Lonna sat in the passenger seat of the car that had been hers at the start of the week. She was unsure how to start a conversation between herself and Lauren, especially after what Professor Black had told them. So she sat there with her mouth closed. So it was left up to Lauren to break the silence that was between them.
“Looks like I get to drive this car for a while longer,” Lauren said with a hint of a smile on her face.
“What?” was Lonnas’ one one-word reply. Shocked that Lauren had been able to say anything after finding out that she was unable to return to her old life.
“Ah good you can speak then. Look I know we both wanted to get back to the way things were before but for just now we will have to put up with things the way they are.”
“I know but …” Lonna started to say.
“I wish that we could both wake up in the morning to find out that this was nothing more than một cơn ác mộng I really do. However, we both know better than that after the week we have had so far. Lauren said interrupting the younger woman.
Lonna sat there trying to work out what Lauren had said. She was speaking a language that Lonna thought she should know but somehow the meaning of the words that Lauren had used had escaped her.
“Sorry, I should have said nothing more than a nightmare. I thought you would know what I meant but I can see from the look on your face that you don’t.” Lauren said this time translating her words into English.
“You were speaking Vietnamese, weren’t you? I didn’t know that you could speak it.” Lonna said in reply.
“I couldn’t on Monday I couldn’t until this happened and sometimes I find it easier to use. Even though, English is the language I use the most. ” She stopped herself from saying that she had been using English for years now. She thought saying that to Lonna would hurt her as it would mean that she had lost another part of herself.
“You seem a lot calmer about this than you were earlier.” Lonna Turned to the other woman who was not showing any signs of the teenager that she had started the week as.
“I suppose so. I guess I am. I have been thinking about what Professor Black said earlier. She said that she did not know how to change us back but she won’t be the only person out there who will know about what has happened to us. There will be others and one of them will know how to help us.” Lauren said as she turned into Lonna’s street.
“You could be right. Mrs Sheppard did say that she had found more than one book about the stone. Maybe there will be something in one of those books that could help us.” Lonna said returning her teacher's attitude.
“Well, Professor Black will stabilize things for us tomorrow. I suppose there are worse things to be than a 28-year high school teacher. That is until we can fix things. I will see you at school tomorrow young lady.” Lauren said as she let Lonna out of the car.
Turning to Lauren, Lonna smiled and replied “Yes Ms Tran” Emphasizing the second name of the woman in front of her. She then opened the door to her house and went inside.
Lauren started the car back up and headed to her condo. A short time later she arrived at what she now knew was going to be her home for longer than she had first thought. This was depending on what the professor was able to do tomorrow. If someone had told her at the start of the week that she would have not only aged ten years as well as that she would now be teaching at her high school but she would also be socializing with Lonna she would want to know would that person had been taking.
She removed her makeup then carefully took off her dress and placed it on a hanger. She reached into her closet and removed a red satin slip with a lace trim which she thought added a touch of elegance to the slip. No wait that was Lonna, wasn’t it? Anyway, the lace trim did make the slip look good.
She put it on and sat on her bed.
She was just going to have to get used to her new eye for fashion. It was the least of her changes over the last week. There were a lot more and bigger changes that she had gone through some of them were easier to deal with than others. She tried not to dwell on the harder ones. If she thought about some of them too much she may never stop crying.
Across town Lonna was seated on a plush couch, dressed in a white floral pyjama set. The pyjamas featured a delicate floral pattern in shades of white and green.
Lonna was glad her mom was not back when she got in. Somehow she knew that she would have to answer all sorts of questions about the lecture and she was not in the mood to explain what the lecture had been about. Lonna thought that was going to be her life for the near future, she had always thought that it would be great to have a mom but now she was beginning to realize all the little things that came with one.
Deep down she thought she would still rather have one than not. At the start of the week, she had been happy to be a 35-year-old high school teacher. Now she was a 24-year-old high school student well at least she was tonight. Ever the realist Lonna had realized that Professor Black’s ritual would only stop any changes from the moment it was performed.
This meant that she and Lauren still had the next few hours to get through. She had not brought this up earlier as Lauren had only just got to grips with her changes up to that moment and she thought that it would not be the best thing to do to tell her it might not be over yet. The whole thing might not be needed depending on what Mrs Sheppard had found out. No matter what tomorrow was going to be a big day with that thought in her head she climbed the stairs to her bed.
