you for real? Everyone knows he's-"
Joni skirted around the border of the conversation with the wariness of a gazelle encountering a pack of hyenas; after yesterday, she had zero desire to get involved in another of these interactions. Funnily enough, all consideration of whether or not she belonged had vanished; even if she was supposed to be here, she wanted to stay under the radar...though she had to admit, she was a little curious...
Distracted, she almost walked right into Nadine, who was changing out of her gym clothes. "Uh, sorry," she said, catching a glimpse at the smooth, unbroken surface of her belly before hastily glancing away.
"Oh, ah, th-that's okay," the other girl replied, donning her blouse and smoothing it down the front. She slipped out of her gym shorts and began unfolding her skirt.
Jon just stood there awkwardly for a minute. She knew she was gonna have to undress at some point, but it'd been strange enough doing it in front of Karyn; a whole roomful of other girls made the prospect even more unsettling. Nadine seemed to notice. "A-are you not comfortable, uh...?"
"...Not terribly," she said, after a moment. She hoped she wasn't giving herself away; then she had to remind herself that there was nothing to give away in the first place, not when she was provably-
"Well, nobody could blame you," Nadine sighed, "not the way they gossip. I try not to listen, but it's so hard when they're like this every day. Even just overhearing things it's tempting to start entertaining thoughts like, what if they're right about so-and-so...? and next thing you know it's already taken root in your heart..."
"I, uh, guess that's human nature for you...?" Jon had to wrest her mind away from thinking: well, what if it wasn't? God, there were so many things she could try to "fix" with the stone that just screamed "potential disaster..."
"Y-you can, uh, hide behind me, if you want," she offered. "If, if you think it'd help..."
Jon felt a little weird at that. No doubt Nadine meant well, but it wasn't like they were close friends or anything; she'd just happened to stumble along at the right moment to help her out by coincidence. She hoped this wasn't going to get all weird. Then she felt a bit bad for thinking of it that way; seeing someone as a freak just because they had different beliefs and were a little socially awkward wasn't much of a way to treat others, was it? That was the kind of thing Tiffany's clique did...
Luckily for her, Joni had made a note of her locker and combination at the start of the semester, so retrieving her gym clothes was no trouble. After a moment's hesitation, she took her shirt off and went to grab the jersey top, but found that there was a change of underwear folded up underneath it. Oh right, sports bras were a thing. She didn't really know the difference herself, but Joni figured that if she'd bothered to include it, it must've been important-ish; with a bit of fumbling (and an uneasy glance 'round,) she unclasped her bra and slipped out of it, then put the other one on.
It was more confining and didn't emphasize things the way her usual one did, but she supposed in an athletic context that was a plus, if not an absolute necessity. She slipped the top on over it; but she was pretty sure she caught Nadine glancing at her stomach, in between adjusting her posture to stand between Joni and the rest of the girls. She hoped that was just a moment of social awkwardness; in any case, she couldn't throw too many stones here, herself.
When they'd both finished changing, Nadine excused herself and left Joni to deal with gym class. She took a moment to tie her hair up, after seeing the other girls doing it, and went out to join the rest, wondering what they'd even be doing. The boys' P.E. instructor, Mr. Galceran, wasn't the hardass drill-sergeant type, but he was definitely the kind of person who couldn't see why anyone wouldn't benefit from a full-bore workout regimen...
As it turned out, though, she was excused early; they were only doing a few laps around the field, but she found herself getting fatigued, and then developing a bit of a headache. Mrs. Licklider gave her a knowing look and sent her off with instructions to take a couple painkillers and get some rest; her classmates' reactions were (mostly) sympathetic.
She didn't enjoy the experience, but it did have a small bright side in that she had the showers all to herself and didn't have to feel awkward about being naked around everyone else, or being around everyone else while they were naked; plus, the hot water soothed her discomfort a bit. The painkillers (which she'd had in her purse, conveniently) helped as well. Joni took the opporunity to have a lie-down in the nurse's office for the remainder of the period. She got another knowing look from the woman, which puzzled her somewhat, but then she was getting a lot of funny looks lately.
Come think, this was the first time she'd been in the nurse's office since...what, seventh grade? Right, that one time with the stomach flu. Was the minifridge new? She couldn't remember. There were a variety of subtle differences she'd noticed between this reality and her own - her phone had some specialty calendar application on it, f'rexample - that seemed to have no direct connection to the big differences resulting from her-
Oh, right, speaking of her wish...
"So, we really need to talk about it," she said, as she and Karyn sat down to lunch. She'd loaded up another tray full of eclectic food selections - her random hankerings were less intense today, but not gone - and they'd made another picnic of it, off by the treeline where they could have some privacy. "You know, the wish and all that."
"Oh, uh, right," Karyn said, with audibly mixed emotions. She trailed the spoon distractedly through her Advanced Minestrone Substitute. "Are...are you really in a hurry to get back to being 'John...?'"
She had a feeling that was coming. "Karyn..." she sighed, gnawing at a stalk of what was allegedly broccoli, but felt more like a slightly undercooked bonsai.
"Sorry," Karyn said, after a moment. "I'm trying to keep in mind that you're him, it's just...hard, y'know? We've been friends for years, and, well, you feel so much like Joni to me, except for this part of you that's new to being a girl."
"...You really like that, don't you?" She took a bite out of a granola bar. It'd been impossible to miss how much Karyn had enjoyed herself last night, and it wasn't hard to figure out why.
Karyn blushed sheepishly for a moment, but rallied and nodded enthusiastically. "Well, yeah!" she said. "You're this person who's basically my best friend, but all these things we used to do together are new to you, and I get to be the one to share them. It's like reliving a bunch of our special moments all over again - how could I not enjoy that?"
She cringed a bit at the idea of "reliving" Joni's greatest-hits reel, but she knew that wasn't how Karyn meant it. Still...she couldn't help thinking back on what she'd wondered last night. Karyn and Joni had memories together that Jon never did, probably a bunch of them; had Karyn and Jon had any that Joni didn't? Was there anything that she hadn't gotten to do, anywhere she hadn't gotten to be, on account of being a girl? Were they distinct but "equal" sets of memories, or was one more complete than the other...?
"Hey, you're doing it again," Karyn said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Deep breath there, girl. We've got time to think this through, alright?"
She took Karyn's advice and breathed deeply, held it, and let it out. It was true, the stone wasn't going anywhere, and the world wasn't about to end here; it did make more sense to take their time and get this right. One careless wish flipping her entire perspective around was plenty. But, well, there'd always be tomorrow, one more day to think it over, just to be really certain...and if that kept up, she might spend the whole rest of her life like this and just never get around to regaining her true self...
"O-okay," she said, taking a slug of milk, "we'll...I guess put aside the question of whether it has to be now, for the moment. What I'm more concerned with is figuring out what the pitfalls would be when we do start making wishes." She took a bite of not-quite-entirely-soggy mushroom quiche. "Like you said, you want to know about Jon, but you don't want to forget Joni or, or think of her as...less than real. Things like that."
"Right, right," Karyn nodded. "Hmm - so thinking about it, what did happen? You used to be a boy, in your reality...oh, and Michelle did too, you said? I wonder if anyone else in your family tree changed."
She frowned; that was a good question, really. She didn't know why the wish had affected Mikey as well; the wording was so vague you could conjure up almost any rationale and make a case for how it fit. But it certainly could've affected other people, and only she'd know the difference. Clearly, her parents and Zoe were just as they'd always been, but what about her other relatives? Or, hell, anyone else in the world? Nobody at school seemed different, but it wasn't like she knew everyone here...
"God, you're right," she said, slowly shaking her head as she scarfed down a handful of peanut M&Ms. "We can't undo the wish, so we'd have to figure out who all was affected in order to switch them back."
"If they'd even want to switch back," Karyn mused. "Wait, shit, it's even wilder than that. If one of your aunts used to be an uncle, it's possible that she started a family with some guy, in this reality. That's not even 'so-and-so as a girl,' you could just have whole cousins you never knew about...!"
"...Or not have cousins I did." She blanched, and took another swig of milk. "Jesus."
"Wow, yeah." Karyn bit into a concrete brownie a millimeter or two and cracked a chunk of it off. "So either way we gotta account for people who might just not exist in one reality or the other. How d'you do that, just wish for them all to be here? But then how do the relationships work...?"
"I guess you could just wish for both, uh, 'versions' of the parent to exist," she said, "but even that has implications. Like, two of basically the same person, gender-flip aside, trying to work out how their individual lives intersect? 'Who gets the top bunk?' would be a trivial example." She didn't say it, but the idea hit home a little stronger now than it otherwise might've...
"Yow."
"No kidding," Joni sighed, polishing off the last of her quiche as the few others who'd come out here for lunch started filtering back inside. She felt a bit of a knot in her stomach at the thought, but she had to admit that it made sense, and it was really the only responsible course of action. "Guess you're getting what you wanted, for now at least. Like it or not, this is gonna be a project."
