The ride to Sarah's house was an awfully quiet one. Melissa, a bottomless pit of conversation if there ever was one, tried to start up several different conversations with Jon that led to nowhere. None of the usual hot topics (American Idol, fashion, boys, etc.) did anything to stir her in the least bit.
"Hey Jon," said Melissa, breaking the awkward silence again, "Is something wrong? I mean, you have hardly said anything since we met up in the food court and you're usually such a chatterbox."
"I'm fine," said Jon, more interested in adjusting her safety belt into not rubbing up against her boobs than anything that Melissa had to say.
"Are you sure? I mean, you can tell me if something is bothering you."
Jon sighed. Truth be told she did want to confide in someone and Melissa seemed to be a good friend to her, even if their friendship was the product of Sarah's wish.
"It's..it's just one of those days when everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I'm not too happy with the world and myself right now."
"Well, I hope that things are better for you the rest of the day. I don't mean to sound like a Hallmark card or self help book but... I just wish that for the rest of today you would relax, not be worried about whatever it is that's troubling you and look on the bright side of things. You might find out that you're problems aren't as bad as you first thought."
Jon cringed upon hearing Melissa utter the words I wish, a sense of dread flowed through her only to completely dissipate a second later as it was replaced by a feeling of relief, as if a giant weight was lifted off her shoulders. Realization upon realization hit her.
She looked up into the small mirror on her sun visor and saw a very pretty teenage girl, herself. Why should she feel embarrassed or awkward when she was a perfectly healthy and attractive young woman? What was the hurry to get changed back when she was fine just the way she was? It wasn't like she had been changed into some kind of monster, she was just a regular teenage girl like a billion others were across the world and they seemed to be getting by just fine. Besides, her current form gave her many opportunities to experience new and wonderful things. Binge shopping, gossiping, feminine hygiene, and dolling herself up with new clothes and make-up would be brand new experiences for her. Not to mention boys, right now she didn't feel any attraction to them but that might change if she had a steady boyfriend to see what it was like. After all, you'll never know if you like something if you never try it. But what about the chain of wishes and the missing stone, well who was to say that Jon was the only one in the world who should get to make wishes. It would be pretty selfish of her to stop the chain of wishes and deny people the chance to have their dreams come true. As for the stone, if she eventually got it back from Sarah then good for her but it wasn't worth running around all day trying to get it back.
"Jon..Jon are you ok," inquired Melissa.
Jon looked over to Melissa and saw a very good friend, one that she should be thankful for, who just wanted to talk and have a good time with her.
"Yeah. You were right," replied Jon, "All of those problems aren't that bad at all now that I think about it."
"See, I told you so. It's just a matter of how you look at things."
"Hey, instead of going over to Sarah's how about we get ice cream instead. My treat." Jon smiled at Melissa and both girls high fived each other as they changed their destination to the nearest creamery with rocky road.
