“Welcome in ladies.” The blonde woman in her 40’s greeted them from behind the counter. “You are welcome to look around but without an appointment, I will have to limit you to three dress try-ons each.”
“Sounds good.” Karyn said and started off through the maze of dresses. Jon stood there at the entrance, his mind trying to make sense of what he had just heard. “Ladies? Dress try-ons? What did she wish for?” he wondered. He shook it off and went searching for Karyn.
“Karyn! Karyn!” he hissed. “Where are you? What did you wish for?” There were racks creating a maze of dresses throughout the small store, hiding anyone who would be looking through them. Jon hesitantly and awkwardly made his way through the dresses. As he rounded a rack, he almost ran face first into Karyn.
“There you are! We need to hurry up, the wish wears off in an hour.” She said looking through the dresses. She pulled out a light blue dress with a lot of lace and held it up to Jon. “A-line will probably be fine, but I wonder how you would look in a mermaid fit.”
“Karyn! I. Don’t. Want. To. Try. On. Prom. Dresses.” Jon worked to try and get the point across to her.
“Come on Jon. Just try on one. It’ll be fun.” pleaded Karyn. “And besides, no one will think anything of it. I made sure of it.” she said, patting her jeans pocket.
“No.” Jon replied firmly. “I don’t even know why you want me to do this in the first place.”
“Jon. We have a magic stone. If we play our cards right, we can do anything we want. Haven’t you ever wondered what it’s like to be a girl? We could really have some fun here. Break down gender barriers. You just have to open your mind.”
“Sorry Karyn, I’m just really not that interested. If you want to stay and try on dresses, that’s fine, but I think I’m going to head for the food court.” Jon headed out the store entrance. Karyn, feeling a little dejected, followed behind him.
When they made it to the food court, they split off. Karyn went to get a shake, and Jon went to grab a burger. As Jon stood in line, he couldn’t help but think about how Karyn was acting in the dress store. His concentration was broken by the cashier.
“May I take your order ma’am?” This caught Jon’s attention. Karyn’s wish must have affected more than he thought. He pushed down his frustration and placed his order.
“Hey,” Jon said, making his way to the table that Karyn was sitting at, “how many people think I’m a girl?” Karyn cracked a smile.
“Yeah, sorry all supposed to wear off after an hour.” She pulled the rock from her pocket. “I wish an hour had passed.” The rock flashed and the world around them blurred for a couple of seconds.
“Thank you.” said Jon. He took a bite of his burger. It was room temperature now. “We still need to be careful with our wishes. Can I have the rock back now?” he asked, holding his hand out. Karyn handed it to him. “I wish my food was at the temperature it was an hour ago.” The rock flashed and his food was as good as new. Karyn took a sip of her shake, but it wasn’t cold anymore. She set it aside.
“Sorry. Now that we know that wishes can be reversed if we’re careful about it, I just wanted to prove to myself that I could be responsible while still having fun with this.” she said, leaning back in her chair. “Just, after THIS,” she motioned to her new hair and boobs, ‘well…you know. Look I’m sorry about earlier. I just-”
“It’s fine. Really.” Jon interrupted her. He could tell that she was really feeling down about it. “You at least put a time limit on everything, so no permanent damage done. Er–.” He realized what he just said. “Sorry. I know that’s a bit of a sore spot for you.” Karyn giggled.
“Honestly the hair’s fine. It’s just the boobs are a bit heavier. Kind of a pain.” She was starting to cheer back up. “How about this? What if we work out wishes ahead of time together? That way we can think about any pitfalls before they are granted.”
“Sounds good to me.” Just then Jon saw Karyn’s face fall. “What?” he asked. She motioned behind him. He turned and saw Sarah and Biff sitting at a table a ways back. He knew that between how the two of them treat him and Karyn, as well as Karyn’s wish, that she wouldn’t be happy to see Sarah. “Just ignore them.” Jon went back to his burger. After a bit, Karyn spoke up.
“Hey…I have a thought for a wish.” Jon looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. “You ever wonder why they are the way they are? Cause I was thinking that maybe we could trade lives with them for a week.” Jon stopped for a minute and thought about it. Being popular, the captain of the football team, dating Sarah, kind of.
“I guess I could be talked into that.” They started discussing the logistics of the wish. Most of their concerns were easily fixable with a wish. However an issue arose with what to do with the rock.
“I don’t think we should use it while we are them. I’m not a fan of either of them, but we don’t want to end up changing their lives inadvertently.” Jon said.
“I guess.” Karyn replied. “But what if there’s an emergency? We should have something available just in case.”
“What about limiting ourselves to, say, 3 wishes each throughout the week? I mean how much will we need over just 7 days?” They agreed and continued working out the last of their concerns. Jon dug the rock out of his pocket and held it out to Karyn. “Since this was your idea, would you like to do the honors?” Karyn accepted the rock. “Do you think you can remember everything?”
“I think so. I wish that the people living as Jon and I over the next 7 days will have no memory of the wishing stone and will live our lives as we otherwise normally would. I wish that while Jon and I are in our new lives for the next 7 days, we will be limited to 3 wishes each, and we will have knowledge of our new lives, including everything concerning our new houses and our school lives. I wish that after Jon swaps bodies, he will be in possession of the wishing stone. I wish that Jon and I will switch lives with Sarah and Biff for exactly 7 days.” Karyn took a deep breath. “Wow, that was a mouthful.” The stone flashed and Jon and Karyn both closed their eyes.
